Full disclosure: Spielberg still knows alien movies and this one couldn’t be more entertaining.
Steven Spielberg has been sharing his views on alien life from “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” to “E.T.” to “War of the Worlds,” and other filmmakers have been trying to level up to his visionary talents like how Jordan Peele directed “Nope” and how M. Night Shayamalan directed “Signs.” “Disclosure Day” is Spielberg’s latest alien movie that wants to handle what would be described a “disclosure movement.” It’s a social movement regarding conspiracy theories about UFOs or any kind of alien life on Earth and what the United States government has been refusing to confirm or deny.
A real question is whether or not someone would be frightened to know the truth about alien life on Earth (and the Men in Black wouldn’t be there to erase their memories). It could cause mass hysteria as well as people believing in deities. How would they view God if aliens were here? What power would any deity hold? This is a complicated question. And Spielberg continues to prove that he specializes in the alien genre, not to cater to movie goers, but to represent the realities and what might be considered a fantasy in his movie worlds. In this case, there’s a lot of tension and emotions to speak with the right convictions, while serving as popcorn entertainment at the same time.
As the film begins, the young whistleblower Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) steals proof of alien life from a corporation he was employed at (Colin Firth plays his former boss and the one trying to get that proof back), and his girlfriend-the former nun Jane (Eve Hewson)-believes that he’s doing a bad thing for the sake of humanity and their religion. He is under the instructions of the wise advocator Hugo Wakefield (Coleman Domingo) to bring that evidence to their group, as well as another human, who happens to be the Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt).
The trailers suggest that either she may be some kind of alien because of the way she has been speaking in clicking noises on the air or she may be a passenger of sorts. Whatever is happening to her, she is able to thrive through whatever situation she and Daniel end up in. Sometimes, it’s her under some kind of power, and sometime, she holds some kind of artifact.
We all know what MaGuffins are (“Pulp Fiction,” “The Maltese Falcon,” etc.), and they can be used as objects, people, and even the truth. Some movie goers might be cheated by the ending a little, but it still leaves us thinking that if there is alien life here on Earth, what is their objective? The last twenty minutes are as gripping and haunting as one might expect when it comes to exposing the truth about aliens. “Disclosure Day” likes to make that assumption, and it it’s a wise one.
Blunt gives the best performance in the film as a woman who may somehow be connected and be scared of knowing what she doesn’t know at the same time. And given her previous alien movies “Edge of Tomorrow” and the “Quiet Place” movies, she’s cast with the right tones and emotions, and Spielberg guiding her is no exception.
Seeing this in IMAX is a great experience with the right sounds and images. Or you can see it in Dolby or any other format. Either way, there is strong entertainment, especially when the movie uses echos from “Signs,” “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” and even a little bit of Spielberg’s own youth if you count a train sequence. I never trust junk mail about UFO reports, but seeing a movie that questions their existence feels more real, because of the infinite questions and guesses out there. So, I guess you could ask: Are we alone?
