Disclosure Day

4 outta 5

Disclosure Day is Steven Spielberg going back to space aliens, a topic he excels at, with 2005’s War of the Worlds so far sitting at the top of 21^st Century Spielberg movies. This movie is less about murderous aliens and more about unknowable awe and possessed folk of Close Encounters of the Third Kind. The alien concepts here are very dynamic, even if it is sort of a greatest hits of alien lore. But with Spielberg directing it is mysterious and often freaky, with dramatic performance moments and great thespians acting off each other. Spielberg may have made other, and superior, movies about aliens, but he does it better than almost anyone else.

Daniel (Josh O’Connor) worked for a shady government organization, however he decides to take all the information he has from them, save his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson) and give the information to the world. This displeases Noah (Colin Firth), the head of the Wardex Corporation that covers up the truth about alien visitors to planet Earth. Daniel gets help from Hugo (Coleman Domingo), another person who left Wardex Corporation and wants to reveal the truth. Meanwhile, a small-market meteorologist Margaret (Emily Blunt) suddenly displays the ability to speak different languages, instantly know personal details of strangers, and on air she goes into a trance and speaks in a clicking language. Hugo tells her to drive in whatever direction she feels and she’ll end up at the right place. So she gathers her boyfriend, Jackson (Wyatt Russell) and hits the road, discovering more incredible powers which freaks out her beau. With the Wardex Corporation on their heels, the chosen ones decide to release all the information about aliens on Disclosure Day.

At times, this feels a bit like Close Encounters ver. 2. There’s no kids being abandoned but there is a lot of squabbling between partners as one of them is mysteriously compelled to go in an unknown direction by powers beyond their control. The finale delivers revelations and displays of alien power, which isn’t as iconic as the notes from Close Encounters, but Spielberg command of cinematic language presents alien imagery in a powerful way. So even if he is engaging in creaky alien lore tropes like crop circles, mind control and grey space aliens, it feels unique.

There is a lot of really intense acting here which doesn’t involve space aliens, just characters facing off against another. Noah has a little alien widget that he uses to psychically contact and control other people, and it gets downright freaky when he inhabits the body of Jane. Firth shows a guy using a dangerous piece of technology by the way that he strains and looks pained. When he has a psychic chat with Hugo, the other man tells him that Noah is using the technology in a very superficial and dangerous way. When Daniel waves the object about even Noah backs away, aware of how dangerous it is. There’s a bit when Margaret uses the alien tech to do incredible things that shows its power. She doesn’t look possessed or strained when using it, she looks like she is connecting with the universe.

Blunt goes through a lot here as she is able to suddenly speak in different languages and feel empathy and history with strangers. The first time she starts speaking in Russian, her boyfriend is astonished but doesn’t even know what happened. There is a fantastic single-take shot where Margaret breezes through the TV studio, talking in foreign languages to visiting guests, culminating at her weather forecast, speaking in alien click language and passing out. Throughout Blunt shows a woman falling apart from otherworldly stuff. Russell as her boyfriend looks progressively more confused to comedic effect, and there’s a great, goofy moment when they’re trying to destroy her phone and keep missing running it over.

O’Connor as Daniel shows a guy determined to get the truth out. He has been working for Wardex Corporation ever since they recruited in the parking lot of the prison he had been in for cybercrime. When he is able to outmaneuver black suit goons, Noah scoffs at them saying that Daniel works at a desk. As the girlfriend, Hewson’s Jane has some interesting moments as a former nun grappling with the idea of faith and alien life. When Jane talks to a nun, she says that the Bible says humans are the highest form of life, and the sister corrects her that the bible says that humans are the highest form of life on Earth, and the universe is too vast to be alone. Domingo as the mastermind of the disclosure movement comes off understanding and sympathetic which is a contrast to how mean Firth’s bad guy is. He is such a hardcase that his actions in the movie’s finale seem a bit against his character. It may be unbelievable Margaret could crack his exterior but he sells it. The finale has amazing alien images and ends on an ambiguous note that may frustrate some as it lets the viewer fill in the blanks. Disclosure Day is a director working his movie magic in a realm he has visited before. The bar is too high to clear but Spielberg gets close.