Watching a Steven Spielberg film can often feel like coming home. So much of his visual language has been baked into the DNA of modern filmmaking, such that it’s almost foundational to even the most casual viewer. Disclosure Day is a kind of homecoming for the longtime cinematic savant. Less War of the Worlds, it’s an almost spiritual successor to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It’s a film that cares less about the question of “are we alone in the universe” and is far more interested in what humanity would do with a definitive answer.
Hacker, Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) and his partner, Jane (Eve Hewson) are on the run from Kellner’s former employees, lead by the dastardly Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Kellner has stolen prized information from his shady former employers, information he intends to expose completely and fully to the world. Meanwhile, local TV weather presenter Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) has her own close encounter of the third kind that imbues her with other worldly powers and sets her on a collision course with Kellner as she’s forced to unlock long buried secrets of her past.
In a way, Disclosure Day shares parallels with 28 Years Later – that of a master returning to a familiar well of creativity once more, although this time, with their own mortality and existence in mind. I posit that Danny Boyle is wrestling with his relationship with death in 28 Years Later, not in a macabre fashion, but merely a man coming to terms with the clock running out. Spielberg, on the other hand, is using aliens and the idea of a gigantic secret bringing the world together and even healing it as a way to come to terms with his own life and career. It’s a deeply sentimental film, maybe to a fault. Its optimism in humanity, and his belief in our unification may push some of those expecting a War of the Worlds explosion-fest away. Others may snigger at the more earnestly goofier elements. But at its core is Spielberg, ever the maestro, showing modern audiences exactly why they love coming to the cinema in the first place. In doing so, he bares his heart and soul through the bulbous, blackened eyes of extraterrestrials for the accepting masses.
The craftsmanship is there for all to see, and Spielberg reminds us why he’s so good at this. His command of the frame is almost second to none, making it look effortless, with longtime cinematographer, Janusz Kaminski once again return for this go around. The camera is constantly moving at a brisk clip, stopping for nary a second for the audience to catch their breath. John Williams’ score is at once nostalgic, with hints of the future pulsating throughout and will have you at once feeling the warm and fuzzies as the hair on your neck stands on end all at the same time.
Josh O’Connor continues to build a wildly enviable career from La Chimera to Challengers to Wake Up Dead Man and Disclosure Day. It would be an even more impressive feat were it not for Emily Blunt completely stealing his sunshine right out from under him with an intensely blistering performance. Spielberg and David Koepp’s script asks an immeasurable amount from her, and she handles it with a cool dexterity and an acting athleticism we’ve yet to see from her. Fairchild at once goes from shimmying weather girl to humanity’s glue, acting as a vessel for an otherworldly and benevolent force that seeks to unify and built rather than divide and destroy. Blunt is putting on a clinic of acting prowess and talent and everyone else involved has no choice but to play second fiddle.
It’s hard to shake the feeling that, much like Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan and The Fablemans, Disclosure Day is a deeply personal film for Spielberg. He’s very clearly working through his own personal complexities, desperately wanting a better world for us all, with the possible existence of extraterrestrial life being a unifying force for good. It may be his most humanistic film to date and hints at a wide eyed naivety we’ve not seen since the likes of E.T. It may put some viewers off, with its optimistic propulsion, but if you open yourself to it Disclosure Day may be one of Spielberg’s best films to date.
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