When Steven Spielberg makes any new movie, it’s worth checking out, but when there are aliens involved it becomes, hopefully, something special. Disclosure Day has a lot of that old Spielberg magic (obsessed characters on a mission, constant movement, characters doing the glassy-eyed “Spielberg face,” etc.), and that will be enough for a lot of people (it kind of is for me), but if you’re hoping for something monumental, then this may leave you disappointed. No one is coming here before they decide to watch this, but just in case, SPOILERS AHEAD.
The pace of Disclosure Day is probably the best thing going for it. This is a chase movie through and through with plenty of set pieces to keep you occupied. And that’s good because the more you dig into the plot, the more questions keep arising.
First off, this film would have worked so much better in the early ‘90s. As it is, we know everything from the get-go, and not just because of previews. This is a movie about disclosing proof of alien life to the public. So there’s no mystery, even though the film keeps pretending there is. We’re shown footage early on when Josh O’Connor shows Eve Hewson some of the footage he plans to release. Maybe if we didn’t see any of it until the end, it would have had more impact, but even then we’ve all seen so much alien shit over the years that nothing shown is all that moving, no matter how many people stare at the footage with tears in their eyes at the end.
It’s simply not a compelling plot to the point that I assumed it was a misdirect. It wasn’t. The only slight twist on things was that the disclosure is used as a kind of Watchmen-esque plan to save the world from nuclear war. But that’s been done before. And, worse, I don’t think that would work at this point. Maybe back in the ‘90s, but now I fear even aliens can’t bring us together.
But that’s Spielberg for you. His stance is made clear in a phone call between Eve Hewson, whose character gave up being a nun, and Elizabeth Marvel, her former nun…boss (or whatever they’re called). Hewson is worried that exposing alien life will destroy belief in God. Marvel reassures that this wouldn’t be the case, and that Hewson didn’t give up being a nun because she stopped believing in God; she quit because she stopped believing in people.
In one aspect, I agree. I don’t think confirming the existence of alien life will destroy the world’s religions, but not for the reasons that Disclosure Day gives. Between the constant barrage of bullshit we doom-scroll through every day and the ability to call everything “fake” thanks to AI-shit and general stupidity, I just don’t think disclosure would make the same wave it would have decades ago. And this film suggesting it is possible to still unite the human race through a CNN report and YouTube videos on our phones is extremely naive to the point of being insulting. Or maybe I just don’t share Spielberg’s optimism, and that’s my own problem.
And I think that’s the main thing that is splitting viewers of this. Do you believe this would unite humanity or at least accept that it could in the world of the movie? Or do you think it would just be another crazy thing added to the shitpile? I’m a shitpile guy, but hopefully when I watch this again someday I’ll be more open to it.
That written, I still like the ambiguous ending. The film holds back all kinds of info just throwing us right into the middle of things, so it would feel wrong for it to come up with some message from the alien. And the message isn’t the point anyway. Despite my cynicism, I can still acknowledge the importance of listening, and I believe it is one of our biggest problems as a society today. The film holds empathy as the greatest feature of humanity, and empathy begins with listening. So I loved that final line.
And there’s actually a lot I liked about this movie. I’m not on board with the ending, but I was with this movie for pretty much all the rest of it. The cast is great. I don’t think Blunt will be nominated for this as others have suggested, but this is probably her best work. She perfectly conveys the feeling that she’s not fully in control. Firth is Firth. And Colman Domingo is one of my favorite actors working right now, so I’m okay watching him talk on the phone for an entire movie.
Beyond the acting, the pacing was the star. This did not feel like 2+ hours. Spielberg is so good at conveying momentum. And the faster the movie goes, the less time you have to nitpick it.
But I still have issues with Disclosure Day. I wish I didn’t. I wish I loved every second of this film. But it’s still great to have Spielberg still making movies like this, daring an audience to still have hope in an increasingly hopeless world.
Random Thoughts
The more I think about it, the less this is a problem, but I wanted so much more info about Domingo’s character. I guess he can communicate with the alien, but it seemed like only O’Connor could? That wasn’t entirely clear to me. But he had to be able to communicate with the alien to recreate Blunt’s childhood home. But how did that work? He did those weird clicks to tell them to put a copy of Kindergarten Cop on VHS on the TV stand? Or was it telepathic? I could’ve used a little more info there.
And he says the aliens present as animals. So that cardinal that showed up in Blunt’s house was really a little green alien? He hopped through the window?
It was fun when Blunt became a Jedi and started mind-tricking everyone to leave her alone.
That opening scene is right out of Highlander. Was this an intentional reference? I mean, why start this movie at a wrestling match? Hell, why does Highlander start at a wrestling match? What the fuck is going on here?
I love that Wardex is Nixon’s fault. He just had to show Jackie Gleason some aliens and ruined it for future presidents.
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