If you found out we weren’t alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?
MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD
If you’ve spent any time around me, you’ll know Steven Spielberg is the reason I ever fell in love with movies. I shot my first short film, “Chase,” when I was twelve, because Spielberg’s films made filmmaking feel magical. George Lucas left his mark, sure, but it was Spielberg’s early stuff—the sense of possibility, that glimmer of magic—that made me want to do this for real.
Now, with “Disclosure Day,” Spielberg returns to sci-fi for the first time since “A.I. Artificial Intelligence” back in 2001. It’s wild to think “E.T.” came out forty-four years ago, and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”—still my personal favorite—is nearly half a century old. I’ve long believed that after “Schindler’s List,” Spielberg lost touch with that playful, youthful part of himself. His big-budget movies since then have never quite recaptured the wonder that made his name. “Disclosure Day” tries but comes up short. It’s a spectacle, no doubt—gorgeous, ambitious, sweeping—but that spark of awe is missing. People grow and evolve, and while that’s only natural, the distinctive magic that once made his work so irresistible just isn’t there anymore. For someone who grew up idolizing him, that’s a tough thing to admit. Watching this film, it’s obvious he’s reaching for that old feeling, but some things are gone for good. We can look back fondly, but time doesn’t let us hang onto the past.
The plot follows two ordinary folks, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor), who get sucked into something much bigger than themselves. Daniel, a cybersecurity whiz at the shadowy Wardex, works under the secretive Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). He accidentally uncovers evidence of extraterrestrial life and, in a panic, takes it and runs, pulling his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) into the mess. Over in Kansas City, meteorologist Margaret shares a home with her boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). One morning, she’s entranced by a red cardinal sitting on her kitchen table, and later, she starts making bizarre, alien-sounding noises on live TV. Most people think she’s just babbling, but Daniel, watching from afar, somehow understands her perfectly.
That’s when things start to spiral. Strangers until now, Margaret and Daniel end up together, drawn in by circumstances neither could have imagined. Margaret suddenly has a new kind of sight—she can see into people’s souls—and she communicates in a strange language that only Daniel gets. Noah, desperate to bury Wardex’s secrets, does everything he can to stop them. Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), once Noah’s colleague and Daniel’s ally, seems to be the only one truly ready for what’s about to happen.
The setup will give any “Close Encounters” fan déjà vu: aliens kept hidden until the final minutes, suspense slowly building, and a promise that something huge is coming. The title, “Disclosure Day,” is a tease in and of itself. But this is where it slips: after all that suspense, right when you’re about to get the answers you’ve been waiting for, the movie cuts to black. Maybe Spielberg’s saying some things are better left a mystery. Sometimes that works, but here, it just feels like a cop-out. The whole film’s premise is about revealing cosmic secrets; leaving us hanging feels like a tease.
At the critics’ screening I attended, the audience’s reaction to the finale was all resignation—no excitement, just a muted sigh. Up to that point, the film had real momentum, and there were flashes of Spielberg’s old brilliance. But that magic slipped away once again. Colin Firth’s Noah is every inch the archetypal villain—driven, ruthless, never letting up—until, inexplicably, he lets the heroes go at the end. And we’re never told why.
Spielberg’s gift for coaxing great performances is undiminished. He’s always found ways to make his characters believable and compelling, no matter their age. Josh O’Connor and Colin Firth are both strong, but Emily Blunt steals the show. She brings Margaret to life with warmth and subtlety—playful and bright before her transformation, then shifting seamlessly to something more profound and mysterious. Her performance feels so real and effortless that it brought me to tears on more than one occasion.
The movie dazzles visually and packs genuine emotional punches—Spielberg can do that in his sleep by now. But as far as sci-fi goes, “Disclosure Day” doesn’t quite measure up to his greatest hits. I didn’t expect it to outdo “E.T.” or “Close Encounters,” but I was hoping for something that would stand shoulder to shoulder with them. Instead, we get a solid film that just misses being truly special. And for Spielberg, that feels like a letdown.
In Theaters Friday, June 12th
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