The premise of the latest Steven Spielberg film, Disclosure Day, is not something we have not seen or anticipated. There have always been conspiracy theories about UFOs being spotted, and Disclosure Day is pretty much a fiction that explores this possibility. It is said that Spielberg, who had always had a fascination with this concept, developed the story idea after being inspired by a 2017 article about the Pentagon’s mysterious UFO project. Disclosure Day is a kind of film where the concept isn’t completely captivating, but the way the movie approaches it by making us guess keeps us interested in the film.
There is a company called Wardex that works closely with the US Government and handles highly confidential data and stuff. A breach occurs at that company, and the company is trying to manage the situation by identifying the employees who went rogue. Why those employees went rogue and what exactly they took from this company is what we see in this movie.
If you look at the structure of the screenplay written by David Koepp, it keeps the key things away from us. The story is basically narrated through two characters, Margaret and Daniel, and the other characters are connected to them. As the movie reveals what connects them, we get to know about several details that we were seeing in the backdrop associated with the other key characters. This style of revealing details works beautifully in one instance, towards the end, where we get to know what a particular character has been building till that point. But when the movie goes beyond that and shows the extraterrestrial elements, even though the humans in that fictional world are shocked, we are not really feeling that exact emotion.
One of the things that feels very impressive on a craft level is how little CGI-heavy this movie feels. I mean, it is a film that deals with alien elements, and yet for a major chunk of its runtime, it depends on writing that stays close to characters to maintain the intrigue. It is only when the movie focuses on having set pieces that things start to feel a bit forced. For instance, that action block featuring the lead duo on a car stuck on a train wasn’t really creating any sort of tension. Some of the oners in the film are really smooth. And as always, one can see Spielberg’s signature fluid blocking, where the blocking style changes without any cuts, which helps the movie have our undivided attention.
Emily Blunt, as the aspiring news anchor who goes through an unthinkable transformation within a short span of time, performs that chatty-to-intense transition very effectively on screen. It is the kind of performance where the acting is a lot more physical, but it is mostly restricted to her face. Josh O’Connor as Daniel is that geeky cybersecurity guy who is finding it difficult to process the overwhelming reality he has been exposed to. Colin Firth as Noah may seem like an antagonist in a wider view, but the response of that character in certain scenarios makes you feel that there is a backstory that we may get to know if a sequel happens. Eve Hewson plays the part of Daniel’s girlfriend, and there were some challenging scenes for her, where she shared the screen with Colin Firth. Colman Domingo as the rebel leader Hugo also delivered an impressive performance.
For this movie to have an impact beyond the amusement of seeing extraterrestrial stuff, the philosophical layer that deals with humans having empathy towards the alien species was essential. I thought the way it took time to set up the foundation somewhere impacted that track. Even though it is considered the final chapter in Spielberg’s alien trilogy, Spielberg and Koep are not really giving us much closure in Disclosure Day, and the fact that it couldn’t fully delve into the idea of empathy somewhat reduces the emotional impact a concept like this should have had. With sporadic moments of subtle character exploration and the consistency in maintaining a suspense element till the last point, Disclosure Day becomes an engagingly treated, unsurprising idea.
