Steven Spielberg continues his fascination with aliens in Disclosure Day, a diverting, entertaining, and at times inspired adventure sci-fi film.
Daniel (Josh O’Connor), in possession of an unknown object of potential power, is being pursued by Wordex, a secretive corporate entity led by Noah (Colin Firth) who will stop at nothing to keep the government’s decades old secrets on extraterrestrial encounters. Another person, Margaret (Emily Blunt), is affected by a force that causes her to possess revelatory powers and foreign speak. Both are targets as they try to reveal a hidden truth that may cost them their lives.
Essentially one long, cross-country chase, it begins as a mystery that starts to connect the dots through its narrative following two individuals who are somehow connected to each other and to a larger conspiracy of silence. There are aspects of past memories and the power of belief. The story has the feel of exposing government secrets like in Spielberg’s The Post. Having demonstrated a mastery of alien themes in E.T., War of the Worlds and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, which this film serves as almost a spiritual sequel, he may be guilty of covering already familiar ground.
This
is the kind of film that may polarize
audiences to a degree. While it addresses “the people have a right to know,”
it touches on how the exposure of such secrets may have enormous ramifications
upon religion and the world. With a
memorable score from John Williams and some thrilling escapes, this film runs a
tad long but is constantly engaging to its emotional end. It may not have quite the impact of Spielberg’s
earlier films, but fans will likely embrace it especially for the strong
performances of Blunt and O’Connor.
****
of ***** stars (for Spielberg fans)
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