Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) has gotten himself into a situation. When Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s latest film that has him returning to his early escapist roots, opens, he’s surrounded by a group of shady government men dressed in black suits. Led by a man named Scanlon (Colin Firth), they’ve got something they want from him and the last thing he’s going to do is give it up.
We’re not quite sure what the heck is going on and that’s part of the fun. As the story moves along, we find things out piece by piece and as the characters discover new bits of information, we do as well.
Turns out, Daniel is a cybersecurity expert who has stolen hours of video footage proving that aliens are, in fact, real. In these videos, we see brief shots of them being mistreated and other horrible things, and he wants to expose to the world what’s been happening deep inside the government.
Meanwhile, Margaret (Emily Blunt), a weather reporter at a Kansas City news station, has an on-air meltdown where she starts speaking in clicks and clacks and can suddenly see into her co-workers’ minds.
This does not go unnoticed by Hugo (Colman Domingo). We’re not quite sure who he is or what he’s doing because every time he shows up, it looks like he’s on some kind of soundstage, with people building sets behind him.
From there, Daniel and Margaret’s stories slowly start to come together. He’s trying to get the truth out before Scanlon and his people can bury it forever, while Margaret is trying to understand what the heck is happening to her and why she suddenly seems connected to something much bigger than herself. There’s also Jane (Eve Hewson), Daniel’s girlfriend, who gets pulled into the madness, and Jackson (Wyatt Russell), Margaret’s boyfriend, who’s watching the person he loves change right in front of him and has no idea how to help her.
The more Daniel and Margaret uncover, the more it feels like this isn’t just about proving aliens exist. It’s about what happens when that truth finally gets out. Who controls it? Who gets to decide what people can handle? And maybe most importantly, what do people do when they realize the world is a whole lot bigger than they thought?
The film reminded me of Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T., where government figures are hellbent on suppressing things from the great unknown.
The action sequences are fantastic, particularly a train sequence that has Daniel and Margaret trying their best not to get killed by another oncoming train.
O’Connor has a bewildered, everyman way about him. He’s our first look into the story, and we see most of it through his eyes. He’s smart, obviously, but he also looks like a guy who can’t believe his life has somehow turned into this. That makes him incredibly easy to root for.
Blunt has a great arc here. The film is more about her character and her experience. She’s living a pretty fabulous life as a star weather reporter when suddenly her mind gets all jumbled with these newfound abilities. She’s confused and doesn’t want any part of it, but slowly, as the story progresses, she takes charge of it and accepts it. This is one of her best roles to date and she’s perfect.
Domingo is the calm before the proverbial storm. Whenever Daniel or Margaret are in a panic, he talks them off the ledge, so to speak, with his silky-smooth voice and even-keel demeanor.
And Firth, with his lilting, lyrical voice, makes Scanlon seem even more menacing. There’s something about the way he never rarely raises his voice that makes him even scarier.
The story was conceived by Spielberg and written by both Spielberg and David Koepp, and clearly created for this moment in the world, where distrust and misinformation are the way. Yeah, everyone has their differences and the world is divisive as heck right now, but if we can just stop and be civil to one another, maybe things can change for the better.
In the finale, which obviously I won’t give away, Firth has a look on his face, a tiny smile that curls up and made me rethink everything about his character. I would love to know if it was actually written in the script or if he did it on the fly.
This is not a return to form for Spielberg because everything he does is excellent, but as a kid at heart who adores his early films, I can’t say enough good things about this one.
