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Do you believe in aliens? Or, a better question might be: Do you believe in movies about aliens?
The sci-fi genre is littered with them and some of the very best are from maestro Steven Spielberg (E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind). His Disclosure Day (in theaters starting Friday, June 12) is a throwback in the best way. While it isn’t a direct sequel to any of his films, viewers won’t have to squint too hard to find an obvious thematic through line to much of his previous work.
The acclaimed director, working off his own original story (with a script by David Koepp), has a jubilant winner here that despite a few weaker plot details will make even the biggest skeptic a believer. The movie is a bighearted, emotional chase that’s action-packed from the jump.
Daniel (Josh O’Connor) is a whistleblower on the run from some shady characters (including a menacing Colin Firth). They’re holding his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), hostage as the duo work to expose shocking information about extraterrestrial life.
Meanwhile, Margaret (an outstanding Emily Blunt) is a Kansas City weather reporter experiencing odd things: She’s suddenly fluent in multiple languages, and can telepathically connect with people, much to the dismay of her hapless boyfriend (a very funny Wyatt Russell).
When she collapses on set after making a series of clicking sounds, it’s clear that something is going on. To reveal much more about Daniel and Margaret’s strange connection would spoil things, but let’s just say that Spielberg asks viewers to imagine what it would mean to discover that we’re not alone. Could the world be trusted with such information? Would it bring people together or further divide them? Moviegoers can probably guess where Spielberg is likely to land on that question, but just because you know a destination doesn’t mean it’s not worth taking the journey.
Racing against the clock, the intense Disclosure Day is full of giant set pieces (including a thrilling train scene reminiscent of Indiana Jones) that will delight viewers of all ages.
Aliens may or may not be real. But Disclosure Day will make you want to believe.
Below, what other critics are saying about Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, which currently has an 83% on Rotten Tomatoes.
NPR: “I wish Disclosure Day itself were a more complex movie. Spielberg’s storytelling is often described as overly sentimental, which isn’t always fair; his previous work, the semi-autobiographical The Fabelmans, was one of the most genuinely moving films of his career. But sentimentality does ultimately overwhelm Disclosure Day, especially in the big finale, when the movie strains to bring its characters and indeed all of humanity together.”
Slate: “Forty-four years after he imagined the friendship between a suburban grade-schooler and a stranded alien, here was the now-79-year-old filmmaker again taking a crack at a story in which humanity learns for the first time that we are not alone.”
Variety: “Spielberg, as part of the film’s publicity, has suggested that he believes in alien visitations, and that he’s an advocate for disclosure. But where Close Encounters tapped into the mystery of all this with an innocence that was both starry-eyed and spectacular, Disclosure Day feels like a thriller docudrama that’s too cut-and-dried about what it believes. The actors are quite good (especially Blunt, who makes you feel she’s seeing the uncanny), but for all the film’s slow build it doesn’t take us anywhere overly surprising. It just confirms the “truth” that’s been out there for so long it’s starting to feel like a fairy tale for the dispossessed.”
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