Alex Wheeler Movie Ops

Disclosure Day opens with an elaborate exchange. Josh O’Connor’s Daniel brings a backpack to a wrestling event, although it seems unlikely security would allow a backpack in. Most of the people around him are there to make an exchange for the bag, which would’ve required them to purchase several expensive seats. Then, they all exit and make the rest of the exchange just outside the arena. But again, security wouldn’t allow a bunch of people to drive up to the arena and the area would be teeming with regular people. The sequence delays telling you what’s in the bag and what Daniel’s getting in return for as long as it can, withholding simply for the sake of suspense. And despite all of this, you almost go along with it because it plays out so crisply. Steven Spielberg is directing, after all. His film proficiency could make a turtle climbing a log exciting. Given a bag of valuable items and a shadowy organization, he makes the tension crackle. It’s classic Spielberg. It’s big. It’s sweeping. And it has a lot of things that doesn’t make sense.

When Spielberg is at his best, that last one doesn’t matter. No one wants reality to get in the way of a good story, and he’s brought us many good stories. But when something is off and his spell is broken, his tendency for nonsense can grate. Unfortunately, there’s something off about Disclosure Day.

On paper, Spielberg should be able to make this movie in his sleep. It follows everyman Daniel as he tries to keep the contents of that backpack away from Wardex Corporation and its head, Noah (an appropriately menacing Colin Firth). Tagging along with him is his girlfriend, Eve Hewson’s Jane, who’s there to be the newbie who needs exposition dumped on her. What Daniel has in the bag is footage of Wardex and the US Government using aliens to make advanced weaponry. Yep, Spielberg has aliens again, and once again they come in peace. Daniel and several other defectors from Wardex think releasing the proof that aliens exist would stop a looming World War III. Jane is concerned that it will cause people to leave God and hope behind.

But wait, there’s another plot line to follow! Simultaneously, the meteorologist Margaret (Emily Blunt) begins speaking a multitude of languages fluently, making strange guttural sounds on air, and knowing the emotional life of anyone she makes eye contact with. She’s also being pulled towards Daniel, so off she and her exposition dump sidekick, Jackson (Wyatt Russell), go after him.

That plot takes a bit to explain, but as it plays out onscreen, it’s surprising how little actually happens. The movie drags as Margaret drives around without any real resistance and Daniel bumbles around waiting to be picked up by the rest of his group. There’s some fun action asides, like a train dragging a mangled car with people inside, but mostly Disclosure Day is about things not happening. Wardex employees don’t see Daniel running across an open field. Noah struggles to use alien tech. Margaret is able to walk in and out of a Wardex site unperturbed because she can whisper about everyone’s loved ones. There are protagonists and antagonists in name, but they don’t really face off much. 

To a certain extent, this can be explained by the film’s message, which is as cloyingly optimistic as Spielberg can get. Sure, we’re on the brink of WWIII, but the film asserts that if everyone is reminded of the others’ humanity, surely we would scale back the aggression. It’s those vague ‘Be Kind’ signs in movie form, and the film’s sentiment feels just as empty.

This disappointing takeaway is apparent in two big sequences. In one, you find out what the hell is being constructed behind Colman Domingo’s Hugo as he spurs Daniel on. It’s as big as all the hustle and bustle made it feel, but its necessity feels unearned. The other is the ending, which I will give even less detail about, but suffice it to say that its brevity will divide audiences.

And yet, given all this, it’s hard to be completely unhappy with Disclosure Day. Spielberg is Spielberg, after all, and the events of the film are mildly more interesting than a turtle climbing a log. In his hands, even this bumbling, saccharine story feels…okay. It’s not great. Far from it. But it’s not unsatisfying, either.

Release: now in theaters
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: David Koepp
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo