'Disclosure Day' review: Close Encounters of the mid-kind

Courtesy of Universal

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Are we alone in the universe is a theme that’s been dramatized for generations, and probably no filmmaker is more closely associated with it than one of our greatest living directors, Steven Spielberg. His relationship with extraterrestrials has shaped generations and is practically synonymous with the modern summer blockbuster. He’s also part of a rare breed who can still get a studio to fork over a large chunk of change for an original idea at a time when IP dominates everything, and that’s something worth celebrating. I only wish his latest, “Disclosure Day,” which also doubles as the filmmaker’s commercial return to the summer moviegoing season, felt like more than the sum of its parts.

At times engaging, decently performed, and filled with a handful of well-polished set pieces, “Disclosure Day” still has that Spielberg touch. I mean, it’s Spielberg, so there’s always going to be some cool stuff tucked into the seams. But for all its craft, the movie often feels like a greatest hits album from a filmmaker who has already mined this territory with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “ET,” and “War of the Worlds.” Instead of building on that legacy, it mostly echoes it, leaving this one feeling hollow and weirdly unfulfilling.

The mystery, intrigue, and poignancy of those previous movies are sorely missing in “Disclosure Day,” which finds Spielberg very much trying to capture some of that old-school Amblin magic after making smaller-scale pictures like “West Side Story” and “The Fabelmans.” And don’t get me wrong, nobody deals with alien material quite like Spielberg, and there are some solid set pieces here (a scene involving a car driving through a farmhouse is an exhilarating standout), but it’s all in service of a mystery and story that builds toward a lackluster conclusion. You start to wonder if the auteur, who has dealt with little green men before, would do something a little different, only for him to settle into a movie with very similar themes and attributes to his previous works. Some might argue these films are in dialogue with one another, but at a certain point we have to stop and think about all the previous iterations of the same rubber-suit aliens we’ve seen. There’s no new design here. Imagine how Hollywood has been designing alien creatures for the last fifty years. That’s what you get here, albeit in a much smaller dose.

What’s interesting is that “Disclosure Day” often feels less like an alien movie and more like a 1970s paranoia thriller in the vein of “The Parallax View” or “The Manchurian Candidate.” Written by frequent collaborator David Koepp (“Jurassic Park”) from Spielberg's original idea, shot by Janusz Kaminski, and backed by a thumping John Williams score, all the ingredients are there. The craftsmanship is undeniable, and there’s a kind of deliberate, controlled filmmaking here that we don’t see enough of in big studio releases anymore. In that sense, it’s the kind of blockbuster energy we could use more of, even if the material itself doesn’t fully support it.

To its credit, the film holds its cards close to the chest early on, giving us just enough breadcrumbs to stay engaged. It opens with Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor, whose stock has only risen in the last two years) attempting an exchange with some very obviously looking bad guys at a wrestling match. It goes sideways almost immediately, and it becomes clear he’s in possession of some highly sensitive government secrets that Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) wants back. What exactly is he carrying? You’ll figure that out in about two seconds, but the setup works well enough to keep things moving.

From there, the movie starts to branch out, dipping into broader ideas about humanity’s connection to the earth, faith, and whether it’s religion we lose trust in or people themselves. That idea comes through most clearly in scenes with Elder Sister Maura (Elizabeth Marvel), especially after Daniel escapes with his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson), who was training to become a nun before getting pulled into all of this. It’s an interesting angle, but like a lot of the film’s ideas, it’s introduced and then left to drift without much follow-through.

At the same time, the film puts a heavy emphasis on Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt, who is actually very good here), a Kansas City meteorologist who just wants to move up in her career and settle down with her struggling musician boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). After a cardinal crashes through their window during breakfast, Margaret suddenly develops bizarre abilities, speaking fluent Russian and Korean and tapping into people’s inner lives through a process called “dropping in.” Blunt fully commits to the role and does a lot of heavy lifting, especially as the material gets more and more abstract.

After speaking in a strange alien dialect on camera, Firth’s Noah, who runs the shadowy organization Wardex, and Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), a former insider pulling strings from the outside, move to intercept her. She apparently holds secrets that could fundamentally reshape humanity’s understanding of the universe. Meanwhile, an unnamed global conflict unfolds in the background, with mentions of looting, instability, even “World War III” on the news, but it mostly feels like window dressing, something meant to add urgency without actually being integrated into the story.

The movie could do better at explaining some of the mechanics in this world, once it starts unpacking the logistics of the MacGuffin Daniel is carrying, which can apparently turn people and objects invisible, things begin to unravel quickly. The less the movie tries to define, the less convincing it becomes, and the intrigue that drove the first half starts to dissipate.

There are also a handful of tonal choices that don’t quite land. References to “Hansel & Gretel” and an overreliance on CGI animals comes up airless, clashing with the more grounded, paranoid tone it initially sets up. On top of that, the movie gestures toward larger conversations about religion and humanity’s place in the universe, particularly the idea that the existence of other intelligent life might challenge long-held beliefs. But those ideas are handled in a scattered, surface-level way that never fully pays off.

At 79, Spielberg remains committed to investing in himself with original works that can try and lure some moviegoers back into theaters. His last few movies haven’t really moved the needle in terms of commercial viability and “Disclosure Day” might satisfy that craving for the tenured filmmaker. There’s no doubt I’m glad he got to make this movie, because its existence is good for the overall health of moviegoing as we know it, but if Spielberg is going to pick this lane again, perhaps he can add a little more flavor than just your average close encounter. 

Grade: C 

DISCLOSURE DAY is now playing in theaters.