Disclosure Day again proves Steven Spielberg’s film mastery as a weather reporter and a programmer race from a shadow agency to deliver truths to the world.
At 79, with 38 films over 55 years of filmmaking, Steven Spielberg has not slowed down in both quality and quantity. His remaking of West Side Story and ever-so-slightly veiled autobiography in The Fabelmans are strong, powerful works that both broke into my top tens of their respective years. Audiences didn’t quite find either of those, but they should pick up with Disclosure Day. Written by David Koepp, Disclosure Day is a return to wondrous sci-fi blockbuster filmmaking in a thrilling, emotionally fulfilling, uplifting chase of a film. Spielberg is still at the top of his game. But Disclosure Day works because it’s not just Spielberg’s prowess well on display, but everyone involved, from Emily Blunt’s career-best performance to another striking score from John Williams.
Across that wide-spanning, wondrous career (and his youth), Señor Spielbergo has been obsessed with aliens, friendly in ET, not so friendly in War of the Worlds, or somewhere between in producing the mini-series Taken, and far more. Disclosure Day is closest, perhaps, to 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind, exploring how the ideas of how extraterrestrials affect humanity, what contact might mean to religion and culture, how regular joes deal with such shifts and obsessions. Disclosure Day is a film of empathy, and communication, of stopping ot listen and letting connections occur.
The world is on the brink of a global conflict, as communication breaks down between China/North Korea and the rest of the world, moving a lukewarm war into heated land grabs (or something to that effect: the conflict is smartly given in background information to set the world, the details are unnecessary). At the same time, a shadowy semi-government agency/business is trying to keep another world-shattering drop of information out: aliens! Margaret Fairchild, a weather reporter, is suddenly able to read minds and speak other languages, and is drawn to a man: Daniel Kellner. Kellner and his girlfriend Jane are on the run from Noah Scanlon of said company, with a bounty of secret information, trying to get to Hugo Wakefield, working with a team to build something in a warehouse. I need not get into these details outside of that. The story, its methods, and its messages are simple and straightforward, boiling down to a thrilling series of chases, hideouts, fights, and thrilling intrigue.
A master’s sense of control flows through Disclosure Day. Speilberg, in his magical way, keeps the truth and full story at nearly arm’s length. Not out of reach, but fingertips touching, getting that feeling of near connection. This is a positive on Disclosure Day, gaining traction with just enough, giving information just as we need it. This isn’t a JJ Abrams’ ultimately empty mystery box, but another mostly sharp, smart script from Koepp, from an idea by Spielberg. Koepp has often written for Spielberg, such as the final push in the many-handed Jurassic Park screenplay, and recently a slew with Soderbergh, especially Black Bag. Like Black Bag, Koepp’s script is a prime example of smart writing of smart people actually being smart, and a keen sense of character within that, given just enough information to stay within the flow of the film, becoming engaged within the mystery surrounding everyone, mindful of exposition and truths. The exposition is perfectly written and given, teasing and touching, pulling the audience naturally, drawing in bit by bit to the wider truth. But yet, within all that back and forth, worldwide implications and stakes, and thrilling drive: there’s a tight simplicity, keeping to a handful of characters making their way through, or causing, the danger. It’s a simple human story around aliens. In hindsight, there are thoughts and questions about the proceedings, but like the sudden pit in the best movie of all time, also directed by Spielberg, Jurassic Park, you don’t think about it in the moment (that does have an explanation, though).
Career-topping performances bring that script to life. Emily Blunt has never been better, giving something I’ve never seen her come close to before (not that she’s been bad, far from it, but this is a new level). Last year, Josh O’Connor had a banner year with 4 notable films (we’ve all seen Wake Up, Dead Man, but I highly recommend Mastermind), and if this is the only one this year, it’s a doozy. Coleman Domingo is a great mouthpiece for the ideas and methods, and Colin Firth is highly engaging in a villainous performance. Wyatt Russell earns some nice moments as well. Eve Hewson is oddly captivating; I’ve seen her around (including Spielberg’s underseen Bridge of Spies), but she quietly nearly steals the film.
None of it could be accomplished without the technical details. Janusz Kaminski’s astounding camerawork gives an energetic life with a series of impressive shots that pull in the audience. That’s the Spielberg speciality. He and Spielberg mesh well, previously shooting Saving Private Ryan, West Side Story, and Schindler’s List. It’s often his skill that provides those iconic Spielbergian shots (not to discount Dean Cundey’s amazing work with Spielberg). Whether it be a less-tense movement around or a centerpiece train moment, I was utterly captivated and thrilled, with the cinematography helping push me to the edge of my seat. John Williams’s score, which has been said to be the 94-year-old’s last, got me the rest of the way there.
Disclosure Day is another banger from Steven Spielberg, revisiting themes and concepts of earlier films, but in no way a retread. With a commanding performance from Emily Blunt, a driving script from David Koepp, fantastic cinematography from Janus Kaminski, and all pulled together by John Williams’s score, Disclosure Day is popping blockbuster from the master of the blockbuster, thrilling and special.