It may well become the most discussed line of dialogue in any movie released this year. A line we don’t actually hear, by design. A line delivered by a rather unlikely “character.” A climactic moment in Steven Spielberg’s latest speculative drama–a picture unrelated to Dan Farah’s unconvincing 2025 documentary The Age of Disclosure.
Disclosure Day doesn’t connect all of its plot points or fully make sense of its science, but it does qualify as a classic kind of filmmaking crafted with the big screen in mind. It engages themes of artificial intelligence, mind control, alien encounters, corporate and government conspiracy, and–this is Spielberg, after all–childhood and wonder. It juggles poetry and introspection alongside action and carnage. It wants to capture the zeitgeist and your attention. By and large, it succeeds.
Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer, The Devil Wears Prada 2) heads the cast with yet another memorable performance. She plays Margaret Fairchild, a weathercaster for a Kansas City television station. One hectic morning, after a chance encounter with a cardinal–a bird–while at home with her mismatched partner, Jackson (Wyatt Russell), she acquires remarkable new powers. In a briskly edited sequence, she cites the names and personal details of everyone she meets; she speaks in tongues (Russian and Korean); and she experiences a spasm of clicking as if possessed, or as if to emphasize the prediction of hail in her latest forecast. Well, that certainly rattles the station’s news anchors.
Meanwhile, in a parallel story line, Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor, The Crown) has escaped the dubious confines of Wardex, a shadowy business run by the devious, blue-eyed Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth, The King’s Speech). Kellner, a cybersecurity expert with a conscience, has a backpack full of secrets on hard drives, and he wants the public to see them. His contact on the outside, his former Wardex colleague Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo, Sing Sing, Michael), leads an activist group devoted to big revelations–all for the general good, of course.
As you might imagine, Spielberg and his co-screenwriter, David Koepp (whose credits include the Jurassic Park, Spider-Man, Indiana Jones and Mission: Impossible franchises), eventually blend these characters and situations through a series of “disclosures.” The process is highly professional, although not always smooth.
Steven Spielberg knows how to stage and shoot action scenes. A viewing of Saving Private Ryan (1998), one of the most brilliant and realistic films of its kind, confirms that. In Disclosure Day, they mostly seem ordinary, though, as Daniel and his new, adventurous girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), try to stay one step ahead of Scanlon’s minions. The one exception–it involves a couple of trains–does deliver the thrills. Perhaps not coincidentally, Daniel and Margaret have intersected by then. Full disclosure: Eve Hewson is the daughter of U2 lead singer Bono and anti-nuclear activist Ali Hewson. Wyatt Russell is the son of actors Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn.
Too often, Spielberg has undermined the shape and rigor of his storytelling by interjecting too much distracting sentimentality. Think Bridge of Spies (2015) and War of the Worlds (2005). Yet here, when he delves into the subjects of childhood, memory, bodily possession and empathy, the picture actually becomes stronger and more riveting. Enough of the action. Let’s pursue the ideas for a change. As Margaret suggests, let’s get into “the flow.”
Emily Blunt offers a standout portrayal. Unlike Colin Firth, who retains his English accent, she adopts a suitably Middle American delivery. She has a wonderfully expressive face with a gift for both irony and vulnerability, and her transformation from restless career woman to intrepid seeker of truth is entirely believable, in a cinematic suspension-of-disbelief kind of way. The rest of the cast perform ably enough, but special credit goes to Colman Domingo as the voice of calm and reason for the rebels trying to keep both Wardex and the Department of Defense at bay. Like Blunt, his line delivery is pretty much pitch perfect, even if his declarations are ultimately vague.
On a related note, the ageless John Williams (now 94) contributes a supportive, well calibrated score. When the corporate operatives invade a fire station or warehouse, you hear echoes of his iconic movie marches. At other times, as body doubles appear and childhood experiences resurface, you hear intimations of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982). His collaboration with the 79-year-old Spielberg, which began with Sugarland Express (1974), still resonates.
Academy Award-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski (Schindler’s List, Saving Private Ryan), a Spielberg team member for the past three decades, provides the visual grace notes. The changing film stocks and digital video used for documenting reported alien encounters since Roswell, New Mexico in 1947, combined with a world of mesmerized cellphone gazers, introduces the awe-inducing moment so closely aligned with Spielberg’s ethic as a director.
While the CG animals and aliens register awkwardly, the scenes inside the television station are both authentic and compelling, as well as cleverly edited. The banks of monitors have their own star power. However, what appears on them in the climax, with a threat of global warfare as a perfunctory backdrop, lacks credibility. Do yourself a favor: lean into the emotional there, not the literal.
In the end, humankind does “embrace its empathy,” contrary to Scanlon’s cynicism. Jane, a former convent novitiate, may believe that “religion holds society together,” but social media has certainly emerged as a challenger. Spielberg himself remains the optimist in an age of conspiracy, focusing on the best of human nature. Disclosure Day does not measure up to many of his earlier forays into the realm of science fiction–it’s no Minority Report (2002) or Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)–but it does reflect an auteur who can still deliver an old school, genre-melding, crowd-pleasing entertainment. Apparently we can handle the truth.
