Disclosure Day - Movie Review

The Movie: Disclosure Day

The Director: Steven Spielberg

The Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Ferth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo

The Story: If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you?

The Rating: 6 / 10

The Review:

There is absolutely no doubt that Steven Spielberg is one of the greatest movie directors of all time. From Jaws and Raiders of the Lost Ark to more recent efforts like Ready Player One and Bridge of Spies, his resume is nearly flawless. Okay, we won't talk about Kingdom of the Crystal Skull but yeah, this is the guy who also made Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, and Jurassic Park so we can easily fogive a few missteps here and there.

Two more films Spielberg has directed that make a nice transition into Disclosure Day are E.T. the Extra Terrestrial and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the latter of which a lot of people believe to be directly connected, or at least a distant cousin, to this latest effort. I don't want to spoil anything either way, so I won't mention that any more just to be safe. Just know that it's a thing that's out there in the movie communities although the man himself has neither denied nor confirmed so here we are, at least for now.

The first thing that stands out to me about this movie is the cast. From top to bottom, there is nothing but top tier talent from Emily Blunt, who absolutely shines in one of the lead roles, to Colman Domingo doing what he does best in a knockout supporting role. Blunt's character goes through a lot as the story plays out with lots of heavy drama, a couple big action sequences and, in one scene that blew me away, she spoke multiple languages fluently and believably while walking through multiple sets in what I believe was an unedited, single take shot.

Josh O'Connor, who recently starred alongside Zendaya in Challengers, gives a much more understated performance as he sort of represents the audience and our reactions to what's happening throughout the movie. Colin Firth is great as always and Wyatt Russell is on board as a bit of comic relief although I wish his character had been given more time and more to do outside of what we get from him. Maybe comic relief sells him a bit short but he's very likable, as he usually is, and his character does give us the most laughs compared to anyone else in the movie.

Okay, so here's the bad news. The overall story is very messy and so many other movies have done the same thing only way better and they usually made a lot more sense in doing it. There are also multiple that feel sort of pasted in and only included to check a few boxes or created only so they can be added to the trailer for ticket selling purposes. Seriously, so much of this movie makes no sense at all from a cohesive story telling perspective which was really surprising given how good a director Spielberg is.

I get the feeling that a lot of the mess was created in the editing room versus how the movie was filmed or how the story was originally written. Maybe not, that's just the feeling I get although there are people much smarter than I am out there who can break that kind of stuff down even further and in a much more eloquent and insightful fashion. For me, there were just too many times where I felt like the story was going in weird directions or things just didn't feel right and there's also the fact that when telling this type of science fiction story, you have to get it just right so it doesn't become unintentionally comical, if that makes sense.

There's a lot I can't go into from that standpoint because it would tread heavily into spoiler territory and you know I always keep things as spoiler free as possible. Even with all of the missteps, this is a movie that is still very much worth watching, especially as a theatrical experience. The ending still manages to hit hard and I was getting a little emotional as the final moments played out so, if you're willing to stick with it, there is a pretty decent payoff. The movie is far from perfect, and it doesn't have all the bells and whistles of a summer blockbuster, but Spielberg still manages to show why he has always been, and always should be, considered one of the top filmmakers in the business.

Thank you for reading this review. If you never have, please watch Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It absolutely fits as a great companion piece to this movie and it really shows off how masterful the director was in his early years and what I'm sure he's still capable of.