Steven Spielberg. Aliens. Summertime.
’nuff said, right? Wrong. Oh, so wrong.
“Disclosure Day” boasts a trippy cast, a timely premise and the potential for endless thrills. The result is a mess, suggesting that the iconic storyteller’s best days are behind him.
Boy, were those days movie magic. Now? The only illusion here is thinking this saga is worth its bloated running time.
Emily Blunt stars as Margaret Fairchild, a weather forecaster at a Kansas City news station. Her latest broadcast ends as she appears to suffer an on-air mental collapse.
The truth is so much stranger. Margaret is somehow connected to an alien entity, and she’s not alone. Josh O’Connor co-stars as Daniel, a security guard who pilfered hard drives containing proof of aliens on earth.
Ack! So much for any mystery about what we’re dealing with here.
Hot on their trail is Noah (Colin Firth stuck in an embarrassing role), the head of the company where Daniel stole the evidence. Noah wants to get those files back at all costs. The world isn’t ready to learn that we’re not alone in the universe.
Or so he insists.
“Disclosure Day” sounds so intriguing on paper, but nearly every element offers surface-level thinking. Even worse?
The dramatic stakes are all over the map, arguably the film’s biggest lapse. And then there’s Hugo (the great Colman Domingo), trying to thwart Noah’s plans. Hugo is part of an effort to tell the world all about the aliens hidden by dark, nebulous forces.
Who are these forces? Why are so many aliens visiting Earth? What is their purpose? Is there a reason for their repeated visits? If they’re so sophisticated, why are they constantly in peril once they reach our planet?
Make some of this make sense.
“Disclosure Day” asks endless questions while offering few answers. The story quickly falls into a stale pattern of chase, escape and chase anew.
The talented cast acts its heart out to bring something of consequence to the story. That they collectively fail has more to do with Spielberg’s vision (he wrote the story) than any missed assignment.
Anyone eager for a great alien “reveal” better get ready for a letdown. The creatures look like every generic UFO image drawn over the past 50 years.
There’s zero imagination or wonder afoot. Just boiler-plate FX that might have cost as much as Spielberg’s trailer rental.
Maybe less.
Remember the moment when we first glimpse the aliens in “Close Encounters of the Third Kind?” That classic film laps “Disclosure Day” in every metric possible.
There’s not a single mash potato on screen here, either.
The new film’s finale proves laughable, a crush of actors over-emoting for An Important Message. What message? Darned if we know, beyond a “Kumbaya” sentiment embedded in the screenplay.
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The film features plenty of chase sequences, but they’re typically resolved with a silliness that can’t be shared here for spoiler reasons.
Later, the old Spielberg magic makes a cameo appearance. Our heroes are caught racing with a moving train, a sequence that’s illogical but undeniably cool. That’s the master at work, but it quickly gives way to more sappy sentiment.
That’s been his weakest impulse over the decades.
“Disclosure Day” is all about truth, trust and empathy. That’s fine, but it’s akin to Christopher Reeve making an entire film about Superman ridding the globe of nuclear weapons.
Sorry, Supe. They’ll just make more.
Plus, we’re told the world is on the brink of a global panic, but the film can’t share much of it beyond a few news soundbites.
Spielberg rearranged the pieces of his glorious past for “Disclosure Day.” The effort shows how hard it is to deliver consistently great work over the decades.
HiT or Miss: “Disclosure Day” is a Spielbergian dud, and it hurts to admit that truth.
You could say, that Steven Spielberg’s best days are behind him. The jag is up.