It’s been a long time since Steven Spielberg directed a film as quintessentially Spielbergian as Disclosure Day, which contemplates how humankind might react to proof that extraterrestrial life exists. Some might make the case that 2005’s brawny alien apocalypse action thriller War of the Worlds fits the bill. But for those of us who grew up on the director’s classics, foundational Spielberg usually means Jaws for terror, Raiders of the Lost Ark for retro-styled adventure and Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T. for the sheer sense of wonder evoked by a universe that radically expands our world.
In terms of grand-scale event movies that imagined new frontiers, Jurassic Park might sneak into that core group. But the 1993 prehistory-meets-futuristic technology thriller was already edging into darker territory as dazzling scientific innovation collided with corporate greed, hubris and industrial sabotage, and awe made way for fear.
Disclosure Day
The Bottom Line
No living director better understands the magic of movies.
