(Image credit: Universal Pictures)
Steven Spielberg is no stranger to making movies about aliens. Between Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and War of the Worlds, few other directors can match Spielberg's otherworldly output. 'Disclosure Day' joins that list, but it's not really about aliens. It's about compassion, accepting your neighbours, and then, weirdly, it's also about god.The trailers were refreshingly coy about plot details, but Disclosure Day's story is largely what it appeared to be: there's a conspiracy to keep the existence of extraterrestrials secret, and a plucky resistance group trying to expose the truth.We follow Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), a cybersecurity specialist who has defected from the "baddies", and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a TV weather reporter who unwittingly becomes host to alien knowledge and abilities. What follows is a largely by-the-numbers chase movie, as our heroes attempt to outrun the villainous Wardex Corporation, led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). It's entertaining and beautifully shot, but rarely surprising or daring.
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)Each of our dual protagonists has their partner along for the ride, and together the pairings bounce from peril to peril as they try to reach the resistance group's base, eventually connecting along the way. Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) is Kellner's girlfriend, along for the ride after having been kidnapped by Wardex, while Jackson (Wyatt Russell) accompanies Fairchild with increasing frustration.The trailers presented 'Disclosure Day' as quite a dour, self-serious affair, but thankfully, that's not the case. There are plenty of funny moments sprinkled throughout the drama. Russell plays the fool wonderfully as Fairchild's suffering boyfriend, reacting to the increasingly bizarre events as most of us would, with incredulity and swearing, and there are some brilliant sight gags sprinkled throughout the film.Not all of the laughs feel intentional, though. Our screening chuckled at the ridiculousness of a few moments that I sense were meant to be played straight, like Kellner hiding from about 40 armed Wardex employees behind a small wooden fence that they could clearly see him through.
