Disclosure Day review – On track, but off the record

One stands to attention when Steven Spielberg releases a new film, especially when it’s a science fiction blockbuster dropped on the verge of school holidays. Debuting nearly three years after his last feature, the pseudo-biographical The Fablemans, Spielberg’s return to genre storytelling with Disclosure Day is par for the course. It’s a path well-travelled, but one that ends up feeling too familiar.

Disclosure Day follows Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O’Connor), a fugitive on the run from his former employer – a sinister government-aligned agency led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) – having stolen data and secrets revealing the existence of extra-terrestrial life. Aided by fellow conspirator Hugo (Colman Domingo), and joined by former girlfriend Jane (Ewe Hewson), Daniel works to reveal what he knows to the world, but it’s not long before he realises he has a bigger role to play in it.

Meanwhile, local meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is behaving oddly on camera and recalling strange visions, bringing her to the attention of both Hugo and Scanlon and ultimately leading to her encounter with Daniel. Together, they set out to inform humanity of its place in the universe, and its fellow occupants.

Much like Spielberg’s previous outings to feature aliens, his latest one has ideas on its mind. At its heart, Disclosure Day sets out to reconcile what a story of first contact would look like in the 2020s, set against the real backdrop of our shared, uncertain future, and what lengths people would go to hide the truth from the masses.

There’s also a heavy theological element to the story, with some characters going so far as to question how first contact would influence our understanding of faith and people’s relationships with beings of a higher power. It’s unique and refreshing to see this perspective, but that element can only be given so much attention at a blockbuster level. At the end of the day, what makes this story stand out is that the aliens are the background players in all this. They are even barely original in their conception. Instead, Spielberg and screenplay writer David Knoepp prioritise the human players and a conflict that effectively only involves one species.

This does lead to disappointment because Disclosure Day, despite boasting the highest calibre of filmmaking – Spielberg does not mess around with long takes and we get to enjoy the results every time – lacks the visual spectacle that has come to be associated with his work. Make no mistake, the film is beautifully shot, but it still feels like events are unfurling on the periphery of other previous Spielberg projects; most appropriately 1977’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

Because of that, Disclosure Day lacks a distinct identity, which negatively influences its staying power, and ability to keep its ideas on the minds of audiences. Even composer John Williams, who is now on his 30th collaboration with Spielberg, delivers the expected orchestral swells and emotional swings that define his discography, but the end result suffers from indistinction.

That said, Williams’s score does well to aid the film’s narrative propulsion, which is one of its best qualities. The first third of Disclosure Day is nothing short of exhilarating as audiences are flung headfirst into the conspiracy by way of Spielberg’s signature direction, and kept there thanks to Janusz Kamiński’s cinematography. It manages to keep that pace for the majority of the runtime and it gets away with it by backloading its exposition and mechanics. It also has sufficient “on-the-ground” energy with well-shot action sequences, all supported by a strong sense of urgency conveyed by the entire cast.

Josh O’Connor and Emily Blunt are not necessarily sympathetic, but they have your attention fully captured thanks to their role in the narrative. Colin Firth is a determined menace, while Colman Domingo, though not given much to do, offers a steady hand and a calm voice above the chaos. There is, however, one weak link in the chain, in the form of Wyatt Russell as Margaret’s boyfriend, as ultimately the character serves minimal purpose. You don’t waste a great actor like that.

And while that’s the only real squandering in Disclosure Day, the interesting ideas that the movie puts up on screen are not enough to compensate for inadequate spectacle, especially when characters are driven more by plot and circumstance rather than emotion – something that Spielberg has balanced much better in the past.

Make no mistake, this is lean and mean production, executed with exemplary talent and original storytelling. But for all that comes with the question of whether we’re alone in the universe or not, the answer is delivered in an oddly subdued, oddly indistinct way that leaves one wanting more.

Disclosure Day comes to cinemas on 12 June.