Director: Steven Spielberg
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewsom, Colman Domingo
Screenplay: David Koepp
145 mins. Rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language.

How does he do it? How does Steven Spielberg (Catch Me If You Can) still manage to make me feel the same sense of wonder I felt as a child? How does he bring me back to that younger me who sat, jaw agape, as E.T. and Close Encounters of the Third Kind made me believe? Or Jurassic Park, when the Brachiosaurus made its first appearance? I don’t quite know how he still has this magic over 50 years into his directing career but thank God he still does because his newest creation, Disclosure Day build up to several payoffs that damn near took my breath away.

Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor, Challengers) has stolen data from the very group he was hired to protect. Now, he’s on the run from a shadow organization called Wardex which operates alongside the United States Government and wants their data back. At the same time, Kansas City weatherperson Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt, Oppenheimer) is speaking other languages, including one that doesn’t seem human-based. She’s also begun knowing things about the people in her life, things she shouldn’t know, and even knowledge of Daniel and the dangers following him. Together, Daniel and Margaret need to stay ahead of Wardex and find out what’s happening to them hopefully in time to reveal the government’s longest-kept secret.

There’s a moment near the end of this film where a character is having a flashback in a bedroom, and I realized I was feeling the same way I did when I was a child. I was transported back to the most important moments of my movie fandom growing up when I was in awe of every magical moment, and I had that once again. Movie fans chase these moments their whole lives, that sense of wonderment that many filmmakers have accomplished, but no one does it like Spielberg. Some sequences, like a car chase partially seen in the trailer, gave me chills, and some of the (on the outset) sillier ideas are given magical importance. The screenplay has some faults, but Spielberg is able to elevate the whole thing to a different level

One thing that David Koepp’s screenplay excels at is the character of Jane and her fundamental questioning of her faith. I’ve always found that the questioning of a higher power in the realization of a different higher being would only help to establish one’s faith more, but I love that she’s conflicted in how to feel about it, and she reaches out to her surrogate family to help her work through it. One of my favorite pieces of dialogue goes somewhat like, “Why would he create a vast universe and save it only for us?” It’s a subtle and nuanced character arc that will get overshadowed by Disclosure Day’s more bombastic elements, but I think this is a particular high point for a supporting character that other directors would push further in the background.

Emily Blunt has the most difficult role in the entire film because it hinges on so many unusual elements, and in lesser hands, it would’ve derailed the whole thing. As Margaret, she has to have an emotional connection with just about every character she comes across, and she’s able to imbue so many small moments with personal connection. There’s also the scene from the trailer where she’s speaking a seemingly indecipherable language of vocal sounds that works so much better in the finished film with the setup Spielberg gives it.

There’s a lot of buildup in Disclosure Day, and your mileage may vary depending on how much you invest in the inevitable payoff. Personally, I feel like Spielberg’s been building to this film for decades. While not being a sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Disclosure Day is definitely a spiritual follow-up, matching much of the same energy that he brought to the classic 70’s science fiction epic. Not only that, this film shares much of its DNA with an oft-forgotten piece of Spielberg’s history: the 2001 television miniseries, Taken. Most viewers are unaware of this television masterpiece (produced by Spielberg), crafted in ten parts over fifteen hours, stretching from 1947 to (at the time) present day, chronicling three generations dealing with the effects of alien abduction. Many segments of Disclosure Day feel either directly lifted or intentionally connected to Taken, and seeing through the lens of E.T., Close Encounters, and Taken, Disclosure Day is a culmination of the alien story that Spielberg has been building toward his whole life. I don’t want to spoil significant details from the final act of the film, but seeing the through line made Disclosure Day all the better.

We live is more pessimistic society right now; people are depressed and in need of hope, and Disclosure Day provides that. It doesn’t sugarcoat the state of the world. Instead, it confronts our focus on each by providing us with the context of a higher power, using extraterrestrials as an examination of faith, and it’s also terrifically thrilling from start to end. The screenplay has a few sillier aspects that don’t work as well as they could, and Spielberg makes the best of it and still manages to capture a sense of unmistakable wonder, furthering a fascination that he started decades ago. For those willing to partake in its wonder, this is a special film.

4.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe

• For more Steven Spielberg: Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds, The Post