I would be lying if I said I wasn’t slightly nervous when approaching the cinema to see his new film Disclosure Day. There was something about the trailer that made this look like it was Spielberg back at his best – and added to that is the fact that this sees the great man returning to one of his favourite subjects – extra-terrestrials. Surely the director that gave us Close Encounters Of The Third Kind and E.T. couldn’t possibly suddenly get this subject matter wrong.
I need not have worried because not only does Spielberg return to his past magic with Disclosure Day but he delivers a modern-day cinematic masterpiece.
Written by David Koepp (Jurassic Park) Disclosure Day begins with a couple on the run. Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor – Challengers) has stolen one of the U.S. Government’s biggest secrets – all of its secret files and footage that proves the existence of extra-terrestrials.
Desperate to get them back his former boss, the evil Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth – The King’s Speech), has kidnapped Daniel’s girlfriend Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson – Robin Hood), but his plan goes wrong. As they meet for the handover Daniel outsmarts Scanlon and ends up leaving with both Jane and the secret files.
Meanwhile television weather presenter Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt – The Devil Wears Prada) is at home preparing for work with her partner Jackson (Wyatt Russell – Thunderbolts*) when a Cardinal bird flies through their window and lands on the table. It makes eye contact with Margaret and suddenly she is speaking fluent strange languages and seemingly knowing everything about anybody she meets.
The link between these two events seems to be the mysterious Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo – Lincoln) who not only knows about Jane, Scanlon and Margaret but seems to be orchestrating everything.
Suspense
Bringing the pieces of the cinematic tapestry together is the maestro himself Spielberg. In a way that only the most masterful of filmmakers can Spielberg lets the three storylines run simultaneously constantly keeping his audience guessing at what will happen next, while expertly drip-feeding information that begins to bring things together.
Like he does with some of his greatest films, Spielberg also keeps the suspense raised throughout the film without having to rely on big action set pieces. Sure there are some car chases but this is a film where a dialogue driven scene between Margaret and Jackson can be just as suspenseful as anything action-related.
In fact of the most intense scenes in the whole film is when Koepp’s creative idea of ‘dropping in’ is introduced to the audience. Basically, Scanlon has worked out how to use alien technology to drop a part of himself into the presence of any human on the planet. When he harnasses the power correctly he can ‘sit’ opposite them and talk to them all while gathering clues to where they are – yes this goes deep into Inception territory. At one point of the film he ‘drops in’ on Jane in a bid to find out where Daniel is and while the scene itself is just the two of them sitting opposite it each other talking it leaves the audience holding their breath on every piece of dialogue delivered.
The film also needs to be congratulated for the way that Koepp’s screenplay leaves the audience thinking after the credits have rolled. The film raises thought-provoking topics such as what would happen to the world and humanity if we did suddenly have proof that aliens existed. Would wars start, would wars end, would religions change, would humanity lose faith or now have new beings to worship? So many questions are raised that I can guarantee the car trip home from the cinema after watching Disclosure Day is going to feel like a theology lecture.
Rounding out what makes Disclosure Day one of the best films of the year are the performances from some its cast. Blunt reminds everybody what a sensational actress she can be when she is given the right screenplay while Firth shines as the determined villain in the piece.
Using the style of filmmaking that made supernatural thrillers of the 1990s so amazing Spielberg has once again delivered a piece of cinematic magic. Disclosure Day is a blueprint of how to bring suspense to the big screen and just when you think things couldn’t get any better it closes with a finale that leaves you simply thinking ‘WOW!’ And for the real cinephiles out there try to spot how Spielberg manages to tie the film into one of his early masterpieces – Close Encounters of The Third Kind.
Disclosure Day is currently screening in Phuket and is rated 13+
4.5/5 Stars
David Griffiths has been working as a film journalist for over 25 years. That time has seen him work in radio, television and in print. He currently hosts a film podcast called The Popcorn Conspiracy. He is also a Rotten Tomatoes accredited reviewer and is an alternate judge for the Golden Globes Awards. You can follow him at Facebook: SubcultureEntertainmentAus.