Aliens. Are they out there? Are they not? Are they friendly? Are they aggressive? What do they look like? Where are they? I have no doubt that these questions, and many more, have been flying around Steven Spielberg’s head his entire life, and he has attempted to answer them in his own way throughout his film career. From his very first feature film at 17 years old, Firelight, in 1964, to Close Encounters of the Third Kind in 1977, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982 and his adaptation of War of the Worlds in 2005, Spielberg’s interest in aliens has been culturally significant. He even managed to squeeze his fascination with aliens into other films of his (rightly or wrongly), such as 2001’s A.I. Artificial Intelligence and 2008’s Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, and that’s not even including other alien-based projects he has been involved with. All this to say, have we seen just about every angle on aliens that Spielberg could set his eye to, or has he more to tell us through his latest sci-fi picture, Disclosure Day?

Director: Steven Spielberg
Writers: Steven Spielberg, David Koepp
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Henry Lloyd-Hughes

Wardex Corporation, a secret branch of the government that deals with extra-terrestrial activity, is thrown into chaos when cybersecurity specialist Daniel Kellner (O’Connor) steals numerous files relating to government contact with aliens going back to the 1940s and decides the world has a right to this information. Perhaps more importantly, he has also taken a piece of alien technology. He sets out to join a group of Wardex employees who are also planning on whistleblowing. Meanwhile, television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Blunt) begins to experience new psychic powers that allow her to understand and speak multiple languages, including a non-human language, and understand people telepathically. She is drawn psychically to Daniel, and as she tracks him down, the pair of them are pursued by Wardex CEO Noah Scanlon (Firth).

Speaking as an adult of the Millennial generation, Spielberg was always an unseen presence in childhood, a kind of (friendly) alien himself, entering homes and teaching all kinds of lessons through his sci-fi, fantasy and drama films, and he continues to do so up to the present, as Disclosure Day proves. It contains numerous elements that we’ve seen from Spielberg previously, including aliens being more of a background presence than the main event, exploring elements of the human condition and how we react to/deal with world-changing events, and the murky waters that lie between the shores of intentional good and unconscionable evil. But throw in aliens messing with the human mind, the American government covering up their activities, tons of action sequences, and a (more subtle) John Williams score, and Disclosure Day doesn’t offer much in the way of originality from Spielberg. It’s a mash-up of familiar tropes wrapped in modern day technology in an attempt make things feel fresh. People are talking about it being an unofficial, or ‘spritual’, sequel to Close Encounters, but I think that’s a stretch. It has a similar trajectory and finale to Close Encounters, but the payoff felt less awesome. Where the story delved into the government’s deception again and again it could have been playing on the moral responsibility of releasing world-changing information, where the consequences could be disasterous.

Visually, Disclosure Day has a lot of action and stunts to keep the pace from slowing, which could have been a problem with the amount of depth that David Koepp went into in his screenplay, but it probably wouldn’t be a Spielberg film without stunts that may force you to suspend your disbelief more than usual. Some aspects of the sets were there more for scale than story (and, without giving anything away, the building of a particular house was unnecessary as only one room was needed), but that scale made for a pretty immersive experience. As for the inclusion of any actual aliens… well, I don’t want to spoil it for those that haven’t seen it, so expect much less than E.T. but a tad more than Close Encounters. If you’re watching this film purely for the aliens, you might be disappointed (and if you’re a Spielberg fan you ought to know better).

Although the story might have been a little stretched and the film more action-heavy than necessary, the performances were undeniable. Emily Blunt comes through once again with her seamless ability to draw us in to a character and even creep us out in moments, and Josh O’Connor proves just how versatile he is by jumping into his first sci-fi film and leading much of the action quite confidently (and, with great respect, O’Connor is a little better and more believable at the American accent than Blunt, surprisingly). Colin Firth, while a terrific actor, is difficult to believe in as an antagonist, with Henry Lloyd-Hughes coming through as a pretty solid bad guy when Firth does not. Wyatt Russell adds a little comedy to proceedings and it’s a shame he wasn’t more of a presence throughout the film, and Colman Domingo is a strong, grounding presence when it comes to the team of whistleblowers.

On the whole, Disclosure Day felt a little sterile at times, particularly when it came to the characters “disclosing” the files, as the grey area of understanding the worldwide repercussions of doing what appears to be “the right thing” and the consequences that may come with it were too glossed over by the whistleblowing side. It seemed that some plot holes were covered up by action sequences rather than being more thoroughly addressed, too. We have the standard cliffhanger ending that only a director of Spielberg’s status can get away with, thus there’s room for a sequel, but if previous Spielberg films are anything to go by, he doesn’t really like to force a perspective on us; the results will be whatever we imagine them to be, and that’s OK. There is a lot to enjoy about this film, but much of it is very familiar to us already.