Disclosure Day

When Steven Spielberg made Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), extraterrestrial life forms were a dining-table conversation, shrouded in mystery and wonder. As his latest venture Disclosure Day releases, aliens, ‘unidentified flying objects’ (UFOs) and deep-state military complexes unfortunately appear more often in the message boards of alt-right conspiracy theorists – folks caricatured beyond redemption in popular culture. This is the first significant difference between the two Spielberg films, released 49 years apart, which might dictate the latter’s reception. Another thing working against Spielberg’s latest film is that it comes a decade after Arrival (2016), directed by Denis Villeneuve. The Amy Adams-starrer, based on humans making first contact with extraterrestrial beings, managed something rare: being both deeply philosophical about the human condition while also being a definitive anti-Spielberg film, with its devastating, open-ended climax prompting more questions than answers.

சயின்ஸ் பிக்ஷன் - ஏலியன்ஸ் காம்போவில் ஸ்டீவன் ஸ்பீல்பெர்க் படம் என்றாலே அதற்கு எனத் தனி ரசிகர் பட்டாளம் உண்டு. ஏலியன்கள் குறித்து அவர் எடுத்த ‘Close Encounters of the Third Kind’, ‘E.T. (Extra Terrestrial), ‘War of the Worlds’ என அனைத்துமே இன்றுவரை கிளாசிக்காகக் கொண்டாடப்படுகின்றன. அப்படிப்பட்ட தன் ஃபேவரைட் ஜானருக்குள் மீண்டும் நுழைந்திருக்கிறார் ஸ்பீல்பெர்க்! உலகமே மூன்றாம் உலகப்போர் குறித்த அச்சத்திலிருக்க, ‘வார்டெக்ஸ்’ (Wartex) என்ற நிறுவனத்தின் ரகசிய, பாதுகாக்கப்பட்ட கோப்புகளையும், ஒரு மர்மமான கருவியையும் திருடிவிடுகிறார் அந்நிறுவனத்தின் சைபர் செக்யூரிட்டியில் பணியாற்றும் டேனியல் கெல்னர் (ஜாஷ் ஓ’கானர்). அவரை அந்நிறுவனத்தின் சிஇஓ (காலின் ஃபிர்த்), தன் படைகளுடன் துரத்த, தன் காதலியுடன் தப்பி ஓடுகிறார் கெல்னர்.

When his compatriots were making paranoid thrillers in the 1970s, Spielberg was busy perfecting a different kind of film, one so successful it hastened the end of the New American Cinema. Years later, he made an excellent film about whistleblowers and journalists, set in 1971, called The Post (2017). His new film—set in the present day—is also a kind of paranoid thriller, yet it lacks the dread and the shadowy possibilities of the best ones. This is a genre that’s most effective when allusive, and Disclosure Day is both vague and too literal. When his compatriots were making paranoid thrillers in the 1970s, Spielberg was busy perfecting a different kind of film, one so successful it hastened the end of the New American Cinema. Years later, he made an excellent film about whistleblowers and journalists, set in 1971, called The Post (2017). His new film—set in the present day—is also a kind of paranoid thriller, yet it lacks the dread and the shadowy possibilities of the best ones. This is a genre that’s most effective when allusive, and Disclosure Day is both vague and too literal.

Master filmmaker Steven Spielberg is back with a theme that made him a household name. Close Encounters of the Third Kind arrived in 1977 and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial followed in 1982. After all these years, no one crafts a science-fiction thriller involving extraterrestrials quite like Spielberg.

Disclosure Day hits the ground running. Walking is not its style. We’re flung into a story that’s already in motion. It’s a bit like joining a film midway through: no context, no beginning or warning. Catch me if you can, it seems to say. A young cybersecurity specialist (Josh O’Connor) has something in his bag that a shadowy supervillain (Colin Firth) and his deep-state corporation wants. They’ve abducted said hero’s girlfriend (Eve Hewson) to make the trade at a wrestling arena. But this hero, Daniel, somehow escapes with both girlfriend and bag intact. (If the baddies were competent, the story would’ve ended in a minute). So Daniel was being chased, stays chased, and remains on the run. A meteorologist with psychic powers, Margaret (Emily Blunt), joins him along the way.

Cyber-security specialist Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) and meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) race against time to reveal a truth that has been hidden from humanity for nearly 80 years. Standing in their way is Wardex, a powerful corporate entity determined to keep the secret buried at any cost. But what is this earth-shattering revelation about extraterrestrials—one capable of changing the world order, toppling governments, and forcing people to question God, religion, and even their own existence? One of the greatest filmmakers of all time, Steven Spielberg carries the burden of expectations few directors can match. His name alone demands excellence, often making even his good films seem underwhelming when they fall short of the lofty standards associated with his legacy. Disclosure Day is not a commercial crowd-pleaser but a deeply personal work, with Spielberg steering away from conventional genre tropes to follow his own instincts. He trades spectacle for existential wonder, prioritizing ideas over immediate gratification and inviting audiences to engage with his vision on its own terms, unconcerned with delivering a rewarding climax.

Disclosure Day rolls out smoothly and fully formed from the atelier of the great Steven Spielberg, with humanity – once again – discovering itself in the face of the divine and the unknown. Spielberg himself has described it as the closest to his film Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and Disclosure Day perhaps dabbles most evidently with the question of God and aliens. And because it’s Spielberg, what you see is what you get. There is talk of a government-military-industrial nexus, but it is suggestive of an older time, not now, when the President’s family and the biggest weapons profiteers are in bed together without raising a scandal. There is talk of “empathy as humanity’s evolutionary advantage”, but nothing about why and where and how fast it is eroding. The only aliens in Spielberg’s film are the ones that come from outer space, and they are the same big-headed, slender-limbed, bug-eyed creatures he favours; the director clearly hasn’t spotted the ones closer home being chased off the streets.