DISCLOSURE DAY
**
Directed by Steven Spielberg.
Starring Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth.
Science-Fiction, US, 145 Minutes, Certificate 12A.
Released in Cinemas in the UK on 10th June by Universal Pictures.
The release for Steven Spielberg’s first science-fiction film in eight years is a strange one. On one hand it feels strangely muted and under-promoted, while on the other there has been, in some dark/daft corners of the internet, intense speculation that the film is part of some grand conspiracy to prepare the general public to finally learn and accept what the whole deal actually is with our elusive, extraterrestrial friends. As enticing a prospect as that may be, sadly it leans more towards the banal truth of the former than the latter, where all that we learn is that this is very much a lesser effort from a director who has previously found much success with the genre.
At first, it all seems so promising, with the much hushed plot gradually revealing itself as we are plunged into the action with no explanation, forcing ourselves to play catch-up with Josh O’Connor’s Daniel Kellner, a fugitive from a shady company named WARDEX. Led by a quiet, but not menacing, Colin Firth, this shady bunch seem very interested in getting back the mysterious macguffin that Kellner has pilfered from them. At the same time across the country, Emily Blunt’s local TV weather girl soon starts experiencing near telepathic episodes, culminating in her speaking in some mysterious language live on air. With the world seemingly on the brink of war (sounds familiar!) the two characters soon find themselves drawn mysteriously together to unveil a secret that has been kept in the dark since 1947 and that could upend society and reveal the truth about humankind’s place in the universe.
UAP, remember when they were UFO’s?, aficionados will no doubt recognise the significance of that particular year, and there are nods to other vintage legends of alien encounters, even the Richard Nixon and Jackie Gleason incident is amusingly acknowledged here. All of this though is background detail, crouched among a litany of other background details that sometimes encroach on to the flimsy and ultimately underwhelming plot that is at the heart of things here. Questions of faith and religion are raised then waved away with a simple and trite explanation. Also touched upon, but completely unexplored is the everyday issue of AI and deepfake videos, this too is explained away in a throwaway line of dialogue. This inability, or plain refusal, to look into this aspect in favour of half baked thrills and mawkish emotion seems surprising, when you consider the hard edge he has previously brought to his genre work in the years just before and after 9/11. Gone is the paranoia of MINORITY REPORT, the devastating terror of WAR OF THE WORLDS or the bleak loneliness of A.I. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE. What we have here is a very safe feeling film. Even in comparison to his action classics this feels like a far more lethargic affair with the film's chase and pursuit strand lacking the propulsive drive of many of his other films. Of course the film to which it will most likely be compared to is his classic CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE THIRD KIND, a film about one man's obsessive quest for the truth and his place in the universe set against the majesty of the infinite night sky and the vast widescreen landscape of America. Compared to that, the closing act locations here of an empty warehouse and a TV studio seems sorely underwhelming.
David Koepp’s script, from an original story by Spielberg, seems naive and strangely past its time. In an age where the US Government regularly releases footage of encounters with possible alien craft, it feels that visitors from space have lost their allure and mystery. The likes of THE X-FILES and MEN IN BLACK have hammered the whole sinister government angle firmly into the mainstream that this is a film where the majority of it feels far too familiar. Aspects of the conclusion also seem to have been lifted from the pages of a certain Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons graphic novel in particular.
At the same time however, Spielberg directs like a man possessed. Even in his late seventies, like George Miller and Martin Scorsese, he still knows his way around a scene, zipping the camera around in inventive fashion. The film's highlight is a car chase, with Kellner not only fleeing his pursuers but having to deal with a knife wielding backseat passenger in a style that recalls not only Spielberg in his prime but also Brian De Palma in his big budget studio heyday with its use of suspense and split focus framing. Even with all of its bum notes, the pacing never lags and there are glimpses of another far more enticing film during its conclusion.
It is a far more interesting film than an entertaining one, but it is interesting for the wrong reasons. Maybe the conspiracy angle is accurate, but with the intent of making first contact boring and uninteresting. At a point late in the film here it shows the vast majority of the world glued to their phones in a scene that is so heavy handed you start to wonder if a satirical point is being made. Is Spielberg making a comment on how he perceives audiences now? After a single viewing of this you may feel inclined to disagree, pull out your own phone and look at any number of flying saucer/spaceship videos that contain more mystery and wonder than this two and a half hour exercise in trite storytelling. A wasted opportunity in nearly every way this is only a crushing reminder that this is a film from the Steven Spielberg who directed INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, and not the genius who gave us RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. Decades ago we were implored by the ending of the original THE THING FROM ANOTHER WORLD at the height of the original UFO phenomena to “Keep watching the skies!” It certainly feels like a better option than this naive lesser entry that fails to capture the imagination.
Iain MacLeod