Closer encounters: Spielberg’s sci-fi drama an occasionally rambling but matured reflection on aliens and empathy
“Disclosure Day” — 3.5 stars
Emily Blunt’s Kansas City TV weathercaster Margaret Fairchild delivers the last line in Steven Spielberg’s 35th motion picture, “Disclosure Day” — a single word, a brief imperative sentence that implores rather than commands a transfixed, awestruck worldwide audience.
A perfectly ambiguous ending to an imperfect movie that combines sharp, over-the-top action scenes with subtle thoughtfulness. A movie that occasionally rambles and feels unnecessarily complicated, yet takes us to a place no science-fiction drama has quite taken us before.
A movie grounded in such specific detail and speculative nonfiction that they anchor moments of inadvertent hilarity involving a mysterious artifact that acts similar to an all-purpose Harry Potter magic wand.
Perhaps Spielberg became inspired to create the story of “Disclosure Day” by a line of dialogue from his 2002 sci-fi thriller “Minority Report.” Samantha Morton’s clairvoyant precog leads Tom Cruise’s Pre-Crime chief through a shopping mall. She abruptly confronts a surprised female stranger and says, “He knows! Don’t go home!”
Similarly, Blunt’s weathercaster inexplicably acquires ESP powers that tap into people’s thoughts, concerns and complete family histories.
This occurs after she begins to speak in a bizarre dialect riddled with clicking noises during a TV broadcast. (You’ve seen the trailer?)
These sound like movie-alien-discourse to us, but gibberish to everyone else, except Danny Kellner (Josh O’Connor), a super cybersecurity guy who understands Margaret’s noises.
Danny opens “Disclosure Day” in the middle of a kidnap/ransom scenario where he has promised to give a gang of thugs a mysterious artifact in exchange for his abducted girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson).
The thugs turn out to be henchmen working for a quasi-criminal mastermind named Noah (a low-key Colin Firth), leader of a powerful, quasi-governmental shadow company Wardex, a place so high-tech, its vast control room resembles NASA’s command center mixed with a giant sports bar decorated by a kazillion TV screens.
When Noah sees footage of Margaret’s weathercast, he instantly dispatches his agents to apprehend her.
The chase that began with Danny widens to include Margaret and some nifty, tightly assembled action sequences (including an impressive train/auto collision) shot by master cinematographer and longtime collaborator Janusz Kaminski (a Chicago Columbia College grad and two-time winner of the Best Cinematography Oscar).
Why all this fuss?
Danny has stolen/liberated a high-tech treasure trove of photos, videos and documents supposedly proving that extraterrestrials exist and have been captured on earth, but the government has been suppressing this for decades.
Noah and his army intend to stop Danny for fear he will rip the world apart with revelations (and newscasters have already been pelting the public with sketchy reports of a Korea/Russia crisis brewing).
“Disclosure Day” touches on the religious and cultural ramifications of Danny’s revelations, not as some manufactured debate, but as a voice of reasoned mystery and positive acceptance by Sister Maura, a nun (Elizabeth Marvel) and Jane’s mentor.
At 79, Spielberg has segued into an artist’s confidence that comes with experience and lifetime learning. His message of hope (scripted by frequent Spielberg screenwriter David Koepp) needs no grand speeches or ker-thudding illustrations, just a moment of reflection from Hugo, a Wardex defector (a quietly commanding Colman Domingo), who refers to empathy as an evolutionary goal for the literal universe.
“Disclosure Day” lacks the high levels of childlike awe and wow-factors from Spielberg’s 1977 release “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Here, he uses authentic descriptions of what alien visitors look like, according to reports, to shape their appearances.
Spielberg has evolved in the past 49 years by becoming comfortable making movies that ask more questions than they need to answer.
He also has wisely prohibited using any footage from the final parts of his movie in commercials or trailers.
So if you think you’ve already seen “Disclosure Day” from the ads, take heart that the good stuff has not been disclosed.
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Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Elizabeth Marvel
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Other: A Universal Pictures release. Rated PG-13 for bloody images, language, violence. 145 minutes.