Steven Spielberg may not have intended this, but he’s given us the third part of the unofficial trilogy that started with “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and crested with “ET The Extraterrestrial.”
He gets members of his old gang back together for “Disclosure Day,” a movie I didn’t know I needed until I saw it. Spielberg brings in David Koepp for a screenplay based on his own story. John Williams, age 92, wrote the score, Janusz Kaminski has the cinematography. All heavy hitters, and each comes through cementing their reputations.
You must remember that Spielberg first captivated us with space aliens 49 years ago with “Close Encounters,” then five years later with “ET.” These were enormously popular and culture changing films. Although he went on to all kinds of successes back on Earth, he’s very associated with this genre.
The point of “Disclosure Day” is that for 79 years the government has hidden the truth about UFOs and aliens from us, and now a rogue researcher (Josh O’Connor) is going to blow the whistle. He works for a good guy (Colman Domingo) and is pursued by a bad one (Colin Firth in a great role. Josh’s Dr. Kellner also has a pretty curious girlfriend, played by the accomplished Eve Hewson (daughter of Bono).
On a parallel track comes Emily Blunt, who does the weather at a local station (all of this takes place in Spielberg’s innocent Americana, the bread basket of Illinois, Kansas, Indiana). Blunt’s Margaret lives with Jackson (Wyatt Russell, son of Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell), in Dallas, always feeling like she should be someplace else.
In the short order these people will collide. While Dr. Kellner is racing to tell the world we are not alone, Margaret — we learn in a bit — had an alien encounter as a child. Now, in present day, she starts experiencing symptoms of that meeting that surface in her speaking in tongues and being able to inhabit other people’s brains.
Meantime, while Domingo’s Hugo is trying to expedite the reveal of the government secrets, Firth’s Scanlon is trying to stop it — although he has his own sci fi powers similar to the empaths in “Minority Report.”
Spielberg and Koepp make a twisty tale of all threads proceeding in various adventures toward the inevitable moment when the principals will meet and compare notes. All these threads are action packed, edge of your seat, with some set pieces — including a fight in which the good guys are invisible — that should win editing awards for Sarah Broshar.
For a while, through two acts let’s say, Spielberg keeps up the action and moves everything forward enough so you know you’re in a really good, fascinating movie. But where is the heart? It comes thanks to Blunt’s power of mind reading (for lack of a better term) faces of deceased loved ones from the memories of strangers. Suddenly, the film is no longer about aliens or reveals, but people. And the stakes get much higher.
All the actors are top notch, of course. O’Connor is an excellent guide and Domingo and Firth are such stars we’ll believe anything they say or do. But this movie belongs to Emily Blunt. She’s got an Oscar nomination in here for making all of this plausible. Already recognized as a gifted actress, Blunt carries “Disclosure Day” to its startling climax and conclusion.
There are lots of Easter eggs, by the way. One is a direct reference to “ET,” which is not a retread but a reminder. Also, I think there’s a motel with a certain name just to reference “Indiana Jones.” Someone who’s really studied the film will make a list. There’s kind of a nod to “Poltergeist,” as well.
I sat in the theater last night in the 2nd balcony next to the esteemed New York Times writer Ralph Blumenthal. He wrote a famous 2017 article about UFO’s that he surmises triggered the idea for Spielberg. Indeed, on stage Spielberg cited the same year the story was published — 2017 — for when he began work. At first Blumenthal, a serious guy, felt some of the movie was silly. But by the time we got to the end, he was won over.
We don’t really know about UFOs and aliens being covered up by the government. Many will dismiss the idea, and they’ll be countered by people who claim to have had first person experiences. I hear them often on an overnight radio show called “Coast to Coast.” John Lennon is one of many celebrities — the late Maurice White of Earth Wind & Fire fame also — who claimed to have seen something.
One brilliant episode of “Twin Peaks” — in its third season — lays out a theory that the atomic bomb triggered the universe.
None of this matters. To make an effective, soulful movie, it has to be about characters — what they want, their backstories, and so on. The real core of “Disclosure Day” is that warm center, which works like a charm. And that’s where Blunt — and Hewson and O’Connor — nail this movie for keeps.
PS Kudos to the artist and CGI people. Some animals created by them make memorable appearances, particularly a red fox, a cute bird, and some yearning deer who seem to know more about what’s going on than the humans!
One more thing: early social media response was that this was “Spielberg’s best movie in 20 years,” which seemed like a backhanded compliment. “War Horse,” “Lincoln,” and “Bridge of Spies” works of art that will be studied and written about for a long time. (The only one I didn’t get was “The BFG.”) “Disclosure Day” goes in a top 10 all time of the director’s work.
