What if we’re not alone? Steven Spielberg, creator and director of Disclosure Day, raises this question about sightings of alien visitors cruising our skies. And alien fascination has long inspired big- and small-screen entertainment, such as Star Trek (1966), Star Wars (1977), Alien (1979), The X Files (1993), and Project Hail Mary (2026). But among filmmakers, Spielberg has an alien curiosity that doesn’t rest. On his resume of more than 35 productions, Disclosure Day becomes his fourth alien adventure, following E.T., Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and War of the Worlds.
Installing UFOs into a fictional setting, Disclosure Day features an organization called Wardex that secretly tracks, captures, and studies alien visitors. But Daniel, a young member of the Wardex technical team, starts questioning their secrecy. He comes to believe that all sightings should be shared with the public, including everything known about these tourists in the sky.
Kudos to screenwriter David Koepp (Jurassic Park, Mission Impossible) for transforming this modern-day saga into a compelling script. The fast pace and fine casting of worthy characters will hold your attention for the full 145 minutes, so make popcorn.
Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada) plays TV meteorologist Margaret Fairchild, whose sudden psychic transformation delivers memorable moments. Blunt would be hard pressed to find another eclectic role that equally employs her versatility and humor. Josh O’Connor (The History of Sound) plays Daniel Kellner, the cybersecurity expert who goes rogue to expose Wardex’s 75-year archive of alien visitors that have been tracked, captured, filmed, studied, and abused. And Daniel’s in possession of decades of files. But Wardex director Noah is tracking him. Noah is played by Colin Firth (who is my reason for viewing Pride and Prejudice and The King’s Speech several times). Noah is guided by his own psychic powers, and for those who don’t cooperate, he resorts to mind control.
Daniel gains the support of his girlfriend, Jane, a bold young woman with a surprising past, who’s played by the young and impressive Eve Hewson (Jay Kelly). Hewson is considered a Hollywood nepo baby as the daughter of U2’s Bono, but her onscreen presence alone would have been enough to pave her way to Tinseltown. Daniel’s wise and benevolent supervisor Hugh is played by Coleman Domingo (Sing Sing). And Elizabeth Marvel (of Homeland fame) brings vitality to her unexpected and entertaining role.
This may sound odd, but your attitude about space aliens would probably neither aid nor diminish your enjoyment of the film. The fast-paced storyline delivers tension, conflict, and questions about the safety of our earthly home.
We all recall reading about the bizarre crash in 1947 of an unidentified spaceship in Roswell, New Mexico, bearing passengers straight out of science fiction. Can we somehow benefit from our mystery visitors? Are they just curious? Or dangerous? Why are they here, and what do they want? And let’s not forget all those early accounts of human abductions, apparently to the aliens’ home planet, where human victims suffered humiliating body inspections, internal and external, not entirely unlike those of high school students studying dead frogs.
The film suggests we shouldn’t be afraid of what we don’t know. I disagree. Caution is our safety net. This is why we look through the peephole before opening our door to strangers. Let’s close the doors to invaders and find simple ways to discourage their visits. Otherwise . . . remember that episode of The Twilight Zone when aliens came to earth to help the humans create world peace? And succeeded! They carried a curious handbook written in “alien” but titled in English To Serve Man. Meanwhile, the aliens started chauffeuring earthlings to visit their planet, but those who joined them didn’t return. Eventually, the earth humans figured it out. The manual, To Serve Man, was a cookbook. I rest my case.