Out this week in Irish cinemas is the latest Steven Spielberg joint, Disclosure Day. Starring Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor, along with Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo and Colin Firth, Disclosure Day follows two individuals in what could be the most important day in human history.
It’s been a minute since I watched a Steven Spielberg film. The last film I saw of his was The Post, and I found it fine. Now, nine years later, I find myself in a similar situation. The concept of Disclosure Day is fascinating. Weather woman Margaret (Blunt) finds herself changed when she and a bird have a bizarre connective moment. Across the country, rogue agent Daniel Kellner (O’Connor) is trying to dodge shadowy corporation Wardex along with his girlfriend Janet (Hewson). The reason? He has a large collection of files, which will blow the lid off the secrets Wardex has kept from humanity for decades, that aliens are very real, and we’ve been treating them very poorly.
I’m in the flow
Disclosure Day is a seriously frustrating film. The film opens strongly, dropping us right into the action with Daniel facing off against big bad Noah (Firth). With a lot of terms being thrown around, I felt excited, looking forward to a film that put forward a lot of interesting questions. The film put forth a mystery box, and it did not deliver a satisfying answer. I found myself waiting for something to capture my attention; the closest Disclosure Day got was with Colin Firth’s ominous Noah Scanlon, a man who has benefited from the power and technology of alien visitors. He delivers a fairly convincing menace, in particular in a scene where he mentally hijacks another character.
Emily Blunt’s Margaret is also another highlight, as she discovers this “change” in herself; she finds herself connected to those all around her, and Blunt delivers the performance compellingly. Unfortunately, another hurdle that holds her back at times, along with the rest of the cast, is obnoxious and heavy-handed dialogue. The best way I can describe this is the film is self-aware, and it believes that it is telling a story so timely, so important that everything that each character spouts is gospel, and we are privileged to hear it. The worst offender of this is Colman Domingo’s character, Hugo, who has an ego that is near the level of a deity. Which is ironic since he is clearly a stand-in for Spielberg himself, right down to him directing all the players of Disclosure Day.
From a technical aspect, that is a mixed bag. Disclosure Day has several action pieces, but none are particularly interesting. Several of them rely on the idiocy of the antagonists; there is one in the third act of the film that will have you scratching your head with frustration. The score is also fine. I’ve never thought this before, but it felt like John Williams was tired, and that permeates throughout the whole film.
Disclosure Day is a terrible film, one of the worst I’ve seen this year, which is saying a lot with some of the stinkers we’ve had. With a message that does not deliver and a director who feels like he is doing a greatest hits performance, I can only recommend this for the ride or die fans of Spielberg.
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