‘Disclosure Day' review: Spielberg returns to sci-fi with thrilling results
Arriving nearly five decades after Steven Spielberg's "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," the director's new "Disclosure Day" certainly is a spiritual sequel to that classic slice of science fiction. (It is not a direct sequel, if you're among those wondering and/or hoping. "Sorry, Internet," the production notes state.)
The prolific, acclaimed filmmaker returns to the subject of extraterrestrial life - a possibility he's also explored in the 1982 family-friendly classic "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" and his effectively dramatic adaptation of "War of the Worlds" in 2005 - with a lengthy but briskly paced conspiracy thriller in which the good guys are trying to reveal secrets being kept by the bad guys.
Interested in spirituality and championing empathy, the film hits the occasional hiccup, and its climax is, while largely satisfying, a bit much to swallow. However, none of that ultimately matters given just how entertaining and engrossing the well-made affair is.
Following the release of his much-praised, semiautobiographical 2022 film, "The Fabelmans," Spielberg became interested in revisiting the topic of otherworldly beings on Earth when a congressional oversight committee began conducting hearings on UAPs - the updated term for UFOs - titled "Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena: Implications on National Security, Public Safety, and Government Transparency."
Spielberg sketched out a story and recruited screenwriter David Koepp - a collaborator on his films "Jurassic Park," "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," "War of the Worlds" and "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" - to pen the script.
Their tale involves two main protagonists: Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), a brilliant cybersecurity expert in possession of highly sensitive material belonging to his former employer; and Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a TV journalist handling weather duties for a Kansas City station who has her eyes on anchoring.
After a strange encounter with a cardinal who flies into the loft Margaret shares with her musician boyfriend, Jackson (Wyatt Russell, "Thunderbolts*"), she begins speaking to him in Russian but obviously has no idea she's just done so when he questions her about it. Rushing back to the station, she is pulled over by a police officer, but she gets out of a citation for speeding by, seemingly, reading his mind and offering him helpful life advice.
Then, on air, she speaks in a series of clicks and other noises that sound like no language found on this planet.
Daniel, meanwhile, with girlfriend Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) in tow, is on the run from the company for which he used to work, Wardex, a shadowy private agency with close ties to the United States Department of Defense. Not required to submit data, documents or any kind of accountability reporting to a regulatory agency, Wardex is run by the powerful Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth, "The King's Speech"), who will do anything to recover the information-packed hard drives, as well as a mysterious alien device Daniel is carrying in a backpack. He's already kidnapped Jane, with Daniel threatening to use the device in the film's opening minutes to rescue her and maintain possession of the backpack.
Although they do not know each other, Daniel and Margaret are being pulled together, answering what seemingly is a cosmic force understood only by another former Wardex man, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo, "Sing Sing"), who is leading the charge to show the world the treasure trove of information Daniel carries. (Man, Agent Mulder would have killed for this kind of ally on "The X-Files.")
When you boil it down, "Disclosure Day" is an extremely elaborate chase movie, with Koepp having to get inventive - and to stretch the realm of believability - to keep it going for about four-fifths of its nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime. On the other hand, the film is so well directed by Spielberg that you just go with it.
The film's most exciting set piece involves Margaret, Daniel, two cars, a man trying to shoot them and two speeding trains. Captivated by train scenes since he was a boy, Spielberg has held on to the idea for this breathtaking one for many years.
As she tends to be, Blunt is compelling here, working for the first time with Spielberg. No stranger to films revolving around alien life, with the excellent "Edge of Tomorrow" (2014) and "A Quiet Place" (2018) among her credits, Blunt's Margaret is less the daring hero here and more a destiny follower. She's long felt a compulsion to keep moving, believing she would know where she was supposed to be when she arrived there.
A onetime star of "The Crown," O'Connor continues to add to his increasingly impressive resume following films including "Challengers" (2024) and last year's "Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery." He brings that relatable everyman quality to the role even as Daniel is revealed to be anything but ordinary.
The best supporting work is turned in by Hewson ("Jay Kelly," "Flora and Son"). Her Jane is thoughtful and caring, having abandoned a path toward becoming a nun but still carrying a deep faith in God. Unlike Daniel, she questions whether releasing this information is what's best for the world - especially when it's on the brink of a major war involving the U.S.
Spielberg's behind-the-camera collaborators include many talented people with whom he's previously worked - among them director of photography Janusz Kamiński ("Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan"), production designer Adam Stockhausen ("Bridge of Spies") and longtime composer John Williams, who's created the music for many of his films and who came out of retirement for this one - all of whom contribute to this being a memorable offering.
If you choose to, you can see an aspect of the film as a metaphor for the current treatment of some folks residing in this country without legal status, but, at the end of the day, Spielberg is not trying to be very political with "Disclosure Day."
He is trying to be entertaining, and he has succeeded wildly.
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'DISCLOSURE DAY'
3.5 stars (out of 4)
MPA rating: PG-13 (for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language)
Running time: 2:25
How to watch: In theaters June 12
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This story was originally published June 9, 2026 at 12:53 PM.