Disclosure Day

Released 2026. Director: Steven Spielberg

DISCLOSURE DAY BRINGS TOGETHER UFOs, alien encounters, conspiracy theories, high-level cover-ups, the Roswell myth and a small band of people who know what's really going on. Enough to spark a familiar TV tune in my head that recalls the tagline "The truth is out there". Indeed Disclosure Day is the blockbuster episode distilling the essence of The X-Files.

As an original story by Steven Spielberg and scripted by David Koepp, the movie feeds into the curiosity, anxiety and paranoia generated by the Pentagon's release of declassified UFO files (I'm keeping the old-school term instead of the insipidly rebranded UAP). The uncanny timing feels as if the US government has handed a gift to the grandmaster of sci-fi cinema just in time to integrate the material to bolster the “realism” of his movie.

Leading the way in this high-speed other-worldly thriller is Emily Blunt, re-establishing her sci-fi credentials after The Adjustment Bureau, Looper, Edge of Tomorrow and A Quiet Place. Blunt is Margaret Fairchild, a TV meteorologist who is suddenly able to read the minds and grasp the life stories of people around her, including complete strangers. She also becomes multi-lingual and speaks an alien language that sounds like a series of clicking noise.

Running parallel to Margaret's story is Josh O'Connor as cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner, a fugitive hunted by agents from the shadowy Wardex Corp, from which he's stolen a cache of video footage that will decisively alter the course of human history.

Assisting Daniel on the run is Hugo Wakefield, played by Colman Dolmingo, as a defactor of Wardex now orchestrating Daniel's undertaking to expose the secrecy. Eve Hewson, as Daniel's girlfriend Jane, is caught up in the chase and has a vital role at the final crunch time. Colin Firth, playing against his signature Mr Darcy persona, is Wardex boss Noah Scanlon, who risks his own life to stop the truth from being brought to light.

All the actors are terrific, with enough time and material for their characters to make a strong impression, including smaller roles for Elizabeth Marvel as head nun Sister Maura and Wyatt Russell as Margaret's boyfriend Jackson.

The momentous revelation at the heart of Disclosure Day is the existence of extra-terrestrials and their captivity by the US government. The movie's relentless energy is built on the breakneck chase by Scanlon to capture the whistleblowers and retrieve the stolen cache of files. How Margaret fits into the uncovering as the chosen one is only understood towards the end when her memory of an unearthly childhood encounter finally makes sense.

We see some nifty alien technology at work, involving phantom projection and some kind of teleporting, inexplicable by human science but cutting-edge special effects to splash out on a big screen. The aliens are portrayed as benign visitors, though their purpose is not entirely clear, other than to establish a telepathic connection. But to choose a couple of kids out of 8 billion is not really a convincing tactic. Why not select more people spread around the world, and why this little girl, who still has many years of growing up to do before she can be the literal mouthpiece and mind reader to bring about the full disclosure?

Over five decades Spielberg has given us a quintessential selection of science-fiction cinema including Close Encounters of the Third Kind, E.T., Jurassic Park, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report and War of the Worlds. Each one of them thematically distinct, all of them standard-bearers of the genre. Although Disclosure Day contains echoes from some of his past hits, it's a new story revisiting some of Spielberg's favourite themes and not a sequel or continuation of any kind as some have suggested. As much as it is a full-blown sci-fi action thriller with incredibly timely relevance, it's another supreme example of Spielberg employing the arsenal of Hollywood filmmaking virtuosity at his disposal, notably the atmospheric cinematography by Janusz Kaminski and a mellow, almost nostalgic symphonic score by John Williams.

From its opening scene to the final frame, Disclosure Day is superbly shot, technically impeccable with a propulsive flow but most of all, substantiated with characters we care about. The central mystery builds, conflicts escalate, connections fall into place leading to a thrilling climax. The nail-biting train sequence is truly an edge-of-your-seat experience and the invisible-house escape is visually inventive while suggesting that we don't see the truth right in front of us.

The minor letdown for me is the part about empathy. The lesson imparted by the interstellar visitors tells us that the higher evolutionary goal is empathy, not survival by elimination. Margaret's supernatural ability to empathise is a way to bring people together by understanding their hopes and fears, dreams and regrets, while dispelling suspicion and distrust. The idea is conveyed in a repetitive and superficial manner that flashes past without a deeper investment and hence never truly connects with the audience.

While the delivery of the message falls short, you get the idea that Spielberg's story is about open communication and being kind to others. The very last word unwittingly sums it up when Margaret looks straight at the camera and says “Listen” before the movie ends on a high.

Disclosure Day may not be as emotionally involving as Spielberg's best works, it is undeniably top-flight entertainment and absolutely absorbing. Whether or not we are alone in the universe, like the faithful UFO chaser Fox Mulder, I want to believe.

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