Directed and co-written by Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List (1993); E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982); Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981); Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)) and starring Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer (2023); The Devil Wears Prada (2006); Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (2011); A Quiet Place (2018)), Josh O'Connor (Wake Up Dead Man (2025); God's Own Country (2017); Challengers (2024); Lee (2023)), Colin Firth (The King's Speech (2010); A Single Man (2009); Bridget Jones' Diary (2001); Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014); Operation Mincemeat (2021)), Eve Hewson (Robin Hood (2018); Bridge of Spies (2015); Flora and Son (2023)) and Colman Domingo (Wicked: For Good (2025); Dive-Away Dolls (2024); Sing Sing (2023); Lincoln (2012)).
Sci-fi thriller; 145 mins; 12+
Steven Spielberg's eagerly-awaited Disclosure Day is now in Luxembourg cinemas, premiering just as schools start to plan for summer holidays. Following up from his hit sci-fi classics Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in the late 1970s, and ET, in the early 1980s, his apparent fascination with aliens and government consiracies has come back in the form of Disclosure Day.
Where to start? While most of the action takes place in and around Kansas City, Missouri, it starts off with Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) and his girlfriend Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson) on the run from unknown (initially, at least) pursuers. It transpires that he is a cybersecurity expert who had been recruited by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo) to work for Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) at Wardex corporation; however, the reason he is being chased is that his conscience has convinced him to become a whistleblower and tell the world what the company has been concealing.
The pursuit involves some classic car chases and a disbelieving girlfriend, and staying at some dodgy motels to evade detection from Noah Scanlon and his cronies. Meanwhile, Hugo Wakefield is making contact sporadically...
Meanwhile, Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt), a "Weather Girl" at a local tv station in Kansas City, lives with her partner/husband who we understand is a musician; one morning a Northern Cardinal flies into their apartment during breakfast, and suddenly she starts speaking fluently in different languages, including Russian and Korean. When she goes on air later that morning, she collapses after apparently speaking and unknown languages using clicks and whistles which alerts Hugo...
Margaret and Daniel eventually meet up, but not before Noah catches up with them... and then Hugo brings them to a replica of the house where Margaret grew up, which he explains as being when everything started... Both Daniel and Margaret cannot remember back early in their childhood, before certain memorable events…
A great cast and storytelling with good action sequences and suspense; and the audience is presented with a number of clips showing proof of alien life, the material Daniel is so keen to disclose and Noah wants to suppress.
The ending allows the audience to come to their own conclusions about some aspects of the back-story, including why Daniel and Margaret were involved/chosen initially. But it is over 40 years after ET and Close Encounters; undoubtedly it will resonate with those who watched his earlier films when they came out, but will it resonate with younger audiences, particularly as it is almost two and a half hours long...?
Currently being screened in Luxembourg at Kinepolis and CiNextDoor cinemas.
