Emily Blunt and Josh O’Connor band together in ‘Disclosure Day’. Photo used courtesy Universal Studios.
Are we alone in the universe? We’ve probably asked that question since we first realized there were planets (and stars) other than our own. Media has dealt with it in a number of ways, whether it’s War of the Worlds, Starman, or Arrival. This isn’t even director Steven Spielberg’s first foray into the concept.
SPOILER WARNING: This review of Disclosure Day might contain certain spoilers. Proceed with caution.
I’ll admit, I wasn’t that interested in the film based on the trailers. I was excited that Spielberg directed another movie, but I was also more than happy to just wait and watch Disclosure Day on streaming. But then someone brought up the depressing knowledge that this is likely the last time you will hear original John Williams music in a theater, and the next thing I knew, I was buying tickets.
Disclosure Day deals with the themes of what it would mean if aliens did exist. It has echoes of Contact and Gravity, but not in a ‘hey, this plot is similar’ kind of way. It shares a lot of the same themes, and the characters have the same ‘vibe’. And, of course, it feels like an unofficial sequel/companion piece to Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
My short review: it is a stunning dive into the components of what makes us human and our purpose on this planet. The cast is exceptional. The plot has very few times I felt like yelling at the characters (and the few times I did, I got the impression that that was what I was SUPPOSED to be doing). It’s the type of movie I want to watch again now that I know the ending to see all the hints that lead up to it.
The problem with writing this review is that this is the type of movie that works best the less you know about it going in. As such, I recommend you click away now if you are at all interested in that experience. While I’ll try to stay away from spoilers as much as I can, we’re in “everything’s kind of a spoiler” territory.
You are dropped in the middle of the story, and you have to figure out what’s going on at the same time the characters are. I highly enjoyed trying to figure out what all was happening, wondering how the different stories would all tie together. I had a completely different idea of what the movie was about before I went in, and I was happily surprised when it went a different way.
Colin Firth uses technology to find our heroes. Photo courtesy of Universal Studios.
While this is definitely an ensemble cast and everyone does a great job with their role, a good chunk of the movie relies on Emily Blunt (The Devil Wears Prada). She plays Margaret Fairchild, a Kansas City weather anchor who seems unable to settle down in a job or a home. Blunt is a phenomenal force, keeping the camera on her almost defiantly and being the load-bearing cast member. She is magnetic in her portrayal—a combination of empathetic, confused, and scared that is easily relatable to. (Shout out to Wyatt Russell, who plays her jerk of a partner with finesse. One of the few characters I wanted to strangle, but that was kind of the point.)
Meanwhile, Josh O’Connor plays Dr. Daniel Kellner, a mathematician who has decided that the public deserves the right to know that aliens are real. He is part of a team that includes Hugo (played by Colman Domingo) and, accidentally, his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson), who we find out is a former novitiate. He does a great job of being a likeable Cassandra, frustrated that he knows the truth and no one else does.
They are fighting tech guru Noah Scanlon, played by Colin Firth with gleeful abandon, who feels (understandably so) that the world will not react well to this big of a societal change. He technically is the bad guy, but he is fully fleshed out with concerns and objectives that make sense.
The movie is a study in empathy, of how that should be the best part of us. I’ve seen some say it’s also about religion. While yes, Jane is a former novitiate and she calls her former Mother Superior to discuss whether proof of aliens means that God either doesn’t exist or is fallible, I didn’t see that as a major theme but more of a side quest.
Do aliens exist? To quote Contact, “if it’s just us … seems like an awful waste of space.” I just hope that if they do, they’re these type and not the invading type. Disclosure Day is playing at a theater near you, and I heartily recommend seeing it on the big screen. (And, of course, stay until the end to hear John Williams’ gorgeous score.)
For more information, visit the Universal Pictures website.
Author: Angie Fiedler SuttonAngie Fiedler Sutton is a writer, podcaster, and all-round fangirl geek. She has been published in Den of Geek, Stage Directions, LA Weekly, The Mary Sue, and others.
She also produces her own podcast, Contents May Vary, where she interviews geeky people about geeky things. You can see all her work (and social media channels) at angiefsutton.com.
Help support independent journalism. Subscribe to our Patreon.
Copyright © The Geekiary
Do not copy our content in whole to other websites. If you are reading this anywhere besides TheGeekiary.com, it has been stolen.
Read our before commenting. Be kind to each other.
Continue Reading