It’s no exaggeration to refer to director Steven Spielberg as a genius. His work includes “Jaws” and “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and a number of other masterpieces. “Disclosure Day” doesn’t measure up to Spielberg’s best work. Interesting at best, “Disclosure Day” is not only complicated. It’s downright confusing.
In a nutshell, Wardex Corporation, in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD), possesses information of extra-terrestrial life dating back to the Roswell incident in 1947. In real life, Roswell was (and is) a hoax in which conspiracy buffs have accused the Air Force of covering up an alien visit in New Mexico.
Flash forward to 2026. Wardex chairman Noah Scanlon (played by Colin Firth) sets out to capture whistleblower Daniel Kellner (played by Jack O’Connor). Kellner has stolen data from Wardex containing proof of aliens in captivity and he intends to pass it on to defector Hugo Wakefield (played by Colman Dominigo). Kellner involves his girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (played by Eve Hewson) and they first seek refuge at the Saint Clare of the Dawn Monastery (where Jane had once been enrolled in the novitiate).
There is a bit of character development at this stage. Kellner presses Jane to explain her past vocation to a convent. She explains that she has retained her faith in God but questions the extent of God’s reign. Is he the God only of the Judeo-Christian world? Or is it more universal? (After all, Catholicism is a Greek word meaning universal.) Moreover, Jane has a more urgent three-part question for Daniel: What did he steal, from whom did he steal, and from whom are they running?
At the same time, there seems to be a separate plot. Weather commentator Margaret Fairfield of KCTV (played by Emily Blunt) goes on the air in a confused state, muttering an unknown language which turns out to be extra-terrestrial. Having had an alien encounter as a child (an incident she has repressed), she has been endowed with a psychic gift. She is able to know the precise thoughts of others and to hone a vision of the sinister plot of Scanlon and Wardex to eliminate Kellner.
As it turns out, Kellner also possesses the clairvoyant trait passed on by the device pilfered from Wardex. Fairfield finally makes contact with Kellner, rescuing him from a police chase. And after the two are recovered by defectors working for Hugo, they seek to return to Kansas City TV and go on the air to disclose 79 years of government secrets.
Of course, Scanlon and Wardex are not going to go down without a fight. They shut down the generators at KCTV, only to be countered by Jane who possesses a device she entrusts to Jane to bring the power back up. Thus, the glorious “Disclosure Day” in which all the networks and then all the nations proclaim the swath of government secrecy as to alien existence.
Don’t get me wrong. “Disclosure Day” is by no means a bad movie. But it’s long (2 1/2 hours) and seems every bit its length. The aliens are also a bit hokey, more in the childish spirit of “E.T.” than the intended serious treatment along the lines of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind.”
Who knows? Maybe “Disclosure Day” is bound for glory come Oscar time. Spielberg is a perennial power in the Academy of Motion Pictures and Colin Firth is favored. For a good summer film, “Disclosure Day” is worth the time. But considering the length of the film, you’ll have to make the time.
John O’Neill of Allen Park writes a weekly review.
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