I’m not entirely sure how I feel about “Disclosure Day.” That may not be the strongest or most inviting opening to read when you come to a critical review, but it’s the truth. Steven Spielberg’s latest film has left me incredibly conflicted and uncertain over how I ultimately think about the movie. On the one hand, “Disclosure Day” is technically proficient with some great sequences, excellent performances, and an important message that seems more urgent by the day. And yet, it’s also filled with clunky scenes, awkward plotting bits, and there’s just enough divorce from reality to make it hard to swallow without my inner cynic piping up. I believe “Disclosure Day” is worth seeing—but I also believe it is minor Spielberg, a lesser entry in his impressive canon, and somewhat underwhelming.
Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is on the run. A shadowy organization has kidnapped his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson), in retaliation for Daniel stealing their secrets and some materials. The head of the organization, Noah (Colin Firth), wields that group’s almost incomprehensible power to track Daniel and Jane, while a secret underground movement, led by Hugo (Colman Domingo), helps the pair navigate the danger. While all this is happening, meteorologist Margaret (Emily Blunt) seems to have an episode and finds herself fluent in other languages…including one that appears otherworldly. She suddenly knows things about others she should have no way of knowing and feels compelled to track down Daniel, bringing her boyfriend (Wyatt Rusell) along. These people are all tied together by long buried secrets that may change how people on earth perceive everything—and it’s those secrets that Noah’s organization is willing to kill for and the same ones that Daniel desperately wishes to disclose to the entire world.
Shot by Spielberg’s longtime collaborator Janusz Kaminski, “Disclosure Day” looks great. Yes, there’s some wonky CG late in the film (and for some reason those moments have been used extensively in the marketing), but it actually kind of makes sense in context. But otherwise, there are excellent compositions and use of lighting and shadow, and engaging angles that help fuel the panicked urgency of the film. All of the cast do extraordinary work, with Blunt shining brightest and her chemistry with Russell really being some of the best parts of the movie. And the ultimate message, stated a bit bluntly but nonetheless well by Domingo, that empathy is vital to our civilization and our future is one that is easy to understand and root for, especially in how earnestly it plays out with the characters.
With so much to cheer for in “Disclosure Day,” why am I so ambivalent about it? Because there’s also a lot of fumbling and awkwardness throughout. The script by David Koepp (based on a lengthy story by Spielberg) shines brightest when characters are having a dialogue, but stumbles about when moving narrative and exposition along. There’s an action sequence in the middle of the movie that relies on every paramilitary personnel member having no peripheral vision or doing any real scouting work on their targets. Not only is it infuriating, but it also doesn’t really gel with the characters at the center of it—feeling like another way was possible to showcase their attributes instead of just indelicately stealing a car and then somehow evading every bullet ever. There are also a few literal devices in the movie that seem defined at first, but then become “well we wrote ourselves into a corner, so how about the device does THIS also?!?” It reeks of unchallenged and unrefined storytelling which totally defuses tension and excitement from the set-ups.
“Disclosure Day” also isn’t sure how to interact with our present world. I don’t mean it avoids how technology works or anything like that, it doesn’t (though there’s a line that infuriates me where someone on a smartphone asks if someone else is near a computer to google something…you’re near the computer, Jane! YOU can google it!). But rather, our present circumstances socio-politically in the world. In the backdrop of the entire movie is essentially the ramp up to World War 3 with tensions escalating with North Korea. Sometimes that has an impact on plot (people are panicking in the streets!) and sometimes it doesn’t (where’d all the panicking people go?).
But what makes this tenuous grasp on this current moment in our world land poorly is it also isn’t sure how media works. “Disclosure Day” is another film from the long history of cinema where if people would just listen, things could get solved and good may prevail. I love those movies! The big speeches where everyone is actually moved by a politician, or a journalist, or some average person that makes a plea to the world at large and for a moment, the world acquiesces. It’s totally fitting with the call to empathy, to understand and listen to each other, that the movie is pushing. And yet…the idea that certain news channels wouldn’t filter all their topics through their biases and lenses, or kowtow to bigger interests that may be against such a moment, is pretty hard to swallow. I try not to be cynical, and lord knows it ain’t easy, but this was a moment that had me mental guffawing.
“Disclosure Day” has some exciting sequences powered by terrific performances and an important message. It also has lots of stumbling blocks and tone-deaf bits that needed better writing and execution. Again, I think it’s worth seeing for its positive aspects, but I would strongly recommend adjusting expectations and lowering them accordingly. While this does feel (on many levels) like Spielberg in conversation with himself (particularly the isolation and paranoia of “War of the Worlds”), it doesn’t interrogate itself as much as it could. To that end, it feels limited and rough, forcefully ejecting viewers out of the movie during moments that aren’t engaging or are preposterous (within context of its world). But “Disclosure Day” certainly has hooks, with various scenes and moments still echoing in my head after seeing it. It’s just a pity that it often hobbles itself with poor judgment and narrative choices.
3.5 / 5 Stars
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell
