Steven Spielberg
Disclosure Day

THE REVIEW

The magic just wasn’t there; everything feels far too predictable. Steven Spielberg’s return to straightforward science fiction—his favorite kind, the one about aliens—only partially succeeds. And if we want to find a deeper explanation, it’s not hard to see why: by 2026, the collective imagination about extraterrestrials has shifted, thanks in part to Spielberg himself, and is no longer what it was back in 1977 (the year of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”). But the eighty-year-old filmmaker hasn’t noticed this—or perhaps, more likely, he’s decided to ignore it: the aliens are still those ones, his aliens.

So, the film isn’t really about aliens; in fact, we see them just a few minutes in, as if their existence were a given. The main tension revolves around humans and their relentless determination to hide and censor the truth at any cost, convinced that their fellow men would not be able to accept such a discovery. Here and there, a few hints allude to religious faith, supposedly at risk—according to some—by the eventual, fateful revelation.

But Spielberg hasn’t made a reflective work; there is no room for too much philosophy. “Disclosure Day” is, for three-quarters of its running time, a long buildup, a game of cops and robbers. Well executed, of course, with two protagonists starting from very distant places, with their diverse and peculiar lives, but destined to meet. And it’s here that the structure starts to crack: Spielberg decorates as best he can, with his technique and vast experience, a story that is very straightforward and somewhat rehashed.

But just looking at the recent filmography of the screenwriter, David Koepp, sows even more doubts. We’re talking about films like Indiana Jones 4 and 5, Jurassic World, Angels and Demons, Inferno. Not exactly masterpieces. Blockbuster cinema, full of spectacle and grandiosity, but lacking in depth. It’s only natural then, that a film like this feels almost like an empty box: lots of action, plenty of subplots, but missing something truly interesting to say.

One even begins to question the director’s very cinematic language. A master, of course. But a dusty master, who hasn’t been able to reinvent himself and works with worn-out tropes. Too many watertight compartments, too much surface. Quite a few two-dimensional characters drag down the narrative as well. Everything feels boxed in by genre and action, not very challenging for the audience. Were nearly two hours of chases really necessary, given such a fertile theme rich with implications? The film could have been trimmed down, leaving room to explore countless other aspects of the issue, instead of amplifying the action dimension so much.

But evidently, both director and screenwriter didn’t feel like going in another direction. This is what they wanted and were able to offer us. A pity, because such remarkable technical skill could have been devoted to much stronger scripts.

The buildup of tension and mystery, for example, is excellent: in the first half we’re hit with various questions, strange signals, cryptic languages, esoteric objects. But all of this vanishes in a revelation that fails to satisfy. The conclusion is much more predictable than the scattered clues suggest. It’s the same old aliens, without particular nuance, messages, implications, visions, objectives, or causes. The aliens, period. The film only introduces a few minor variations on the theme, such as animal avatars and artifacts that alter reality.

And when, after endless chases, the aliens finally want to talk to us—the screen cuts to black and the credits roll. No way! That’s not fair. This is where the film lacks a true vision. If I go to the movies to see a film about aliens, I want to dream, I want to lose myself in an elsewhere, I want to travel like in the metaphysical ending of 2001: A Space Odyssey, I want to lose track of time like in Interstellar, I want my brain fried by the linguistic puzzles of Arrival.

Why should I care about car chases on the outskirts of Kansas City?

In short, Mr. Spielberg, what you’re showing us is a bit underwhelming for a genre so thoroughly explored by other filmmakers. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that you’re not the only one talking about extraterrestrials, and in the meantime other directors have dared to do much more.