He’s one of the greatest cinematic storytellers of our times, which makes a film helmed by Steven Spielberg more of an event than a release. And when it’s his first in four years – The Fabelmans arrived in 2022, a sizeable gap for such a prolific director – expectations skyrocket. That means the pressure is on his latest, Disclosure Day, to deliver in spades, especially when he’s also returned to territory which produced two of the biggest hits of his early career nearly fifty years ago.
Set against the backdrop of an impending world war, which feels a touch too close for comfort, the film follows the efforts of cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) to reveal a huge quantity of data to the world, footage and information he believes every single person has a right to see. He finds an unexpected ally in TV weather presenter Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and the two are pursued by a shadowy organisation determined to keep a lid on what are world-changing revelations. At any cost.
There’s a sense of Spielberg getting his favourite collaborators back together again. He’s co-written Disclosure Day with David Koepp (Indiana Jones And The Dial Of Destiny) and the score, inevitably, is by multi-Oscar winner John Williams (ET The Extra Terrestrial, among others) to make a film which is rooted in modern history – one that Spielberg himself knows all too well.
As the narrative evolves, a single event from the late 1940s starts rising to the surface, one that will send Millennials and Zoomers in the direction of the first history site they can find, but will need no explanation for an older audience. Spielberg is essentially speaking to his own generation first and foremost, but giving the wider population not just a history lesson, but a bigger and more complex issue to contemplate. It boils down to one single phrase in the film, one which could have been its sub-title. “Do not be afraid of what you don’t know.”
Koepp has been quoted as describing the film as a thriller, and that’s exactly how it plays out, mixing the darkness of espionage with showier action sequences that come with more than a touch of Indiana Jones. It gives what is essentially a serious film some of its light relief – the remainder coming from Wyatt Russell as Blunt’s semi-stoner musician boyfriend – allowing the audience to take a breather from the questions at the heart of that statement about fear. If it’s discovered that we’re not alone, should we be told or should it be kept secret at all costs? And would we want to know?
Theories have persisted, most recently with Barack Obama saying earlier this year that he believed the chances of alien life elsewhere in the universe are high. But Spielberg’s questions are based on the assumption that the extraterrestrials are benevolent and want to understand us. What if the opposite were true? The thought constantly lingers just below the surface.
Disclosure Day’s title tells us that the secrets are revealed to the world. When it comes, it makes an impressive climax, showing us the media at work and the faces of people worldwide transfixed by what they’re watching on their mobile phones. As an ending, it actually feels like a start because the director has left us to decide for ourselves how things work out, making it a must-see in the company of an audience. It’s tailor-made for an after-film discussion and, as a piece of storytelling, it’s classic Spielberg.
His favourite themes get an outing – the importance of home, the solitary child and the need for connection, represented by frequent shots of hand holding and one moment which feels like it’s been lifted from Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel ceiling. And his hand-picked cast delivers, especially Blunt (still riding high after The Devil Wears Prada 2) and O’Connor (The Mastermind), both helping us navigate the complexities of the story and keeping us engrossed throughout. Nobody tells stories quite like Spielberg, and this is one of his best.
★★★★
In cinemas from June 10th / Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell / Dir: Steven Spielberg / Universal / 12A
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