Disclosure Day (2026)  

Review: written Sep 2026

Close Encounters, Distant Emotions

It’s a treat to have Spielberg back behind the camera, his first since 2022. Add to that, he is revisiting a favourite topic that has served him well in the past – alien encounters. Yet while the distinctive Spielbergian touch is present in individual shots and scenes, I was left oddly underwhelmed and emotionally unengaged.

James (the always watchable and always different Josh O’Connor) has something Morgan (Colin Firth) wants. We will soon learn that it is evidence of historical alien encounters that Morgan’s government organisation has tried to conceal from the public. Their initial encounter at a wrestling match (which oddly reminded me of Sean Connery having a similarly cloak-and-dagger rendezvous at a sumo match in Diamonds are Forever) soon sends James and his girlfriend on the run. At the same time, a different strand shows a TV meteorologist, Kate, played by Emily Blunt. She suddenly discovers a remarkable ability as an empath, an ability that rapidly and scarily upends her life.

Their journeys become intertwined, leading to, amongst other things, a routine car chase, sinister looking men in black suits hunting them down, a “let me explain what the movie is all about” character explaining what the movie is all about, and an ending which stops on a note you might either kindly consider “ambiguous and thought provoking, or like me, disappointingly lacking in wonder or a “wow” moment. There’s no ET flying in front of the moon on a bicycle, no UFO flying over Devils Tower, no signature moment at all to do that magical Spielberg thing – make the spectacle trigger the emotions. Here there is neither sufficient spectacle nor sufficient investment in the characters to make the emotions land.

That’s not to say Spielberg as a filmmaker isn’t having fun – there are the low close-ups of black vehicles skidding to a stop, the scenes of ‘normal’ domesticity upended by the unusual or unworldly, or even just that trademark close up of faces seeing the extraordinary thing to sell the idea, before you see it on camera. His visual grammar is all present and correct. The story itself feels like it echoes much of Close Encounters… people who have been changed, who see or understand things that others cannot see, while the establishment seeks to contain them. However, in that movie and in ET, there was sacrifice and hard choices, which made the drama personal. Here, the characters appear along for the ride, with the personal cost never feeling as real. That said, Emily Blunt is terrific, and really sells her role. She is the highlight, the glue which makes the movie work. We are told that the disclosure of the title could change humanity, but given few moments to conceptualise that, other than through Blunt’s transformation. One strand with someone asking how it might affect their faith is tantalisingly intriguing, but ideas like that are not really followed through. Firth himself is never fleshed out, his motivation never being made clear, his role seemingly to be a quite arbitrary contrast to the two protagonists.

Basically, it plays like a political morality tale. Empathy is good, and something to be highly sought after we are told. A point surely few would argue with. But ironically it does feel like we are being TOLD this without ever getting to FEEL it. If you agree with the concept, the movie brings nothing new to the table, and if you disagree or feel the topic is more nuanced, there is nothing here that will change your mind. And if the movie does nothing to introduce new ideas and to engage critical thought – what is it actually achieving?

The ending sums this up – the threat seems to dissipate, no sacrifice is needed, and the ‘wonderful event’ of the movie proves to be the most old-fashioned let down of Spielberg’s filmography.

Sadly, although I will always enjoy Spielberg’s unique cinematic style, I was left to wonder where the wonder went.