Disclosure Day review (2026)
Disclosure Day isn’t the pulse-pounding sci-fi conspiracy thriller the trailers suggest.
It’s poorly paced, overly melodramatic and at times the filmmakers are too enamored with their world of secrets to truly let viewers get enthralled in the perceived excitement.
Still, for its various flaws, Disclosure Day offers enough glimpses of a film that meets its potential to remain watchable. Those are the moments when Director Steven Spielberg taps into his immense creativity that’s made him one of the finest filmmakers of his or any other generation. Early chase sequences
Spielberg has also assembled a very talented cast game to create something special even if this the rare Spielberg film that fully fails to reach the stars despite its close encounters premise.
A shadowy government adjacent organization led by Nolan Scanlon (a menacing Colin Firth. 1917) is tracking down Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor, Wake Up Dead Man) and his girlfriend, Jane (Eve Hewson). Daniel is in possession of a mysterious device that Scanlon is deeply concerned about him unleashing upon the world.
Daniel is being guided by Hugo (Colman Domingo, Michael), who’s assembled a team in preparation to share the information Daniel is carrying to the world. Meanwhile, meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt, The Fall Guy) seems to have unlocked some unknown ability to see into people’s minds and put their thoughts and fears at ease. While that realization makes Margaret somewhat uneasy as she can’t explain this power, she’s very concerned when attempting to make her weather report and it just comes out like a series of clicks and clacks.
Although Margaret’s words sound like gibberish to others, Daniel is able to perfectly understand what she said prompting Hugo to bring the two together so the world can finally learn the truth that they are not alone.
Screenwriter David Koepp (Black Bag) keeps delaying the big reveal assuming he’s adding enough intrigue to keep viewers on the hook. That works to some extent, but the script lacks that sense of immediacy that could propel the story further. For the bombshell Hugo and his crew are about to unleash, it doesn’t feel like the government is all that concerned about some of its greatest secrets being outed. Instead, they’re fine leaving the handling of this potential mess to a shadow organization that doesn’t have as much to lose.
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One of the best aspects of the script is how Koepp thoughtfully explores how this reveal would impact the faith community. It’s not a dismissive dialogue and allows for some insightful conversations regarding faith and aliens.
The cast is exceptional. Blunt is so good as a regular person that gets caught in a momentous world-changing event. O’Connor continues to establish himself as a rising star while Domingo has reached a point of remarkable consistency where he’s good in every role.
With so many films blurring the lines to earn an R-rating, there’s a certain charming throwback appeal to Disclosure Day largely being a movie the entire family can watch. That does come at the expense of taking a premise that seems like it would skew more mature and simply teasing the threat of danger rather than actually seeing it play out.
For all their scowls and intimidating numbers, Scanlon’s crew is frustratingly ineffective to the point that they’re almost Looney Tunes style villains clueless about how to achieve their goals. Scanlon is a bit more ruthless, even using the mysterious technology to seize control of people’s mind and movements in order to try and stop Daniel.
Disclosure Day feels every bit of its two hours and 25-minute run time. Spielberg might have wanted to give the film and the various subplots time to breathe, but it still felt like a poor allocation of time since there were still plenty of questions that go unanswered.
What sparked the truthers to action at this particular point in time? How did they have the resources to do all of the things they did? Why did Hugo and his crew operate with such a lack of urgency? At the end of the day, what does revealing the big mystery truly accomplish? How were Daniel and Margaret selected in the first place?
Given the hints of the potential depth of these subplots, there’s an argument to be made that maybe Disclosure Day would have worked better as a series on a streaming platform. Episodes devoted to the various characters before the big reveal could have organically created the tension and mystique rather than long pauses and dramatic music trying to convey those emotions in a movie with start and stop pacing.
Spielberg fans might still be enthralled with enough of the creativity on display to appreciate aspects of the film, but Disclosure Day never reaches the magical heights necessary to make this a day unlike any other.
Rating: 5 out of 10
Photo Credit: Universal Pictures
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