Disclosure Day keeps reminding you Steven Spielberg can still direct the hell out of something, while also making you wish the script gave him more to work with although he was part of that story, he didnt only direct but also was part of creating the story around it. There is nothing complicated about this story, Daniel steals proof that alien life has been hidden away for decades, Wardex tries to stop him getting it out and Margaret gets pulled into the mess after she starts speaking an alien language live on a weather report but at the end we shown she has always been part of this. That gives the movie plenty to move between, mystery, chases, humor, real fear and bigger questions about what the truth would do to the world, and the movie handles that switching very well in my opinion, there is a lot that develops from the Margaret gettin her first intervenstions, to the chase, to the alien tech, a series of events that keeps you entertain. I wanted to know why Margaret and Daniel were connected, what Wardex actually did to the aliens and what disclosure would mean with the world sliding toward a third world war, we are not far from it though, the issue is some ideas get real attention while others show up once and get dropped along with the dump desissions or the too convinient moments that help both Daniel and Margaret to get their way. There are several strong scenes here and a solid reason for these people to risk everything, but the scenes connecting those moments feel a lot more ordinary and simple. Spielberg can make a chase or a strange image feel important on instinct but he cannot hide it when the script takes the easy way out, which is why this movie feels close to great without ever getting there. It was not bad, I get why some people probably got bored because it does take some time to get to the point, the chase and not knowing why things happening is the biggest part Im sure some people might end up picking their phone during the movie, we all in a short attention span generation and this movie probably ask too much of the audience to stay focus when you spend half of the movie without gettint to the truth or point, yeah we all get Margaret speaks with animals and knows people, and that Daniel stole some highly clasified sht, but WHY!!!???.
- IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt15047880/
- Platform: {{PLATFORM}}
Emily Blunt is the reason the character side stays believable, the movie would lose a lot without her, she plays Margaret, who starts as a local weather reporter who wants a bigger position and that lighter idea gives Blunt room to be funny without making the character silly. Once she starts speaking languages she never learned and picking up what people carry inside them, the performance shifts with her, funny at first, then real fear once Margaret realizes this is not going to pass and there is a lot more coming. Her breakdown on the train was really satisfying because it is not only about escaping Wardex, her hands will not stop shaking and that loss of control scares her before it drags up the guilt she has carried for years about pulling away from her father while his parkinsons kept getting worse. Blunt keeps that clear without turning Margaret into a different person every time the tone shifts and gives the final scenes more weight once Margaret understands her ability is meant to help her communicate with humanity, even though the reveal could have felt rushed because of how fast the script dumps her backstory once they get to this warehouse where they have replicated her parents house, the childhood contact with the aliens and why she understands people so deeply. Her ability is not just mind reading, it forces her to feel the pain, love, regret and fear inside other people thats why she kept teling Daniel she didnt want to look at him in the eyes because she would feel, which makes using it exhausting and unfair to her, but Blunt carries that weight on her own.
Daniel is where the writing gets a bit shaky because as the secondary character he doesnt bring that much to the table and that is frustrating because he carries the proof that makes this whole movie possible, although we do get to know the guy was giving a talent to understand math as nobody else but that never shine that much as Margaret talent to comunicate and feel people. He steals the files and an alien device from Wardex, works with Hugo and the other defectors, and can understand the alien language through math, but he mostly feels like the guy moving information around instead of someone the movie wants us to know. Josh O Connor gives him a quiet nervous energy that fits a man who has lived with missing childhood memories and abilities he never understood, but its like the script hands almost all the emotional work to Margaret and there is nothing left for him, even his ex nun partner has a way better emotional weight into the movie, that for me was a cheap shot. Daniel and Margaret have this shared past that should hit harder than it does but the problem is that it lacks context, its not until the third part of the movie that we understand this was all part of the plan, the reconstruction of the house where Margaret grew up shows us that both were taken by aliens as kids and prepared for different parts of the same message, but that answer arrives too late through one big flashback and a pile of explanation that takes out of the emotion and makes it feel like just a data dump. Daniel understands the aliens and Margaret understands people, so neither can finish disclosure alone, I just wish the movie let their relationship breathe before telling us what it meant. The supporting characters have the same problem, Hugo knows almost everything but never becomes more than useful, Jane brings up all this real concerns about religion and then she just vanishes until the story needs her back with the device, like girl where you have been all this time? undetected out there?.
I got a few bones to pick up with this movie, first one is the tension keeps falling apart every time Wardex is supposed to act like a real threat, and things get worst on that department as at the end they just give up like, fuck it, tell everyone. This agency has surveillance, armed teams, helicopters and alien technology, still two people Daniel and Margaret keep getting out of situations that should end the chase on the spot, I get they do have certain habilties but still is two againt hundredes. Daniel walks across an open field while agents surround a farmhouse and nobody notices him, and Margaret gets Daniel out of a secure base just by making guards see people from their own past, like come on are they all that weak? there is not a single savage on this agency?. The final confrontation is worse because Wardex shows up at the station with weapons and every reason to shut the broadcast down, then Scanlon just gives up the second Margaret gets the power back on, and all that was missing was him rolling his eyes up to be hilarious instead of boring, especially since he believes disclosure could destroy governments, religion and public order. The alien device has the same problem, it starts out dangerous and mysterious, then it can get into minds, control bodies, hide a house and fire trucks, power a television station, and solve whatever the script needs, it becomes too convinient, adding new abilities the second it needs them instead of giving the audience rules it can trust, it turns into an easy escape route whenever the script needs it, which hurts the train sequence and the rest of the chases too. My biggest problem with the movie is that it doesnt really matter if Spielberg is the one directing, nobody cannot save characters who keep surviving because special trained forces suddenly forget what they are capable and suppose to do and the movie wants Wardex to feel scary and harmless at the same time but only to protect the hopeful aspect of the movie, its like you want to go fast and in between drop a few gears and then pick up again, that takes away the pressure the story needs.
The ending is a good example of why Disclosure Day still works on an emotional level even when the details are hard to swallow and escape routes are avaible in every corner, its when you start seen people brake down because of the impact this news has on everyone, decades of lies, decades of abuse, it does have some value although it all felt rush. Margaret makes it to the station, Daniel get the stolen files spread across every news network broadcasting from what looks like a small local news channel until they make it New York, thats where things start to spread like wild fire and people all over the world stop to watch proof of alien crashes, prisoners and decades of secrecy, people who had places to be just sit down and watch instead of keep moving on. Then living alien gets brought in front of the cameras and I think this was totally unnecesary to be honest, speaks to Daniel and leaves Margaret to carry the message to everyone else, ending on the word Listen, please tell me we are not getting a sequel because there is no need for it so why ending like this?. I get the ending is simple and direct and fits what the movie has been saying about empathy and communication the whole time, I do like that Spielberg does not turn the aliens into attackers or use the reveal as an excuse for some huge battle, taking the story into a path of peace and evolution becuase humanity is close to destroying itself and these beings just want people to understand each other before it is too late, even when the goverment has been so cruel to them. The problem is the movie expects one broadcast to change the world almost right away, soldiers pause and news networks cooperate because everyone is watching the same screen, come on its rating, and it needed more doubt about how people would react because everyone is just in silence and there are no opinions or oposition flying across the room, some would listen, some would panic, some would deny it outright sayings its Ai but they got some sort of system that even meassures pixels to confirm its real? like wtf. Even after my small rant after half of this post I did not think the whole idea failed, Spielberg still creates real story that make you feel and want more out of it as the drama, action and story unfolds, Blunt gives the movie a strong emotional center its just sad Josh O Connor didnt get the same opportunity as Daniel, and the question of what disclosure would actually change is a nice moment to think about it, what would happen if something like this ever becomes real? Im not talking about Alien devices but that Aliens are real, period. Disclosure Day is good, sometimes really good, but it needed a stronger script to become that blockbuster everyone was expecting, I guess no days been succesful at what ever you do in this age of social media expose you so much that people just cant get or understand or even accept when it was not your best performance and not even your worst to call your work plain stupid.
#disclosureday, #spielberg, #emilyblunt, #joshoconnor, #aliens, #scifi, #mystery, #thriller, #cinema, #movies, #review, #extraterrestrial, #wardex, #margaret, #daniel, #disclosure, #government, #secrecy, #empathy, #communication, #suspense, #action, #wonder, #screenplay, #hollywoodRating: 75/100
