Disclosure Day Review: What if Close Encounters of The Third Kind Was an Action Movie?

Leave it to director Steven Spielberg to make the most ambitious movie of the summer. His latest feature, Disclosure Day, is his first since 2022’s Oscar nominated The Fabelmans. The originator of the summer blockbuster is revisiting a topic that has treated him well before – extraterrestrials. Not counting his disappointing Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Spielberg has examined the possibility of other life in a number of films including E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, and War of the Worlds. Most of these works take a humanist approach to the idea of aliens – what if they were friendly? What if these visitors could unlock some kind of hidden potential in mankind? Disclosure Day works on the same wavelength as those movies, but it's also his most successful action movie since 2002’s Minority Report. 

Disclosure Day opens in medias res with Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) on the run from a shadow organization tasked with protecting government secrets. Kellner has stolen archival footage that proves the existence of extraterrestrials, while the head of this secretive agency, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), will stop at nothing to make sure it never sees the light of day. Meanwhile, local weather reporter Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) has trouble staying in one place. There’s a part of her that always feels as if she has some kind of higher calling. When she’s visited by a cardinal in her home, something within her unlocks, enabling to speak different languages and relate to random strangers like never before. All she knows for certain is that she must connect with Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), as he might have the answers she is seeking. 

It was rumored before Disclosure Day launched that Spielberg was interested in revisiting Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Screenwriter David Koepp was under intense pressure from Spielberg to make sure the film was different enough from Close Encounters. When Close Encounters was made in the ‘70s , Spielberg was in a very different place. The separation of his parents and the disillusion of family life colored a lot of what went into that movie. Spielberg has gone on record saying he could never make Close Encounters later in his life because he couldn’t imagine leaving his family. That movie is very much about chasing your passions no matter the cost. It really doesn’t account for the experiences or feelings for others.

With Disclosure Day, Spielberg asks what the existence of higher intelligence would mean for our institutions of faith and our world. One of the characters, Jane (Eve Hewson), reveals fairly early in the movie that she was once studying to become a nun. Although she never completed her training, her faith runs deep to her core. If there were beings of higher intelligence would Christianity and other religions fail? How could you believe that God created man in his image if there were beings superior to us? It’s certainly headier stuff than summer blockbusters usually tackle, but Spielberg is no stranger to asking audiences to examine their place in the universe. In fact, one of Spielberg and Koepp’s earlier scripts, Jurassic Park, asks what right do humans have to play God. 

Although Disclosure Day is Spielberg’s most successful action movie in some time, it isn’t perfect. Actor Colman Domingo has an ability to make the most of what he is given. But the script that Koepp has devised leaves Domingo with very little to work with. Rather than a fully fleshed out character that has some kind of deep connection with Firth’s character, his contributions to the story are flimsy at best. A lot of this might have been lost in the edit as even the action scenes lack continuity, with characters making decisions that lack appropriate build up. 

Disclosure Day, hums along from one set piece to another. Josh O’Connor, who has been building his portfolio with roles in 2024’s Challengers and 2025’s Wake Up Dead Man, gets his biggest challenge yet. He’s the emotional core of the movie, while Emily Blunt carries the rest of it on her shoulders. It’s easy to take Blunt for granted as she’s excellent even in bad movies. Her performance in Disclosure Day is easily the most compelling part of the picture. I must also mention that John Williams has once again returned to compose the score for Disclosure Day. At 93 years old, this might be one of his final theatrical scores and I think it might be one of his more memorable ones in a while. Like most great scores it enhances the movie rather than overpowers it. 

Spielberg proves he had reason to return to extraterrestrials with Disclosure Day. He had unfinished business as his concern nowadays isn’t about the existence of aliens, but rather humanity's reaction to discovering we aren’t alone in the universe. Whether you believe in aliens is irrelevant. How would you decide to greet them is the bigger question. [B+]

Disclosure Day opens in theaters June 12th, 2026.