Disclosure Day review: Moments of classic Spielberg awe elevate clunky UFO thriller

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A star rating of 3 out of 5.

It’s well known that Steven Spielberg has been fascinated with the idea of alien life throughout his filmmaking career.

In 1977, Steven Spielberg released Close Encounters of the Third Kind, followed by E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. These films are considered by many to be the most important and influential movies ever made about aliens visiting Earth. Both are filled with Spielberg’s signature sense of awe and wonder, and they dramatically shaped pop culture – remaining powerfully moving and enjoyable even now.

He revisited similar themes – though in a new way – in 2005 with his adaptation of H.G. Wells’s The War of the Worlds, and now, twenty years later, he’s returned to that kind of story again. Disclosure Day is a great return to big, exciting summer movies for this skilled director, and it once more asks audiences to consider how we would respond if we discovered undeniable evidence of intelligent life elsewhere in the universe.

Let’s be clear: this new movie doesn’t reach the same heights as those beloved classics from the 20th century. While the director’s previous films were tightly focused, this script – written by his longtime collaborator, David Koepp – feels awkward and rambling, sometimes making it hard to get fully immersed in the story.

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Disclosure Day, while still practiced, feels somewhat outdated and like a holdover from a different era of Hollywood. It doesn’t quite reflect how things are today, particularly the decreasing importance of live TV news in our culture.

The story centers on Margaret Fairchild, a bubbly and driven TV weather reporter played by Emily Blunt, and Daniel Kellner, a reserved man who exposes secrets, portrayed by Josh O’Connor. Though their lives and personalities couldn’t be more different, fate brings them together in a thrilling attempt to reveal to the world that aliens have indeed visited Earth. The reasons why remain a mystery for viewers to uncover.

The film opens with a fast-paced chase scene. We quickly learn the protagonist is being hunted by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), his boss at a secretive company called The Wardex Corporation. They’ve discovered he intends to reveal classified files exposing a decades-long government cover-up about UFOs and alien life, and their relentless pursuit gives the movie a tense, retro feel reminiscent of 1970s thrillers.

Our introduction to Margaret, on the other hand, is rather more otherworldly. As she is preparing for work one morning, she is paid a visit by an intriguing red cardinal bird, and in the aftermath of their brief interaction, almost instantly begins behaving very curiously. She makes bizarre clicking sounds, is gifted with the uncanny ability to read people’s minds and speak their languages, and is driven by an unstoppable urge to get to the bottom of her mysterious fate.

Even separate from the main story, the film features some truly impressive scenes that showcase why Spielberg is known as a master of blockbuster entertainment. He still directs action sequences better than most, and a standout scene involving a train is incredibly exciting – easily one of the best action sequences of the year.

The acting is excellent across the board. O’Connor continues to show he has true leading-man potential, and Eve Hewson is fantastic as his ex-girlfriend, a former nun struggling with her faith, who finds herself entangled in the action. However, Emily Blunt truly shines, delivering what is likely the best performance of her career in a physically and emotionally demanding role.

Of course, Spielberg is still capable of producing the classic moments of magical awe that have always defined his films, helped here by another reliably stirring score by his oldest collaborator, composer John Williams. But while there is an impressive sense of mystery for much of the film, the way the narrative unfolds doesn’t always feel as satisfying or exciting as it could.

Spielberg and Koepp have attempted to pack a lot in here – with themes ranging from the lasting power of buried childhood memories to the importance of the pursuit of truth to the possibility of reconciling belief in alien life with religious faith – and the result can sometimes feel like a film that gestures at profundity without ever quite delivering it.

Meanwhile, although the earnestness of its closing section has a certain charm – and will no doubt have a deeply emotional effect on many of those with a longstanding admiration for Spielberg’s work – it also perhaps veers from his characteristic sentimentality into outright cheesiness in a way that his best work always managed to avoid. And without straying into spoilers, the film ends just as it’s getting to it’s most interesting part, with some viewers bound to be frustrated that we don’t get to see what happens next.

While not flawless, Disclosure Day is still a film filled with memorable scenes and clearly showcases the talent of Steven Spielberg. If that isn’t enough reason to see a summer blockbuster, it’s hard to know what is.

Disclosure Day is released in cinemas on Wednesday 10 June 2026.

Authors

Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is the Senior Film Writer at TopMob, and looks after all the latest film releases both in cinemas and on streaming. He has been with the website since October 2019, and in that time has interviewed a host of big name stars and reviewed a diverse range of movies.

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2026-06-09 19:36