“Disclosure Day” (2026) is Steven Spielberg’s latest film starring Emily Blunt as a Kansas City meteorologist, Margaret Fairchild, who starts speaking in indecipherable noises to everyone except Dr. Daniel Kellner, nicknamed Danny (Josh O’Connor), who is on the run and wants to tell the truth, but not if Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), the head of a shady private organization, Wardex, gets his way. Noah uses Danny’s girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), to gain an advantage over the elusive Danny. How are Heather and Danny connected, and will the truth come out? If you like Spielberg’s alien schtick, you will love it, but he fails to convey the sense of wonder that he feels about the prospect of extraterrestrial existence, and there are quite a few links missing in this chain.
“Disclosure Day” works best as a David and Goliath story with the big bad, the Wardex corporation, chasing everyone. Because of a great ensemble cast, it is easier to believe that it will add up to something meaningful. Danny and Jane are on one leg of the chase, and Margaret is on the other. In a perfect world, Jane would not play such a big role, and Margaret would be the protagonist with Danny as a supporting character, but alas Jane is important because she was a novitiate, aka a no vow nun in training, had sex with Danny, and is the only person that he does not hate being around. Why? Dunno, doesn’t matter, but Spielberg makes her a crucial part of the story because of her relationship with God. Jane’s history is more important than the present-day Jane that Danny allegedly fell for, but for ostensible purposes, does not exist as a real person. What does Jane do when she is not on the run with her boyfriend? This information could not be tortured out of you because it simply is not there. Her crucial function is her old job and her spiritual beliefs.
If you do not understand why aliens are intrinsically important to the existence of God, you can sit with me because the link has always seemed like a “so what” scenario. This premise is crucial for getting into the mythology of “Disclosure Day,” which is shaky if you are feeling charitable. If they exist, and you believe in God, then their existence should not have any effect on your faith, and yet Spielberg is not the only one who believes this concept. On May 31, 2026, the New Tork Times covered a story about how pastors and members of the government are trying to prepare for the impact of alien existence. Does the existence of any other living being shake your foundation in your place in the universe and would change your relationship with God? Is it because they descend from the sky? Heaven is not literal. If Spielberg fails, it is his failure to do for aliens what “Suspiria” (2018) did with the Mother of Sighs: create a catharsis that will make the audience believe that the existence of aliens will make the world into a better place. It is a lot to ask of a species that abducts people, including children, without informed consent and fail to use their magical technology to elude human beings and evade torture.
Jane’s existence seems to be as a Spielberg proxy, concerned that unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs) will shatter people’s faith because they will believe aliens are gods or act as proof of God’s existence. Jane is more fun as a fresh take on Linda Blair. Spielberg deserves kudos for creating a new twist on the possession trope, and kids, get ready for all the Jesus imagery: outstretched arms and piercing palm of hand. Maybe it is selfish, but Jane also meant more Firth as his conniving, imperious character with his scores of minions, including Casper Boyd (Henry Lloyd-Hughes), a complete hater who is more on mission than Noah and the only one immune to wonder even when he sees what Margaret can do. It is almost easy to forget that Danny exists even though Danny is supposed to be one of two characters playing a pivotal role and O’Connor, a man who delivered three perfect performances in 2025 in incredibly different roles, is playing him.
Margaret is the most interesting character because Spielberg establishes her as normal before exponentially making her more fantastical. She has ambitions of being an anchor, and the clip of her struggling to give the weather before speaking little green men is not the only trick that she has up her sleeve. Her character is like a hot knife in the cold butter of the narrative of “Disclosure Day,” and her goal is to save Danny, a person that she has never met, but they share a history, which is revealed in the trailer (!) and astonishingly Spielberg treats it as miraculous, not horrifying. Just get therapy, my dude. If you are familiar with the woman who can do anything but without martial arts, you are in for a treat. She is like a Swiss Army knife of a character, the closest thing to having an alien being the main character without being an alien. Too bad the aliens are not as good at using her powers otherwise there would be no Roswell.
Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo) is the link that ties all the elements together and is the obvious Spielberg surrogate who is literally setting the stage for the convergence and personal epiphany point. Think “A Big Bold Beautiful Journey” (2025) or “Eternity” (2025) except more literal. Aliens as therapy for trauma! Hugo is a magical Negro disguised as a scientist with a higher mission. If “Disclosure Day” works, it is because of Domingo’s intense conviction, which is palpable in his performance. During the denouement, Spielberg breaks into the piggy bank and spends every dime on the special effects, and it is a rousing take on Keystone Cops without diminishing the intelligence or effectiveness of the opposition. It is also a relief after all the bad animal CGI that was better done in “Dreamcatcher” (2003). Hugo effectively believes that once everything is revealed, it will be terrific, especially considering that World War III is breaking out as a marginal, loosely sketched background involving North Korea, Russia, blah blah blah. It is giving last season of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” Let’s put on an alien show then voila world peace!
It was unfortunate and unsurprising that Spielberg was completely unintrigued at the concept of a person who would not care, i.e. Boyd, who may be a one and done, two-dimensional character, but is far more representative of the landscape today as Margaret’s well intentioned mind games have zero effect on him. Bless his heart, but Spielberg is convinced that if everyone knew about aliens the world would stand still and that people would stop and watch *checks notes* live television. Do people still do that? The last universal stop and look at your television screen moment was 9/11. As late as September 2025, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform’s Task Force on the Declassification of Federal Secrets revealed this information, albeit without archival footage, and no one cared. It did not even make the news. People asked if they had to go to work the next day and keep paying their bills then kept it pushing.
Must “Disclosure Day” reflect reality? Absolutely not, but does it have to fully depict and convince its audience to ditch realirt for Spielberg’s worldview, which needs to be riveting enough to keep moviegoers entertained and convinced for its bloated run time of two hours twenty-five minutes? Yes, and that is where it does not quite succeed. The last scene in this movie is such a laughable letdown that it is possible that you won’t need the men in black that it could wipe your mind of any memory that this movie had its moments.
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Does Spielberg really like the idea of aliens that disguise themselves like child predators to lure them into their ships then conduct experiments on them that will cause trauma, hence the memory loss? Does he really not get that it is an objectively bad thing, and God is irrelevant in this equation? How is he appalled that Wardex is experimenting on aliens because they are small like children (valid) while delighted when aliens do the same to kids? Because they are not screaming and are bathed in white light with one experimenter? He really sees it as an ascension and neat to get powers after intergalactic strangers hijack your life. This is “Serenity” (2005) convincing us that what happened to Skye is great news. Sorry. That dog don’t hunt.
