Film Review: Disclosure Day

3 Stars

By Joseph Beyer | June 20, 2026

Were it not for the talents of the extraordinary actors Emily Blunt and Colman Domingo in lead roles, who valiantly commit to the absurdity of a screenplay by David Koepp and Steven Spielberg, I would not have much to praise for Disclosure Day, one of the most anticipated summer movies from one of Hollywood’s most legendary directors.

That’s because the original script of a decades-long coverup of extraterrestrial contact (and a rogue band of whistle-blowers determined to expose it), not only failed to intrigue, dazzle, or entertain me, it also fell short of any intellectual, spiritual, or emotional resonance.

Set in a contemporary and familiar America, Disclosure Day itself is at fault by promising, with great fanfare, to deliver a hyper-logical and relatable premise set in the genre of “reality”…but then expecting us to believe a series of absurdities.

The idea of a film exploring “First Contact,” or the existential turning point when human beings definitively know we are not alone in the universe, is perfect fodder for the big screen and territory that writer and director Spielberg is obviously passionate about. But what follows in the 2 hour 25 minute journey to explore it turns out to be quite silly and unrelatable.

First, we must believe that an international corporation named Wardex has somehow been put in control of all alien-technology, Deep-State secrets, and extraterrestrial captivity by all known governments of the world. Then, we must believe they have created a small secret society to keep these mind-blowing and classified revelations to themselves (since humanity writ large would fall apart if they were revealed).

And finally, we must believe that once the news is out, the whole of society is outraged at our treatment of aliens and comes together as a species to try and protect them—something we’ve failed to do for any other human genocide or Abu Ghraib revelation before.

Presented within a realistic approach, the actions onscreen face scrutiny they can’t stand up against. And it was all the more frustrating since Spielberg’s 1977 exploration into familiar territory in Close Encounters of the Third Kind captures exactly that “what if?” energy and is widely considered a masterpiece of the oeuvre.

In Disclosure Day, profundity and the religious and spiritual implications of aliens are not felt, but dictated to us in mealy-mouthed monologues from the worst culprits of the ensemble (actors Josh O’Connor and Eve Hewson are particularly strained and miscast).

For me, not even a score by longtime Spielberg collaborator John Williams (their 30th together) could lift my spirits by the time we reached the final act. Of particular disappointment was the comical treatment of media and journalists, the alien beings who look like Little Green Men, the Keystone Cop tactics of an elite security force that let people escape like Benny Hill, and the impenetrable subplot of an otherworldly remote-control no one could understand.

We should have been in awe given the talents and subject matter of Disclosure Day … instead of the “Aw, that was bad” that I overheard and concurred with as I exited the theater.

Rated PG-13 for adult language and mild alien torture, Disclosure Day is now playing exclusively in theaters. Debuting last week, it had the biggest opening weekend box office of any previous original story from the Oscar winning and legendary director.