The saying “nobody’s perfect” has never rung truer. Many directors of notoriety have been producing films that haven’t lived up to the hype behind them, and worse, they’ve been let off the hook because of past works. Many people are going to glance over the disappointment that is Disclosure Day for the sake of it being a Spielberg film. But our responsibility as critics is to critique, is it not? That is why he cannot be given a pass for this subpar showing.
You should never attend an event and leave unfulfilled; it’s not a great feeling. But a project, attached to the name Steven Spielberg, paired with an exciting trailer, and carrying the sounds of John Williams, would be considered fail-safe by most. Instead, what’s been proven is that the magic the aforementioned names once carried is starting to fade. Now, Spielberg as a producer is a totally different story. Transformers One, Jurassic World: Chaos Theory, and The Dinosaurs mini series are all amazing projects that were easy to enjoy. Disclosure Day is not one of those projects. I left the theatre not only feeling unfulfilled but questioning how this film was greenlit for production.
The vague loglines and synopses add nothing in the film’s favor. It’s a story about aliens and whether the world deserves to know they exist. There’s a remnant that gives people who hold it a myriad of abilities (we never learn all of them). Two people who were directly affected by the remnant were Margaret (Emily Blunt), a weatherwoman in Kansas City, and Daniel (Josh O’Connor), a whistleblower on the run. The cast includes Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo, Wyatt Russell, Elizabeth Marvel, Hettienne Park, and Henry Lloyd-Hughes.
The film has all the hallmarks of a Spielberg project, like the moments of “awe” and scenes of “wonder”, all backed by a powerful orchestra via John Williams. These specific traits might’ve worked with past films, but they shouldn’t be the only tricks in his bag. Because the film had all of the aforementioned qualities, it still wasn’t up to snuff. So should he be given a pass because these attributes have worked on award-winning films in the past? Absolutely not.
The story itself was interesting. The government had been hiding decades of information about alien life, and the argument was, “If people find out the truth, could they handle it?” The characters were not easy to embrace because they constantly made bad decisions. Some of the choices were so unmistakably bad (like Daniel having a clear escape from the police, instead runs toward them “quietly” and steals a car) that they were laughable. Emily Blunt and Wyatt Russell were “ok” but could’ve easily been replaced by another onscreen couple. The aliens should have never been shown, or if that was the plan, reveal them at the end. The aliens looked fake, the CGI looked cheap, and too much took place that was never explained. No background information, no backstory explained through dialogue, nothing. This film was nothing more than a nostalgia trap for fans of his (Spielberg’s) work.
Disclosure Day gets a disappointing 6 out of 10. The film is far too slow, and it’s an hour too long. The only reason I can think of behind the IMAX shooting was the ability to capture more in frame. Any time the film creeps up the intensity within the “thriller” range, a character will do or say something idiotic and drop the quality down to something completely unserious. The man is trying to deliver ET magic in 2026, and it’s not happening here.
Disclosure Day premieres in theaters on June 12.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Universal Pictures
Genre: Sci-Fi/Mystery
Rating: PG-13
Runtime: 2 hrs 25 mins
Trailer: Watch
U.S. Release Date: June 12, 2026