By the end of Disclosure Day, Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo; The Madness) has managed to jolt the memories of Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt; Oppenheimer) and Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor; Wake Up Dead Man). The defining plot twist is that they were connected to each other as children and jointly experienced an extraterrestrial event where aliens experimented on them in a UFO-laboratory-type environment. Hugo was working on this from the start of the film, rebuilding Margaret’s house to help her remember.
“Passengers” Connected
Both characters are “Passengers” for this alien lifeforce: Margaret is a Passenger meant to empathize with and understand human beings, while Daniel is a Passenger meant to understand the aliens from a human perspective. This explains why he could understand what Margaret was saying during her bizarre moment on the weather forecast at the news station.
A Special Report By Margaret
Margaret and Daniel’s revelations motivate them to head to the local news broadcast station to tell the world the truth. Naturally, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) does everything in his power, using his agents, intimidation, and power cuts, to stop this from happening. Ultimately, however, Margaret knows too much now, and she uses the alien technology to keep the lights on.
This is meant to be a watershed moment. While the world prepares for World War III, the local channel alerts news media around the globe to tune in to Margaret’s Special Report. In it, she reveals the truth about what the government has been hiding: extraterrestrial life on Earth and human beings reverse-engineering alien technology for human use. Alongside her Special Report, videos that Daniel was keeping stashed in his backpack are played one after the other. The other broadcasters are in absolute shock at what they see.
To end the film, Hugo brings out an alien (which appears to be elderly) in a wheelchair. The alien whispers to Daniel, who can understand the language. Daniel then whispers to Margaret, but just as she is about to announce to the world what was said, the film abruptly cuts to black.
Noah giving up is actually the bigger moment
Perhaps the most shocking part of this ending is that when Margaret figures out how to keep the power on at the news station, Noah gives up. He spends most of the film chasing these characters down, using any means possible to stop the truth from being revealed to the world. Yet, at this point, he looks powerless; rather than fighting it, he simply sits down and sighs.
Many will not see this moment as pivotal, but I believe Spielberg should have utilized it more. It humanized Noah, who spent most of the film using alien technology to track down his foes. But in this instance, he seemed at peace with the fact that the world will finally know the truth – he has given up fighting. Hugo, his former colleague, squeezes his shoulder sympathetically as the report is delivered. They are two men who have shared a secret all their lives, finally free of their burden. This is a rare instance of good writing in a film that at least offered an emotional and impactful angle here.
Colin Firth stars as the antagonistic Noah Scanlon. His defeat and quiet surrender at the news station provide a rare moment of impactful writing in ‘Disclosure Day’ (Photo: Universal Pictures)
The ending of Disclosure Day has no impact
You can tell that Steven Spielberg and David Koepp were aiming for this ending the entire time: the watershed moment when Margaret reveals the truth to the world. It tries earnestly to have an impact on the audience. Another news host from a different broadcaster is floored by the revelations as more alien and UFO footage is revealed. It is meant to be thought-provoking – suddenly, a world on the cusp of nuclear war seems meaningless.
But it does not work, and in many ways, it makes no sense – especially based on the times we live in. The other news broadcasters take Margaret’s Special Report as absolute, verbatim truth. There is no skepticism about the footage; they just accept what they see at face value. There is no moment of scrutiny, nor a single pause to question what is being live-fed to the world.
This is meant to be a significant moment in the film: aliens exist! Will the world be frightened? Upset? Rebellious? That is supposed to be the emotional hook for the audience – a momentous event that sends chills down your spine. But the impact simply wasn’t there, at least for me. It felt forced and lacked shock value. It felt like a film destined to be made in the early 2000s.
The alien reveal was cheap, and what did they whisper to Margaret?
The ending of Disclosure Day already had zero impact, so rolling out an alien in a wheelchair felt comical and cheap. The film practically screams at the characters and the audience: Aliens exist! Roswell was an extraterrestrial event! President Nixon showed secret information to his friends! Do you want more proof? Here’s an ACTUAL alien! It feels as though Spielberg and Koepp had no confidence in the emotional weight of the story, so throwing in a barely standing alien at the end was their last roll of the dice.
But then they made it worse with an even more frustrating choice. The alien whispers to Daniel, and in turn, he whispers to Margaret. Margaret is clearly given revelatory information, and just as she is about to reveal it on her live Special Report, the film cuts. It’s a scene designed solely to keep the audience theorizing about what was said and what it meant.
Honestly, I doubt anyone cares what the alien said. It is likely something similar to the film Arrival, where empathy is the ultimate weapon to save humanity. At least Arrival made its point clear; Disclosure Day, for some reason, believes it is too special to reveal the secret.
It’s oddly ironic because the marketing and trailers were designed to make audiences believe this film would provide the ultimate truth for the characters – that it was going to be a suspenseful mystery. For the film to spend its entire runtime revealing everything, only to provide a whisper of unknown dialogue at the very end, is absolute nonsense.
