‘Disclosure Day’ Review – Spielberg’s Alien Thriller is Stuck in the Past

Initially, I could not tell if Disclosure Day felt off because of the times we live in or because Steven Spielberg and David Koepp (You Should Have Left) failed to nail the script. After sleeping on it, I concluded it is likely both, though I do wonder how this film would have resonated with audiences had it been released in the 2000s.

However, this “Alien Invasion, Conspiracy Sci-Fi Thriller” is not short on talent, featuring a cast that puts in a unified effort to support an ambitious story.

Josh O’Connor (Wake Up Dead Man, Emma.) plays Dr. Daniel Kellner, a man in possession of extraterrestrial technology. Alongside his girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson; Jay Kelly, Robin Hood), he is running from Noah Scanlon (a role Colin Firth has fun with), the head of a secret government department whose sole mission is to prevent the world from learning the truth about alien life while governments globally prepare for World War Three.

On the flip side of the story, Emily Blunt (Oppenheimer) is introduced as Margaret Fairchild, a weather presenter at a local news station. One day, she suddenly begins speaking Russian – surprising her boyfriend (Wyatt Russell; Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) – and seemingly suffers a mental breakdown on air, uttering strange sounds in front of the camera. She has become a passenger to whatever extraterrestrial experience has been thrust upon her.

Of course, watching Blunt with another solid performance makes for a highlight in the film – in fact, her character’s story slightly pays off, especially when it slowly connects to Daniel’s story. It’s one part of the script that is strong, thankfully.

Eventually, the two storylines converge as the determined Noah, who utilizes extraterrestrial technology himself, hunts down Daniel and anyone else associated with a resistance group desperate to leak classified information to the world.

Unfortunately, the story never quite makes its point, and I wonder if the trailer did Disclosure Day zero favors. The pre-marketing sold the film as a suspenseful mystery where the audience is kept in the dark about the “truth.” Yet, we are presented with cartoonish characters, and when the “truth” is finally revealed, it is met with a shoulder shrug – at least by me, and I can imagine other audiences having the same reaction.

Minor Spoilers Ahead

When Daniel reveals the information he holds to his girlfriend – which is essentially secret footage of alien crash sites, President Nixon trying to impress a friend, and the government conducting inhumane experiments on non-humans – Jane is mortified. In fact, she is deeply emotional over this revelation and the horrific treatment the aliens faced. There is no real questioning of whether the footage is real; she is all in immediately.

There is also a religious subplot that Spielberg and Koepp clearly did not know how to handle. Jane is a former nun battling with her faith. The situation forces her to question what the existence of supreme extraterrestrial beings means for her beliefs, Genesis, the creation of the world, and humanity. In 2026, this kind of philosophical subplot feels a tad immature and basic, and I am surprised Spielberg ran with it. Ultimately, the film lacks the courage to engage with up-to-date religious doctrine.

Colman Domingo (The Madness) is also underused as Hugo Wakefield, a former subordinate of Noah Scanlon who has decided to break ranks and help expose the truth. Unfortunately, the character spends the entire film acting “all-knowing,” even though the audience has already cottoned onto the premise.

In a way, it feels like the writers convinced themselves that this is a super clever story for 2026. The question of whether the world is ready to see concrete evidence of alien life has been posed for decades, and it has gotten to the point where we have been subjected to so many conspiracies that we are almost numb to the idea, even if it were true. That is exactly what Disclosure Day is missing: it fails to capture that specific nuance, which is rooted in the reality of the world we live in today. The film feels trapped in a post-9/11, X-Files, or War of the Worlds era of paranoia.

Let’s talk about our current landscape – where congressional hearings on UAPS (Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena) are part of regular news and deepfakes are fooling and dominating on social media. This trope of a shadowy government department hiding conspiratorial information feels dated. If you place this story in real life, Daniel’s proposed leak would be challenged by online skepticism, algorithmic noise, and political parties doing everything in their power to spin it. The script completely forgets that we live in a dopamine-riddled society, with desensitized and distrustful audiences.

There is no doubt that if Disclosure Day had been made in the 2000s, it would have provoked audiences and sparked great conversations. Spielberg and Koepp simply have not caught up with the modern world, resulting in a weak, ineffective sci-fi film that failed to deliver on its highly marketed promise. It’s a shame.

Read More: Why the Ending of Disclosure Day Doesn’t Make Sense