Disclosure Day

Disclosure Day, 2026, 4 ½ stars

Close Encounters 2.0

Spielberg returns to his alien roots

Exclusive to MeierMovies, June 10, 2026

The greatest living film director has had tremendous success with dramas, but he cut his (shark’s) teeth on thrillers and science fiction. So, nearly 50 years after Close Encounters of the Third Kind (still his greatest movie) and 62 years after Firelight (the director’s micro-budget, alien debut film), it’s wonderful to see Steven Spielberg bookend his career with otherworldly lifeforms in Disclosure Day.

Though Spielberg is now 79, I shouldn’t use the bookending metaphor, for the master seems almost as mentally spry as ever and likely to continue working for another decade. And his composing partner, John Williams, is still going at age 94, marking his 30th collaboration with his favorite helmer.

So how is the latest collaboration? Disclosure Day is exhilarating, mysterious and unsettling, but also self-referential and surprisingly action-oriented. The script, penned by frequent Spielberg partner David Koepp from a story by Spielberg, goes in a few odd directions but never loses its propulsive momentum. And when combined with Spielberg’s sensibilities, terrific performances and some genuinely jaw-dropping moments, the story congeals into one of the greatest films of the decade and arguably the director’s best work since Saving Private Ryan in 1998, though he has made a slew of films this century that come close, such as The Post, Ready Player One, A.I. and Bridge of Spies, all significant parts of his unmatched resume. (Catch Me if You Can, Minority Report and Munich aren’t far behind either.)

Emily Blunt, in a performance worthy of an Oscar nomination, plays Margaret, the weather reporter at a Kansas City TV station. Josh O’Connor is Daniel, a cybersecurity genius turned whistleblower, and the alarm he’s sounding concerns a decades-long conspiracy to hide evidence of alien life. The two characters seemingly have little in common, but so did Roy (Richard Dreyfuss) and Jillian (Melinda Dillon) in Close Encounters. Discovering their common bond was one of the great joys of that 1977 masterpiece, and a similar journey of discovery becomes the driving force behind Disclosure Day – so much that the film becomes less about alien life and more about humankind.

Throughout their journey together, Blunt and O’Connor do a fair job of tapping into the angst Dreyfuss displayed. “I don’t think I know what’s happening to me,” he uttered in the famous bathtub scene. Blunt and O’Connor don’t plumb the depths of emotional despair as completely as Dreyfuss, but they do convey an out-of-body quest, one they can’t explain but are nevertheless inexplicably drawn toward, minus mashed potatoes.

Complementing Blunt and O’Connor is Eve Hewson (Bridge of Spies) as Daniel’s girlfriend who – in either a stroke of brilliance or a too on-the-nose construct – happens to be a former nun openly contemplating what an alien reveal would mean for a religious world. Further fine support is offered by Colman Domingo (as the lead defector from the company for which he and Daniel work) and Colin Firth (as head of said company). Expect a supporting-actor Oscar nomination for Firth thanks to his dead-eye turn as the man with the dead eyes. (If this film has an equivalent to Francois Truffaut’s Claude Lacombe from Close Encounters, it’s Firth’s.)

The film is an homage, not just to Close Encounters, to which it owes its life, but to many of Spielberg’s films and loves, such as Duel and Disney. And for the director’s biggest fans, almost all yearnings will come true – even if you don’t wish upon a star.

The only nitpicks involve some aforementioned strange choices, such as beginning an otherwise magical film with a crude wrestling match, some mediocre and unnecessary use of CGI animals, and an unexpected emphasis on Christopher Nolan-style action. In addition, a subplot imagines a potential nuclear calamity involving the United States, Russia and North Korea. That storyline has a raison d’être that becomes clear toward the end, but, nevertheless, it creates clutter. I also couldn’t shake the feeling that Spielberg was pushing just a bit too hard, forcing the magic instead of letting it come seemingly organically, as in Close Encounters. But all these tiny faults are forgotten at the climax, which features one of Hollywood’s greatest sci-fi reveals of all time.

Visually, the film is striking and owes much to cinematographer Janusz Kamiński, who has been Spielberg’s DP since 1993. Their decision to shoot mostly on film was wise, although it makes little sense to see the movie in 70mm or IMAX, as it was shot predominantly on 35mm. And, of course, don’t forget to watch for those trademark Spielberg transition shots, partially courtesy of editor Sarah Broshar, who has worked with the director since 2011.

Like all great films, Disclosure Day feels more like an event than a movie. And coming amid multiple government UFO disclosures, it is eerily zeitgeisty. Spielberg himself has said the film’s plot is much more tangible than that of Close Encounters, which he made with just a hope and a hunch that aliens were real. Fast-forward nearly a half-century, and Spielberg says E.T. presence is almost a certainty.

So now would be a nice time for these cosmic creatures to reveal themselves. And it seems only right that the first human to meet them should be Spielberg, unless he is a higher being himself, which is entirely possible.

© 2026 MeierMovies, LLC

For more information on the movie, visit IMDB and Wikipedia. The film will open in cinemas in North America on June 12 and is rated PG-13. To see where this film ranks among all of Spielberg’s, visit my directors list. And if you liked this review, please follow MeierMovies on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and X (Twitter).