By Alex McPherson

Bringing together remarkable talent for an underbaked summer spectacle that trades nuance for naiveté, director Steven Spielberg’s “Disclosure Day” is neither compelling enough as popcorn entertainment nor fully invested in its existential ideas.

We’re thrown into the story in media res, as rogue cybersecurity specialist Dr. David Kellner (Josh O’Connor) is on the run with a backpack containing evidence of human-alien contact dating back to the Roswell Incident.

The Wardex Corporation, an arm of the US government led by the stiff-jawed Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), desperately wants to keep the files hidden from the public.

David, guided by the Morpheus-esque Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), is determined for the world to know the truth, regardless of the ramifications — although society already seems on the brink of World War III due to some vague geopolitical conflict involving Russia and North Korea.

David is accompanied by his girlfriend Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson), who used to be a nun and is grappling with the potential consequences of what this alien “disclosure” would do for the devout’s belief in God.

Meanwhile, Kansas City television meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is preparing for work one day when a cardinal flies into the apartment she shares with her exhausted and passive-aggressive boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). After the bird leaves, Margaret seemingly has psychic abilities; she’s able to read minds and understand the emotions of anyone she comes across. 

She’s also able to speak any language, including a bizarre click-clacking extraterrestrial tongue that she deploys during the day’s broadcast. This catches the attention of Wardex, and, soon enough, Margaret is being pursued by them. She eventually crosses paths with David, who she learns she shares a world-altering connection with.

Can they get to safety and reveal the truth before Noah’s goons lock them up and forever relegate the files  to the realm of conspiracy theories?

It’s an admittedly decent premise, especially considering the people involved. Spielberg directing, John Williams scoring, Janusz Kamiński lensing, O’Connor, Blunt, Firth, and Domingo among the cast — what’s not to like?

As it turns out, fundamental storytelling issues bring “Disclosure Day” down to size, abandoning the thorniness of “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or even the lesser emotional pull of “The Fabelmans” for something decidedly messier and devoid of much novel to say.

It’s never less than watchable, but with Spielberg at the helm, shouldn’t we expect more than a boomeristic call for unity that forgets to give its characters much depth?

Five-time Spielberg collaborator David Koepp’s screenplay is wildly uneven, oscillating between broad, crowd-pleasing humor, bursts of cynicism, and blatant sentimentality that never coheres into a truly satisfying identity of its own.

To its credit, “Disclosure Day” is an ambitious film, exploring religion, childhood trauma, empathy, government surveillance, journalistic integrity, and extraterrestrial life, Spielberg’s favorite, just without digging into any topic with much detail. 

Characters pay lip service to ideas in exposition-heavy sequences where debates sometimes feel like each person is arguing with themselves, stumbling into revelations without the story unfolding organically.

And we don’t actually know that much about these people to begin with, especially David, as Spielberg drops us into the fray mid-chase and expects us to forge a bond on the fly as bits of backstory are periodically spelled out for us.

Margaret fares marginally better, mostly thanks to an excellent Blunt performance that walks an entertaining tightrope between comedy and drama as her character grapples with the fear and eventual determination stemming from her newfound powers.

Blunt has great comedic timing that makes her endearing regardless of the character’s blandness, as does O’Connor, who proves himself to be a capable Spielberg everyman who can shoulder action sequences effectively. Firth, given even less to work with from a narrative depth standpoint, chews scenery as the villainous Noah.

It might sound like “Disclosure Day” is a near-total misfire, but, on a pure, in-the-moment level, there’s too much impressive craft on display to ignore. Kamiński works overtime framing elaborate (perhaps overly elaborate) long takes and action sequences that are thrilling and full of slapstick carnage.

Williams’ score provides a fitting backdrop to this paranoid thriller, sans much separating itself from the master’s previous works. And Spielberg does take some wild swings here, complete with mind control and some questionably-animated CGI animals, that are unconventional, even if their cumulative effect is more goofy than profound. 

Spielberg has a clear message to share — of how the spontaneous and unexpected can bring us together, and how, as a species, we need to learn to gradually bridge divides and “listen” to each other. “Disclosure Day” speaks to the current moment in 2026, albeit remaining old-fashioned in the ways it delivers its pleas, but it becomes difficult to take seriously amid its loopy, fragmented plotting.

It’s still mildly diverting if one can let the 145-minute runtime wash over them and not expect to have much “disclosed” that prompts more than smirks and eyerolls.

“Disclosure Day” is a 2026 supernatural sci-fi thriller directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Josh O’Connor, Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson and Wyatt Russell. It is rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language and the runtime is 2 hours, 25 minutes. It opens in theatres June 12. Alex’s Grade: B-