Shadows on the Wall | Disclosure Day

Disclosure Day

Review by Rich Cline | MUST SEE

dir Steven Spielberg
scr David Koepp
prd Steven Spielberg, Kristie Macosko Krieger
with Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colin Firth, Colman Domingo, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Elizabeth Marvel, Hettienne Park, Tommy Martinez, Gabby Beans, Jeremy Shamos, Brandon Wilson
release US/UK 12.Jun.26
26/US Universal 2h25

Is it streaming?

Returning to the themes of his 1977 landmark Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Steven Spielberg skilfully holds the audience tightly in his grip throughout this epic dramatic thriller. The film works on multiple layers, from taut action set-pieces to surging emotional resonance. But it's the pungent ideas that get under the skin, as the story ultimately challenges us to see through the distractions to what's truly important.

Working in a top-secret government agency, cybersecurity expert Daniel (O'Connor) turns whistleblower, fleeing with his girlfriend Jane (Hewson). His boss Noah (Firth) is hot on his tail, but he's helped by colleague Hugo (Domingo), who thinks people have a right to know that alien visitations are real. Meanwhile, Kansas City meteorologist Margaret (Blunt) begins to have various inexplicable brain-broadening experiences, which freak out her boyfriend Jackson (Russell). As Noah's team chases both of them, and Hugo's provides assistance, Daniel and Margaret are on a collision course. Can they tell the world before it's too late?

Spielberg's assured hand creates bold, persistent momentum as the story charges forward without feeling rushed. So there's time for character-building pauses that pull us further into each situation, even when we're not yet sure about what's happening. Each interaction bursts with intrigue, connection and potential, including quiet scenes in which people simply exist together. Then thrilling sequences get our hearts pounding, such as a frankly insane extended clash between a car and a train. Or the many uses for a baton-like alien "thingy".

Because the story remains so resolutely character-based, actors find unusual emotional depth. Radiating wit and intelligence, Blunt and O'Connor have heart-stopping individual beats, then find dynamic chemistry together. Because we identify with them so profoundly, the film feels unusually intense. As their partners, Hewson and Russell get surprising moments of their own. And both Firth and Domingo excel in finding riveting nuance in roles that turn out to be far more textured than expected.

Spielberg hasn't veered from the standard humanoid type of alien with enormous black eyes, playing on stories of abduction to put decades of rumours into an entertaining context. All of this is assembled in a way that feels effortless, as Spielberg is of course bolstered by an expert crew, including another powerful John Williams score, Janusz Kaminski's inventive cinematography and Sarah Broshar's fluid editing. And it all comes together gorgeously with an urgent, timely message about empathy.

themes, language, violence 8.Jun.26

R E A D E R R E V I E W S

Still waiting for your comments ... don't be shy.