Steven Spielberg is one of the most influential and successful filmmakers of all time. He is best known for creating films that spawned some of the most enduring and recognizable franchises of all time and also singular films that won critical acclaim. He is the creator of Jaws, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, and E.T. But he also was the director of Schindler’s List, Close Encounters of The Third Kind, Saving Private Ryan, Catch Me If You Can, Lincoln, and Ready Player One. He simply creates powerful and profitable movies whether as the director, writer, or producer. His latest film, Disclosure Day, he keeps up his legacy of success and returns to his science fiction roots.
Disclosure Day is an alien movie. But its perspective is profoundly human. As we begin the film we are presented with a classic mystery box, a lot of seemingly random details presented with a pressing unknown connection that forces viewers to engage in the journey. The cast includes a few superstars such as Emily Blunt, Colin Firth, and Colman Domingo that we expect to give the stellar performances they give, but also some lesser known but brilliant performers such as Eve Hewson, Josh O’Connor, and Wyatt Russell. Together we watch as their extraordinary and simple characters face the existential threat of extraterrestrial encounters being disclosed not as fable but as fact to the entire world.
Their stories converge and contract in ways that raise profound questions about truth, uncertainty, choice, faith, doubt, responsibility, curiosity, and destiny. The subject of aliens among us and life out there beyond our planet is a conversation that is decades old. But the way Spielberg brings that conversation to life through the choices and tensions these humans face is illuminating. The result is a visually and philosophically awesome presentation that is stimulating and satisfying. And true to his craft, Disclosure Day is another film that is simply put just a good movie. I encourage you to see it for yourself and wrestle with one of the fundamental questions of faith it raises: how would it impact your faith in God if you knew that humans were not the most important beings in the universe?