'Disclosure Day' Is Proof Steven Spielberg Is Still a Wizard Behind The Camera

(SPOT.ph) Disclosure Day starts in what feels like the middle of the action, with Daniel (Josh O’Connor) in a tense meetup with some serious looking fellows in suits. They are retrieving from him some things he’s stolen, and he’s giving them up in exchange for the freedom of his partner, Jane (Eve Hewson)—who this mysterious organization kidnapped to get to him. Eventually, Daniel orchestrates an escape, using the threat of an odd device that everyone seems to be afraid of. With very few questions answered, the movie then bounds on, with Daniel and Jane going into hiding, awaiting the next steps of a larger plan they don’t really have a handle on. 

It’s a pretty bold opening, urging audiences to catch up with the action. And this is only one half of the story. In Kansas city, weathergirl Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) is having the strangest day. She finds herself speaking languages she’s never spoken, before freezing live on air and clicking out some weird sounds. She then realizes that something is leading her somewhere, and against the advice of everyone around her, she follows her instincts to see where they take her. On paper, these two sides of the story seem very different, but in practice they’re both driven by the same idea: we’ve got characters who don’t know exactly what they’re doing but they’re taking it on faith that they’re doing the right thing.

Faith is central to Disclosure Day, which examines what humans believe, and the extent to which they might go to protect a vision of their faith. It’s also about faith in humanity, in believing that there is more to people than a predilection towards conflict. It’s in parsing these themes that the movie gets shakiest: there’s a scene in the middle where a character calls up an old mentor to have a discussion about faith, and it is the clunkiest bit of writing in the entire film. It’s certainly earnest in its expression of belief, but the scene and much of its dialogue are just overly contrived to get certain points across.

But more often than not, Disclosure Day is a reminder that Steven Spielberg is one of the best to ever do it. At times the film feels a little cornball, but it’s never anything less than engaging. Maybe the dialogue isn’t always great, but Spielberg shoots it all with a verve that still feels rare in today’s cinema. Two characters talking might play out in longer take, Janusz Kaminski’s camera moving around them as they dance around each other, arguing their points. There’s an action sequence that involves two trains that is simply a masterwork of rising tension, with each subsequent cut revealing a new threat the characters have to deal with.

The movie runs long, but it never feels like it. There’s just so much momentum, with one mystery leading into another, the characters all barreling towards a climax that feels necessary and inevitable. There’s a lot of talent in front of the camera, too, with Blunt in particular delivering what feels like her best ever performance. And that’s really saying a lot, given how she is typically a standout in any project she’s in. But she just seems to turn it up another notch in this one, charming her way through this mystery with a noticeable grace. O’Connor is good, Hewson feels so grounded, and Firth makes for a great villain. But Blunt is really the star here.

Disclosure Day reveals a lot about what Spielberg is thinking about these days. It seems that the filmmaker has looked at all the division in the world, and has created a movie that preaches acceptance of the things we do not know; that believes people are united in being drawn to mystery. That’s a neat idea, though Disclosure Day doesn’t quite explore that to an extent that feels substantial. The movie doesn’t really go much further than the day in the title, and we don’t really see much of the consequences of what is revealed. Spielberg basically asks us to take in on faith, and I imagine people will have very different reactions to all that. What’s clear, though, is that Spielberg is still a wizard behind the camera, putting together a sensational experience that just happens to contain his heady themes.

Rating: 3.5 stars.