Full Disclosure, Newest Spielberg Flick Mirrors His Classics

“Disclosure Day,” the latest from maybe our greatest modern storyteller, Steven Spielberg, is a good movie. It’s not, however, the movie it was advertised to be. If you’re looking for a sci-fi action flick about flying saucers and an alien invasion, as was implied by the trailers, then you may end up disappointed (although he does have at least four other movies that deliver on this). If his slower, more methodical political thrillers are more your thing, then rest assured, you’re in safe hands.

When it hits, it’s Spielberg at his best. The action is great. The camerawork, if a little ostentatious at times, is up there with his best work. There are moments of this, particularly toward the beginning, that channel “Indiana Jones” as much as “Close Encounters.” If one were to score this on a grading of most-to-least-Spielbergian, it’s an easy five stars. It’s the kind of movie he was making around 20 years ago, injected with the sincerity of his early work that made him a household name, while delivering on the clean, perfectionist aura of his late-stage career. Whatever your favorite Spielberg, you’ll find an echo of it here.

John Williams is absolutely firing on all cylinders here, pulling the “it’s also the notes he doesn’t play” card to maximum effect. When isolated, his work here feels indistinguishable in quality to his “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Star Wars” efforts, and Spielberg knows exactly when to deploy him. For what could potentially be his swan song, it’s an absolute home run.

The last 15 minutes or so is what it’s all building toward, and it really sticks the landing. Everything from Emily Blunt’s title drop is undeniable, but truthfully, it’s pretty much perfect as soon as our heroes make it to their final location. Josh O’Connor’s side of the game during the lead up is quietly rather breathtaking and essential to building the tone of that final explosion of emotion. The newscaster in that scene, with all of her five minutes of screen time, provides perhaps the most emotionally riveting performance in the whole film.

Blunt and O’Connor are solid in this, both giving exactly the right amount of sauce to a pair of roles that need gallons of the stuff without going overboard.

The chase sequences, disjointed and excessive though they are, are basically the best version of themselves possible, to the point where I had what felt like an extremely long, extremely stressful, though ultimately enjoyable dream the following night in which I was constantly on the run. A compelling chase is very much Spielberg’s bread and butter, and he pulls out all the stops for this one.

It’s not without flaws; the CGI animals look generally bad, for one. There’s an argument that this is intentional based on their role in the story, but given how good the rest of the film looks, it’s not the easiest theory to get behind.

I’m loathe to say this is a return to form for Spielberg considering his last three movies have all been various shades of spectacular, but this feels like his first quintessential movie in a while. It’s a testament to the length of his career that he’s able to make what feels like an homage to what’s largely considered to be his late career, but this really does feel like something he would have personally made circa 2005. Maybe it’s the slightly outdated politics of the global background or the insistence on using flip phones, or maybe it’s his unfailing commitment to sincerity in a world poisoned by irony and shame, but even when it’s running a bit slow, “Disclosure Day” feels like an important, worthwhile movie.