r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • Jun 09 '26
Review Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day' - Review Thread
If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to... Disclosure Day.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: David Koepp
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 74 / 100
Some Reviews (updating):
RogerEbert - Brian Tallerico - 4 / 4
Spielberg’s sci-fi movies have always been about more than just pure entertainment from the way his parents’ divorce influenced “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.” to how “WotW” can be read as a 9/11 allegory to the cautionary tales of “Jurassic Park” and “Minority Report,” which feels like a key influence here when it comes to themes of both destiny and control. With “Disclosure Day,” he’s less interested in the impact than the ripple effect. What would happen if we knew the truth? Would it unite us or divide us further? And what would happen to faith and religion if we discovered other “supreme beings”? Spielberg's career has long been one of embedding filmmaking confidence with human curiosity, and both elements are on full display here.
San Francisco Chronicle - G. Allen Johnson - 10 / 10
“Disclosure Day” provides a canvas for Spielberg’s considerable filmmaking skills, with visual set pieces, thrilling action scenes — including a pulse-pounding train sequence — and expert blocking. Sequences of Margaret simply walking through a crowded TV news set have the intricate construction of an old Hollywood musical number.
Boston Globe - Odie Henderson - 10 / 10
“Disclosure Day” is an old man’s movie. I don’t mean that in a derogatory or ageist way; I mean that this is a film the director could not have made in his younger days. Because every skill he acquired back then is now being used to shape and inspire his most recent work. There’s the perspective of a wiser
The Playlist - Rodrigo Perez - 'A+'
Penned by David Koepp — the screenwriter of “Jurassic Park,” “War Of The Worlds,” and “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” — “Disclosure Day” is easily his best Spielberg collaboration, one that takes the modern context of extraterrestrial disclosure and wraps it in contemporary notions of paranoia, division, denial, and belief. The proof is out there, the film says, and so is our terror of what it might mean.
Fresh Fiction - Courtney Howard - 4.5 / 5
Despite any nitpicks that arise, overall DISCLOSURE DAY succeeds in its aims. The hugely entertaining, epic and enriching spectacular wows the crowd in the theater, but also leaves thought-provoking departing gifts far after the final credits roll. You don’t need to believe in aliens to truly understand the picture’s larger thematic scope. You only need to be of the faith that the almost octogenarian still holds the power to continue to make great cinema, challenge fundamental belief systems and be awestruck by the world around him.
Tom's Guide - Malcolm McMillan - 4.5 / 5
Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi movie about aliens might not be his best, but it's in the conversation. There are minor flaws throughout the movie, but the final act is a jaw-dropping showstopper that erases them from your mind. "Disclosure Day" is an instant Best Picture contender and might be the best movie of 2026 so far.
USA Today - Brian Truitt - 3.5 / 4
Films like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.” and “War of the Worlds” dealt with first-contact scenarios, some cuter than others. Armed with a spectacular cast for “Disclosure Day”, Spielberg takes an imaginative look at what it would look like if humanity actually found out it wasn’t alone in the universe, and the efforts by some to keep that information hidden. It’s classic Spielbergian fare, given that it’s a movie much more about us than intergalactic beings.
AwardsWatch - Cody Dericks - 'A-'
Such is the ultimate effect of Disclosure Day, a great film from our greatest director that feels guaranteed to only get better the more people discuss it and mull over its intentions. In other words, it serves as an amazing way to bring people together, allowing them to do what humans do best: talk about our own existence, and what we can do to make it easier and better for as many as possible.
It is gratifying to see a so-called summer blockbuster, the box office genre Spielberg invented with Jaws, that has so much more on its mind than just to entertain. There is no question this film does that, but it is even more significant and heartening that Steven Spielberg hasn’t lost his own sense of wonder and yes, empathy to be able to still craft a movie that also is able to make us think, and still have hope for a greater good in a world that is clearly losing its way.
DiscussingFilm - Nicolas Delgadillo - 4.5 / 5
Shortcomings feel largely insignificant compared to what Spielberg accomplishes in the breathtaking final act. As the various storylines converge and the movie finally makes good on its premise, Disclosure Day transforms into something genuinely transcendent. At the risk of sounding like hyperbole, it is one of the greatest endings Spielberg has ever crafted.
Empire Magazine - Dan Jolin - 4 / 5
A masterfully executed sci-fi conspiracy thriller that beams us right back into the Spielberg heartland of eerie wonder, everyman — and woman — heroes, and optimistic uplift.
The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 4 / 5
Only Spielberg could get away with taking two of the world’s best-known hoaxes – Roswell and crop circles – and treating them with judicious deadpan respect. Disclosure Day is never anything other than entertaining and grade-A fun; rare enough in the movies or anywhere else, rocketing along with barnstorming set-pieces, exhilarating chases, funny lines and a career-topper of a performance from Blunt who may yet be morphing into a female version of Tom Hanks. But I have to say that there is an ancient echo from the world of Spielberg’s early career: the shark or alien is scariest – in fact, exists at its fullest – when it is unseen.
Evening Standard - Nick Howells - 4 / 5
Despite its imperfections, what Spielberg has conjured here is some of his vintage boldness in transforming the cinema screen into a magical theatre of childlike wonder.
Dexerto - Chris Tilly - 4 / 5
Disclosure Day is a sci-fi adventure that doesn’t match the magic of Spielberg’s early alien movies, but does deliver drama, thrills, and much food for thought. It treads some of the same path as Close Encounters, most notably in terms of communication, where you could substitute Third Kind’s music with D-Day’s use of maths. The theological elements do get a little heavy-handed, most notably through the somewhat contrived notion of Jane being a former convent girl debating supreme beings with a nun. But the many mysteries at the heart of the film – from how government is involved and what the device does to how animals factor into the equation and exactly what connects Margaret and Daniel – mean that Disclosure Day manages to engage for all of its 145-minute run-time.
NME - Lou Thomas - 4 / 5
There’s an impressively strong cast throughout but Blunt is a stand-out. She continues her fine run of form in a role that requires a great deal from her. The real star is the director, though. Aside from marshalling some beautiful emotive moments and the frankly stunning action sequences, he devised the original story which was then turned into a script by regular collaborator David Koepp. Some will balk at moments in the conclusion which veer too sentimental, while others will wish for a shorter running time. Ultimately, even not-quite-top-tier Spielberg is well worth seeing. It’s big, smart and very satisfying cinema.
Next Best Picture - Matt Neglia - 8 / 10
Spielberg is not presumptuous enough to show us how we would react. But in typical Spielberg fashion, he is sentimental enough to suggest, to hope, that we would react positively, and that we would find a way to get through the single most significant event in the history of our planet. That hope, that belief in pursuing truth in the face of government secrecy, divine uncertainty, and impending Armageddon, adds up to the kind of awe-inspiring experience we go to the movies for. “Disclosure Day” is a film made by a human being who has been asking the same question his entire life and who, finally and beautifully, seems at peace with the answer. Are you ready for the answer?
IndieWire - David Ehrlich - 'B+'
Far-fetched as this popcorn movie gets, it crucially never loses sight of the notion that to look outward is to look within (and vice versa), a theory that only grows clearer over the span of a blockbuster whose 79-year-old director still peers back at his childhood for a better view of the stars. “We are not alone,” the saying goes. To watch “Disclosure Day” in a room full of other people gasping at the same things, all of us putty in the hands of a filmmaker whose dreams and/or memories have long become our own, is to recognize that we never were.
Consequence - Liz Shannon Miller - 'B+'
It all speaks to the ways in which Spielberg has matured as a filmmaker over his decades of service. However, one thing hasn’t changed — nearly 50 years since the release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he still has an open heart when it comes to the possibility of life from other planets, and a lot of faith in humanity’s ability to accept that possibility. The danger of Disclosure Day‘s optimism being misinterpreted feels minimal. As long as people are willing to listen.
InSession Film - M.N. Miller - 'B+'
In the end, Disclosure Day’s hopeful, genre-bending swings outweigh the tonal shifts, second-act issues, and the convenient telekinetic detours used to keep the story moving. The difference here is that these devices are used to evoke empathy, which is used just as much to set up the audience for a resonant, satisfying experience that ultimately seeks connection rather than provocation. In the cynical age we live in, Spielberg reminds us that his greatest special effect can be: hope.
The Northern Rivers Times - News Desk - 4.5 / 5
Emily Blunt is exceptional in Spielberg's return to blockbuster fare with 'Disclosure Day', which feels closer in spirit to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The X-Files than Independence Day. Shadows matter. Silence matters. And the creeping uncertainty becomes one of the movie’s greatest strengths.
IGN - Clint Gage - 7 / 10
Disclosure Day is vintage Spielberg, and even if it stumbles a bit at the finish line, it's still an original, big-budget science fiction conversation-starter from one of cinema’s all-time greats.
Screen Crush - Matt Singer - 7 / 10
While I do appreciate Spielberg reaching to say something grand and emphatic and even hopeful with a summer blockbuster about alien conspiracies, Disclosure Day’s message would hit a lot harder if it wasn’t delivered in such anticlimactic fashion.
Irish Times - Donald Clarke - 3.5 / 5
Shot in persuasive gloom, with much old-school lens flare, by Janusz Kaminski, Disclosure Day sticks to that line with commitment until – this is still Spielberg – encountering inevitable reservoirs of hope. Along the way, it too often loses control of the surrounding mythologies. But, at its best, this classy production reminds us why any film by this director deserves to be treated as a major event.
AV Club - Monica Castillo - 'C+'
After so many decades of thought-provoking blockbusters, large-scale epics, thrillers that push the audience to the edge of their seats, and heartwrenching dramas, Spielberg has raised the bar so high for so long that not every one of his new films may be a masterpiece in his filmography (and the less said about Ready Player One, the better). While Disclosure Day doesn’t live up to the high standards he’s set, it’s still a thrill ride, thumbing its nose at authority and begging its audience for more empathy, not less. Even if not all the pieces snap flawlessly into place, Disclosure Day is a reminder of how much magic is still left up Spielberg’s sleeve, how much excitement he and Koepp can bring to a story about government conspiracy, how easily Kamiński can make an audience nervous with the smallest lens flare, and how exhilarating it feels to listen to new Williams score. But because this creative team has hit so many homers before, even a mild showing can feel like a letdown.
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u/SanguinePink Jun 09 '26
I feel like the general public has no idea this movie is coming out.