SPOILER-FREE PLOT SUMMARY
Amidst the backdrop of North Korea threatening World War III, a private company holds the secrets to alien life in the universe. Wardex cyber security employee Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O’Connor) has stolen overwhelming video evidence of the nearly century-long government cover up and is on the run with his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) before Wardex executive Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) can silence him. Meanwhile, Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) has started speaking foreign languages fluently unbeknownst to her and it all comes to a head when she’s live on the air and begins speaking in pops and hisses. The clip goes viral and whistleblower ringleader Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo) immediately instructs Daniel and Jane to lay low in an old farm house while he figures out how to get them to Kansas City. After collapsing on air, Margaret ends up in the hospital but escapes when, all of a sudden, the FBI is waiting to talk to her. She doesn’t know why but something is telling her to drive north so she can meet up with a man she only knows the name of: Daniel.
SPOILER-FREE REVIEW
There’s a long history of studios over-hyping a movie. And there’s an even longer history of studios over-hyping movies because they know they’re not that good. They give blank checks to their marketing departments so they can promote the hell out a film in order to sell as many tickets as possible on opening weekend because they know, once word gets out, ticket sales will plummet. Basically, a seven-month hype campaign is rarely a good sign.
Luckily, DISCLOSURE DAY is the rare example of a hyped up project living up to the hype.
Blunt and O’Connor prove they’re among the best actors of this generation but DISCLOSURE DAY falls apart without the tremendous supporting cast and day players. Hewson delivers a performance at the dining room table that must’ve been psychologically grueling and the national news anchor Courtney Grace is a true powerhouse in her limited — but gravely important — screen time. With any lesser actor in those roles, the film losses all the momentum it’s been building towards over the previous two hours and leaves audiences with a sense of a cheapened feeling. Instead, the viewer is rewarded for their investment of time and energy on this journey thanks to them.
With JAWS, E.T. THE EXTRA TERRESTRIAL, JURASSIC PARK, THE COLOR PURPLE, MINORITY REPORT, SAVING PRIVATE RYAN and about 171 other movies on his resume, Steven Spielberg is as close to “undefeated” as a director can be. But screenwriter David Koepp isn’t. For every MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE, there’s also an INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL. For every BLACK BAG, there’s also a JURASSIC WORLD: REBIRTH. For every PANIC ROOM, there’s also an INFERNO. While Koepp has certainly authored some bangers, you never really know what you’re going to get but DISCLOSURE DAY is absolutely a homerun.
With the hype machine out in full force for the better part of a year — and new, unnecessary trailers dropping what seemed like every other week — there was some serious concern that DISCLOSURE DAY would be nothing more than what CRYSTAL SKULL was: a promotional blitz to get butts in seats opening weekend before word got out. Thankfully, those concerns were unfounded and it’s another all-timer on a resume of all-timers for Spielberg.
It’s not all perfect. DISCLOSURE DAY has some real convenient choices like Daniel sneaking around completely unnoticed by the feds who have stormed the farm house simply because he’s not in the direction they’re looking. Additionally, I’m not sure the plot device is explained well enough for the audience to have the necessary background information. But, in the end, the sheer wealth of positives make the negatives forgivable.
JKG SCORE: 8.0 out of 10
Untitled Film Project 