Review 785: Disclosure Day

If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? Disclosure Day  a culmination of nearly fifty years of Steven Spielberg's work in the science fiction genre

The world is poised on the brink of World War III,  meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) finds herself at the centre of a bizarre on-set incident, she crosses paths with cybersecurity expert and whistleblower Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) who claims to understand what happened to her - and to have proof that we're not alone in the universe. With the help of scientist Hugo Wakefield (Common Domingo), Daniel and Margaret begin a quest for full disclosure. However, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), a powerful head of a secret arm of the U.S. government called the Wardex Corporation will stop at nothing to ensure the truth remains under wraps.

The film opens by thrusting us right into the middle of the action when Josh O'Connor's Daniel is being hunted by Firth's Noah  from that point onwards, it virtually never stops 

Sure we get the usual hallmarks of the sci fi genre like crop circles, government conspiracies and car chases. But they're handled and executed with such  in a way that feels fresh that unless you're a  you probably won't notice. But underneath all of that, Disclosure Day is a surprisingly humanist film 

The screenplay by David Koepp (his fifth collaboration with Spielberg follow the first two Jurassic Park films, War of the Worlds and the fourth Indiana Jones film) constantly keeps the characters and us as an audience on our toes   The film's primary theme seems to be empathy: 

At the centre of this conspiracy is Emily Blunt in the role of Margaret Fairchild, a former journalist turned meteorologist who finds herself thrust into the centre of a massive conspiracy  Margaret is quite a restless, scatty and tangential person who is trying to find her sense of belonging and self. Even though she's carved out a fairly successful career for herself reporting on live TV, she can't quite grasp purchase of what she wants in life. She's looking for what she was made for. Something happened in her past that's caused her to develop these empath powers, something has been triggered from an experience she had in her childhood that she's tried to repress and then everything is exposed on national television.         Margaret embodies the theme of Empathy in the film more than anything else. She is bestowed the most amplified version of it.

Spielberg intelligently surrounds her with an eclectic supporting cast that filters out over the course of the film including but not limited to: Josh O'Connor, Eve Hewson, Wyatt "John Walker" Russell, Common Domingo & Colin Firth. With smaller roles filled out by Elizabeth Marvel, Hettienne Park, Gabby Beans & Henry Lloyd-Hughes. Rather awesome.

The parallels that Spielberg draws between different sets of these characters is extremely prevalent throughout Disclosure Day. Each of the protagonists (Margaret and Daniel) are hunted by Wardex  Both have a partner/love interest in their life, Margaret has Jackson (Wyatt Russell) and Daniel has Jane (Eve Hewson) who is a former nun. But whereas Jackson abandons Emily when the ordeal becomes too much for him to bear, Jane sticks by Daniel's side no matter how harrowing the peril is.                                Common Domingo's Hugo and Colin Firth's Noah are very much presented as opposites, both are scientists but whereas Hugo wants to expose the truth because he feels that people have the right to know and is an advocate for disclosure, Noah wants to keep it under wraps at all costs. Noah is the head of Wardex whereas Hugo was once the Director of Biological Assets at Wardex but defected and started his own cell of Wardex employees who have become whistleblowers. 

Daniel has this amazing mathematical brain and he's using it to understand "them"

Eve Hewson doesn't lag far behind, she makes you feel Jane's fear and vulnerability in every scene she's in. 

Russell's Jackson is actually an excellent deconstruction of the "supportive boyfriend" archetype. He's a loving and supportive boyfriend towards Blunt's Margaret, has a passion for guitars, deeply cares for her, is as encouraging as possible because she's going through an odd, but meaningful experience that even she doesn't understand - up until the point where he isn't. After having to follow Margaret around as she makes cryptic calls to strangers and makes decisions purely based on emotion, he decides he can't take it anymore and