Spielberg’s latest feature film shows the legendary director still has the magic touch when it comes to telling stories.
For many years now, the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and John Williams has been one of the greatest things in Hollywood. Thus, when it was announced that Disclosure Day would be the thirtieth collaboration between the two, I took notice.
Disclosure Day
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Starring: Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Colman Domingo
Release Date: June 12, 2026
Disclosure Day is a story about aliens as only Spielberg could tell it. It centers around a dizzying premise: what would you do if you had undeniable proof that extraterrestrial life existed? What would a truth like that do to humanity?
It is so hard to put into words what I was thinking and feeling while watching Disclosure Day. The story felt perfect for the times we live in. In a world where things feel like they’re spinning out of control, I think Spielberg might be on to something with the suggestion that discovering we’re not alone in the universe might be what it takes to shock the world out of its rut.
I found the story to be very well constructed, with the two main plot threads following Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor). At first these two plot threads seem completely unrelated. Then Spielberg slowly weaves the narrative together and as the pieces fall into place, it all makes sense just as the emotional climax of the movie is reached.
While I enjoyed both sides of the story, i did find myself drawn slightly more to Emily Blunt’s performance as Margaret. It reminded me of Richard Dreyfuss’ performance in Close Encounters of the Third Kind, in the sense that they’re both characters who find themselves sucked into extraterrestrial events without fully understanding what’s happening to them.
I firmly believe this was done on purpose, as I buy in to the theory that Disclosure Day is a spiritual follow up to Close Encounters of the Third Kind. It definitely feels like Spielberg is revisiting some of the ideas explored in the older film, albeit with almost fifty more years of experience behind him. Even if that wasn’t Spielberg’s intent, it’s fascinating to hold the two films up to one another as an example of how similar ideas can change over time.
One of my favorite details in the film is how the story doesn’t shy away from raising the question of how learning about extraterrestrial life might affect people of faith. It’s a genuine question and I love the answer the film goes with. It will definitely leave you pondering how you would react if presented with proof that aliens were real.
Of course, no discussion of Disclosure Day would be complete without talking about the score created by the one and only John Williams. As I said at the beginning, these two have been a winning combination for literal decades, and that’s no less true here. This isn’t one of Williams’ louder scores, so please don’t go in expecting something out of Star Wars. The music for Disclosure Day is mostly on the quiet side, enhancing the moments that need your attention the most. Only in the final act, when the pieces come together, does the music swell into something utterly powerful.
To me Disclosure Day proves that Steven Spielberg still knows how to tell a great story. It’s easily one of the best films I’ve seen this year. I won’t lie though, parts of this film are just, hard to explain. But once you see the movie, you just get it. Some movies just can’t be explained, they need to be experienced. And that is the essence of Disclosure Day.
