What the Hell Did I Just Watch? The Curious case of Steven Spielberg & Disclosure Day Movie Review

[00:00:03][music] >> Hey there. Welcome to Money and Milestones presents, a site dedicated to storytelling in books, movies, video games, and other exciting genres. Where Steven Spielberg is still putting in the bill for ET's phone call to home.

[00:00:27]Speaking of the man, the myth, the legend, Steven Spielberg, he happened to put out a nice little indie film, so to speak, that uh earned my interest. Though, I saw the trailer for Disclosure Day, the movie I'm going to be reviewing here. And I will admit that this movie did not pique my interest. However, it piqued my interest in a way I didn't expect. Quite a few reviewers were mentioning things about this, quote, saying that this movie, or at least a quote from Steven Spielberg, um stated that this movie is going to make you question your religion.

[00:01:02]>> Such a vast universe, yet save it only for us?

[00:01:08]>> What does this do to the fundamental beliefs that many of us have?

[00:01:12]And is God, our God, only on this planet? Or is God a God for every system where there's civilization, intelligent life, and even uh developing life?

[00:01:24]>> What?

[00:01:27]Bro, what are you talking about, man?

[00:01:29]Well, I could definitely tell you that this definitely made me question things.

[00:01:35]It made me question a lot of things.

[00:01:37]Especially Steven Spielberg's life choices.

[00:01:41]All right. So, Disclosure Day.

[00:01:43]The film follows two primary characters, Daniel Kelner, a cybersecurity expert, and Margaret Fairchild, a meteorologist who became uh central figures in a race to expose a long-standing government cover-up regarding extraterrestrial life. The conflict uh involves around Danger's discovering a secret files technology held by Wardax, a clandestine organization acting as a secret arm of the US government which prove that humanity has been in contact with non-human intelligence for decades. As he attempts to blow the whistle, he is pursued by Wardax executives led by Noah Scanlon played by Colin Firth.

[00:02:15]Also, the mystery, uh, revolves around Margaret who begins experiencing strange unexplainable phenomenon including the sudden ability to communicate unknown languages which she later realizes are linked to childhood and experiments.

[00:02:28]The two are now in a race, uh, with time against Wardax to try and expose this entire political conspiracy and to let the world know for the very first time ever that mankind is not alone.

[00:02:43]I want to be very clear. I am a huge Steven Spielberg fan. The man has put out some very notable classic movies out there going as far back as ET, First Encounters of the Third Kind, he's also put out Jurassic Park, he's put out Hook.

[00:03:04]I mean, the guy does not miss when it comes to movies, normally.

[00:03:08]However, in recent times, his, uh, choices of movies, uh, that he's done worked on now seem to not go so well.

[00:03:20]Much like, uh, Francis Ford Coppola's Megalopolis and other directors who who have gotten a little bit right clear and cynical in years, it seems like they tend to want to make movies or passion projects that maybe should have just stayed with their passion and not out in theaters.

[00:03:41]Now, when I watched, uh, Disclosure Day, I kind of got a sense of a vibe of something I haven't seen in a long time and I forgot one movie to mention that Steven Spielberg did do which wasn't received entirely that well, but I it was a personal favorite of mine was Minority Report. It had the vibe of Minority Report. However, Minority Report I felt had some kind of a premise that really piqued your interest right from the get-go.

[00:04:07]It took me a while to really get into this movie and understand what is it I'm really looking for here. For one thing, you don't see aliens in this movie for a very, very, very, very long time.

[00:04:21]So, you're kind of put off by why are we following these characters throughout the movie without any contact of any sort with aliens. And to me, maybe after a second watch, which I don't know if I'm going to because I'm going to be very honest, this was not quite a film that I was very engaged with.

[00:04:40]It it kind of has the same problem that Minority Report had, where you had some good ideas there, but it never bubbled forth into something that came off as as a payoff at the end.

[00:04:52]The film seems to center on a alien contact narrative that director Steven Spielberg noted that it is to serve as a lens to explore modern concerns regarding information, manipulation of the truth, public trust.

[00:05:08]It's also is an examination of how society reacts when long-held beliefs are challenged and asks whether a world-altering truth can unite humanity or if it will only deepen existing divisions. And one of the characters he uses to kind of uh touch on the idea of a long-held beliefs. For instance, Daniel's girlfriend in this movie is is a Catholic uh or a former Catholic nun.

[00:05:30]She's um questions Daniel's choice as to whether he should be the one to tell the entire world about the existence of aliens. If it's really his right or humanity is even ready for this. If this is going to end up questioning their beliefs. And I didn't listen to the the back and forth argument on this. It is very utterly strange her reasoning for this.

[00:05:51]She claims that they'll stop believing in God, which I'm not sure what is the deal with Steven Spielberg in this. This is the same man that did Schindler's List. If you don't believe in that movie that evil doesn't exist, why would a movie like this be the one to tell you that God doesn't exist? That was the one thing I got from this movie that really confused me here, and it really baffled me through and through. What was he going for with this theme of your belief in God or anything else for that matter.

[00:06:19]I am somewhat of a religious person, I will say. I believe in that God exists. I believe he is someone that we can't truly get to know, but I have never come to a point, even with the idea of aliens in the world, think that he doesn't even exist at all or that it would change my fundamental belief in that. And while I struggled to try and figure out the messaging in this movie, it didn't help that the pacing, the constant dialogue after dialogue after seemingly long diuretic dialogue of scenes in this movie, didn't exactly keep me engaged enough to want to even care about this messaging. It's a lot of that going on where they're explaining and explaining and explaining what's going on with these phenomenons, what it's all about, the history and everything. And a lot of this is something that could have been fixed if you basically did a lot of this in action sequences where you're driving and getting away from someone or moving on to the next scene in transit to try and not make this into a bogged down long talking narrative in that way.

[00:07:27]I was definitely bored with this movie, but at the same time I was baffled by the many interesting choices that Steven Spielberg made to kind of I would almost say go back on your your thinking of religion in this.

[00:07:40]This is the one thing that kind of really irked me about this, and I don't think I agree with him in what he's trying to even say with this movie.

[00:07:48]Another thing that really makes me question what's really going on with Steven Spielberg is the in- mense use of female characters in this.

[00:08:00]It you really have to pick this one out because you you kind of forget that this is a you know, we're in a different age where the modern audience likes a particular style of movie making here, and it almost seems like the main character, at least the female one, is sort of a Jesus figure in this and takes precedent over everything in this movie, whereas Daniel is kind of not really a character that carries the film. He's just sort of there with the dialogue. He's, as the movie mentions, a passenger, so to speak, moving along with the story. Which, again, this is really disappointing as Steven well, it shouldn't surprise me, but that Steven Spielberg has kind of gone the way of I don't want to say woke. I hate to use that word, but definitely it's definitely a Hollywood trend to highlight women more than the men in this, and it's sort of a strange take because it sort of takes me even more out of the film just with the way it's presented in in Disclosure Day.

[00:09:03]Then the action itself is really incredibly strange in its own right.

[00:09:08]I'm sorry, but I have to call this out.

[00:09:10]The escape scenes are absurd. It's almost like the agents that are chasing after the main characters are the dumbest people on the planet.

[00:09:22]I mean, how many times can you chase somebody and not know that they're in a room, hiding behind a fence, um or not even be able to catch them in the in a car that they stole from you guys?

[00:09:35]And you can't track them down?

[00:09:37]Another thing that also bogged me down was the villain himself, who apparently has this ability to get himself or um I hate to use that's not the word I want to use. He basically transports his mind into other people and controls them remotely. So, Daniel's girlfriend becomes one of these remote uh weapons he uses against him to try and get a device, which I forgot to mention is is used to communicate with aliens and do other strange phenomenons with it.

[00:10:07]This uh device is basically the main uh thing that they're chasing after to make sure that it doesn't get exposed to the world.

[00:10:16]Now, what's strange about it is that the woman is religious, so she fights off this person quite a bit, almost like a demonic possession.

[00:10:26]But, what also gets really weird is that at another point where Daniel has escaped, the villain didn't bother to check on the woman again towards the end if she knows anything about his whereabouts or where this crystal device that he's hiding is, who she happens to have hiding in her pocket. So, he had just done one more entering into her mind, he would have found out where it was and gotten it back in no time. GREAT PLOT POINT THERE.

[00:10:56]>> GOD DAMN IT!

[00:10:58]YOU CAN'T MAKE THIS [ __ ] UP.

[00:11:02]>> SO, ALL IN ALL, the way I would score this movie, I'm going to I hate to say it, but I'm going to give this a poor rating. This has great visuals, you know, it has, you know, the theatrical look of a movie, but I think it's incre- its weakness is its theme and more so it's plot is very incredibly weak. Like, I don't get what Steven Spielberg was going for with this.

[00:11:29]It really bo- boggles my mind knowing what he's done in the past versus now. And I know things can change with a person, but this is quite a dramatic shift in thinking in terms of movie telling or storytelling, I should say. So, sorry guys, I'm going to give this a poor rating. This is not a great movie that I would recommend. If you want to go see this and tell me different that this is a great movie masterpiece, I'm all game in the comments to listen to you and what you have to say about that.

[00:12:01]But hey, that's all I have to say for now.

[00:12:04]Like, share, and subscribe, and you best better believe I'll be back for the next one.