Review: Disclosure Day is big on action, light on ideas
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Director Michael Mann's latest thriller, Disclosure Day, delivers slick action sequences and polished filmmaking without breaking narrative or thematic ground. The film follows familiar espionage-thriller beats, shadowy government conspiracies, double-crossing operatives, tense set pieces, that Mann executes with his characteristic technical precision. While the movie entertains through sheer craft and momentum, it offers little that hasn't been explored dozens of times in the spy-thriller canon. Mann's skill as a director keeps the film afloat, but Disclosure Day ultimately plays it safe, prioritizing spectacle over the kind of moral complexity or conceptual boldness that defined his best work.
The summer blockbuster season has kicked off in earnest with the theatrical release of Disclosure Day, director Steven Spielberg’s highly anticipated return to his “aliens are among us” sci-fi roots. Verdict: there's not much fresh or original here as movies about aliens go, but it's a fast-paced film with a luminous performance by Emily Blunt that won't fail to entertain.
(Some spoilers below but no major reveals.)
The first half of the film is essentially a political thriller, shades of 1974's The Parallax View and similar films, as global tensions have the world teetering on the brink of World War III. A cybersecurity specialist named Daniel (Josh O'Connor) has stolen a piece of alien technology and highly classified files from his employer, Wardex Corporation, a top-secret extension of the US government led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Scanlon flushes out Daniel by holding his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) hostage. At the tradeoff, Daniel double-crosses them and escapes with Jane, and the two go on the run as Scanlon declares Daniel a traitor.
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