Disclosure Day Is Ultimately A Generic Sci-Fi Story

If someone had never seen a movie before, Disclosure Day would be amazing. If you don’t know the tropes of alien movies or conspiracy movies, it would feel like a tense action-thriller with some really surreal moments. You’d be left guessing, wondering where this is all going.

But we’re not in that bubble. So, Disclosure Day is a few good scenes wrapped up in a “get the magic item” plotline with the softest magic system ever that ignores some of its coolest and most thoughtful ideas most of the time.

I try not to be someone who says what a movie ought to do beyond general things like pacing or removing something problematic. My goal as a critic is usually to present my perspective so that you can decide if you want to experience a piece of media—or give you another place to engage with media if you’ve already experienced it. But those two points I alluded to are basically where all my issues with Disclosure Day stem from, so we’re going to address them.

The Most Interesting Ideas Are The Worst Utilized

In theory, there’s nothing wrong with the first one. The movie operates on psychic powers. Multiple characters have access to those powers, and they can do mostly stuff that you’d expect. And because it’s a “we’re being chased by the bad guys” thriller for almost all its runtime, it’s not unreasonable that those powers give away hiding character’s locations from time to time. But a lot of tension whooshes right out of Disclosure Day once you realize who’s essentially got God-like abilities and who doesn’t. It gets repetitive. It feels like using these abilities should have firmer limits. I think we’re supposed to have a sense of wonder or awe, but it quickly does something deeply detrimental to the movie’s conflicts.

Characters Seemingly Just Give Up Several Times

The second is more lost potential than blatant self-undercutting. The movie is called Disclosure Day and is about aliens. That’s evocative of very specific things. If you watched the teaser, you might suspect that it’s about aliens hiding among us—that’s where my mind went, and I was excited at the concept. I won’t spoil exactly what the precise scenario ends up being, but it’s not as cool as you think. The movie’s not that bold. Sure, the film occasionally runs up to concepts like “what would this do to Earthly religions?” and “how would this affect existing military conflicts?” but then it flees, unwilling to take any but the most lukewarm stances. Disclosure Day is well thought out enough to consider some humans would immediately come to alien’s defense once we understood they existed, but nothing is delved into. Seriously, it’s not. One nun talking about scripture does not make for deep themes.

I dare say—damning as it is—that Disclosure Day could’ve been about angels, monsters, ghosts, superheroes, or any other supernatural entity and it would still end up being mostly about people running around trying to get magic wands (the movie actively says they’re not magic wands, but they totally are) that’s sometimes interrupted by medium-level drama. It’s got no bite; it’s got no teeth; it’s got no deep lore. Sure, the camera work, CGI, and some of the stunt work looks good—but if that’s all I wanted, I’d just go watch The Mandalorian and Grogu again. I’m not saying Disclosure Day is a bad film, but it’s not nearly as good as it could’ve been. It’s spectacle; the mind gets nothing to chew on.