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Emily Blunt, Josh O’Connor, Colman Domingo, and Colin Firth star in Steven Spielberg’s latest action adventure. 

Masterfully directed by Steven Spielberg, Disclosure Day is the best UFO movie ever made. 

Returning to themes he explored in Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1984), and War of the Worlds (2005), Spielberg imagines a modern-day scenario in which some sort of unspecified threat has led to the brink of World War III. 

That threat is held in abeyance, however, as a more urgent story is about to break. Josh O’Connor goes on the run from a secure facility with a backpack stuffed with secret, though unspecified, contents. The menacing facility overseer, Colin Firth, scowls at the young man, but he is allowed to escape, together with his girlfriend, Eve Hewson. 

Meanwhile, weathercaster Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) and her musician boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) are waking up to another beautiful day in Kansas City, which seems like any other day until a red cardinal flies into their apartment and stares at Margaret. After a few moments, Margaret begins casually speaking Russian to the bewildered Jackson, and we’re off and running. 

Based on a story by Steven Spielberg, with a screenplay by his frequent collaborator David Koepp (Jurassic Park, War of the Worlds), the film’s framework is built for a great many action sequences, consisting most often of squealing wheels and speeding automobiles and careening vehicles and crashing cars and 18-wheel trucks and other large vehicles, and not one but two speeding trains. A lot of sound and motion is devoted to elaborate chase sequences that are expertly choreographed for maximum motor mayhem. 

Weapons are deployed by the chasers, who all look deadly serious as they shoot at O’Connor, with murderous intent. O’Connor acts primarily to protect the information he has stolen from a large, non-government entity; secondarily, he seeks to protect his girlfriend. The two of them continue on the run; he is Dr. Daniel Kellner and she is Jane Blankenship, and their past personal histories are teasingly revealed, which all figure into the narrative. 

Margaret and Jackson are also on the run. Their trip is propelled by Margaret, who doesn’t know why, but she simply must meet up with Daniel Kellner. For his part, Jackson remains bewildered by Margaret’s inexplicable actions. 

Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) returns to the large, non-government entity, which has been in collusion with U.S. military and intelligence services, barks orders at his subordinates, looks at a huge bank of computer monitors, and scowls a lot, when he is not strapped into a chair so he can use a mysterious, handheld device with unspecified powers. 

Daniel gets in touch with Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), who walks restlessly around a warehouse as a great deal of activity is taking place in the blurred background; it’s like a giant-scaled Zoom call. Hugo reassures Daniel, simultaneously barking at him to do this or that. 

Nearly every scene in the movie features the camera moving. Often it’s a gentle push around the location, sometimes dollying up or dollying down. At other times it glides gracefully and elegantly. 

Yet it’s always moving, as though the camera needed to get up close and personal to tell its side of the story, and the actors are getting in the way. Frequent Spielberg cinematographer Janusz Kaminski uses the soft glow of single lights that the director favors, and everything is always beautifully shot, so that even menacing scenes look simply gorgeous. 

Emily Blunt wrings a tremendous range of emotions out of her developing character. She is rather magnificent, which makes up for the expected performances of Colman Domingo (ee-v-il) and Colman Domingo (blessed good). Josh O’Connor is a staid male lead. Eve Hewson is excellent in every aspect of her performance as a character who goes through some mighty big changes. 

The screenplay begins with the idea that the government is hiding something from you, something that you need to know. (The “government” is represented by the large, non-government entity.) When the secret is revealed and/or confirmed, roughly at the end of Act I, the remainder of the film (roughly Acts II and III) is devoted to running and hiding. Twists arrive at the expected points in the narrative, but are not surprising in and of themselves; what makes them interesting from a cinematic viewpoint is the manner in which Steven Spielberg frames and constructs every shot to maximize the impact, so that each shot feels important and even momentous, even if it’s not. 

The accumulation of the director’s mastery results in a thoroughly entertaining picture that very much wants to be more than the sum of its parts. It’s not, but it’s still a fun ride through the Spielberg carousel of thrills. 

The film opens Friday, June 12, only in movie theaters.  For more information about the film, including ticket information, visit the official site.