\n\tThe master makes movie magic once more! <\/p>\n
\n\tThat\u2019s how critics are reacting to Steven Spielberg<\/a>\u2018s latest film, the sci-fi thriller Disclosure Day<\/a>, which sees the legendary filmmaker return to the topic of extraterrestrial beings and the philosophical implications of our place in the universe. <\/p>\n \n\tDisclosure Day tells the story of a U.S.-government led conspiracy to keep the existence of intelligent alien life a secret, and how those plans are upended by small determined group committed to \u201cdisclosing\u201d the truth to a world on the brink of war and annihilation. <\/p>\n \n\tThe film stars Josh O\u2019Connor, Emily Blunt<\/a>, Colman Domingo<\/a>, Colin Firth<\/a>, Eve Hewson<\/a> and Wyatt Russell<\/a>. Disclosure Day is written by Spielberg\u2019s frequent collaborator David Koepp and the film\u2019s creative team features Spielberg regulars like cinematographer Janusz Kaminski<\/a>, editor Sarah Broshar and the great composer John Williams<\/a>. <\/p>\n \n\tReviews for the Universal Pictures started the hitting the internet on June 9, with the film set for a full global theatrical release on June 12. Currently Disclosure Day sits at 84 percent on Rotten Tomatoes after 138 reviews. The film\u2019s score on Metacritic currently sits at 74. <\/p>\n \n\tThe Hollywood Reporter\u2018s David Rooney was effusive in his praise for Disclosure Day<\/a>, writing that \u201cno living director better understands the magic of movies.\u201d Rooney writes that the film has a \u201cshared DNA [that] can easily be traced to Close Encounters and E.T. But as is fitting for a filmmaker pushing 80, awestruck innocence now co-exists with a more ruminative maturity, especially when touching on the secrecy, manipulation and deception of governmental power.\u201d He adds, \u201cas much as Spielberg\u2019s early sci-fi, the new film kept taking me back to the moral and philosophical questions posed by 2002\u2019s brilliant Minority Report.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tImpressed by the depth of the film, Rooney writes, \u201cThere are allegories that can be read about fear of the unknown breeding cruelty and exploitation, but Disclosure Day is first and foremost a propulsive yarn with thematic roots in hope, truth, empathy and perhaps even spirituality.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn his 4 star review, the venerable Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw<\/a> had fun with the \u201cvery enjoyable and entirely ridiculous space-alien conspiracy adventure\u201d that is Disclosure Day, adding that the film \u201cis cheerfully mischievous and deadly serious in equal measure.\u201d \u201cOnly Spielberg could get away with taking two of the world\u2019s best-known hoaxes \u2013 Roswell and crop circles \u2013 and treating them with judicious deadpan respect,\u201d writes Bradshaw. \u201cWith heartfelt idealism, Spielberg also asks us to believe that should the ultimate truth come out, people everywhere would be terribly upset at the way captured aliens have been vivisected.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIndieWire\u2018s David Ehrlich also praised Spielberg\u2019s commitment to earnestness<\/a>, despite making essentially a \u201cfun and goofy popcorn movie.\u201d Pondering the deeper significance of Disclosure Day, as well as the filmmaker\u2019s advancing years, Ehrlich writes that with this film \u201cmodern cinema\u2019s most unbounded storyteller has observed the siloification of life in the 21st century, it makes sense that he\u2019s turned inward to understand why people are only growing further apart.\u201d The critic reassures Spielberg fans that they will love the movie, writing, \u201cA lifelong fantasist who\u2019s matured into a master without ever growing up, Spielberg \u2014 now a half-century removed from Close Encounters \u2014 continues to delight in telling stories about regular people being subsumed into larger-than-life spectacle, and he\u2019s as giddy as ever about replicating that experience for his audience.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tIn another 4-star review, Empire\u2018s Dan Jolin writes that Disclosure Day<\/a> seems every bit as personal to Spielberg as his last film, the semi autobiographical The Fabelmans, and that the filmmaker\u2019s \u201cpulse can be felt in every frame.\u201d \u201cShot largely on 35mm film and buoyed by a stirring John Williams score, Disclosure Day feels like a welcome flashback to Proper Grown-up Cinema in this era of CG drenching,\u201d writes Jolin. \u201cSpielberg\u2019s fluid visual mastery is evident throughout, including some delicious grace notes. In one scene, a TV-forecasted hailstorm is cheekily foreshadowed by a close-up of tumbling breakfast-cereal hoops; in another, the director frames a reflection of Blunt\u2019s face in the back of a security guard\u2019s crew-cut as Margaret snatches his thoughts: she is literally in his head. The film also features some of Spielberg\u2019s best action in years, including a gripping high-speed train sequence that tugs you right back to his vintage Indiana Jones era.\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tVulture\u2018s Bilge Ebiri <\/a>echoes the sentiment among critics that Disclosure Day is another extremely personal film from Spielberg. Ebiri writes that \u201cSpielberg has always had one foot in the horror genre. Even though he hasn\u2019t directed a horror movie since Jaws, his vernacular is that of horror, of unseen figures in the dark, of unspoken terrors and childhood traumas\u2026 In so many of his films, Spielberg tries to control and redefine something that is, on some level, unknowable and petrifying. There\u2019s a similar feeling throughout Disclosure Day that the characters are confronting something traumatic and trying to find a way to the other side.\u201d Ebiri adds, \u201cDisclosure Day can be messy, but much of its beauty lies in that messiness. It\u2019s an astoundingly personal film, and we can sense Spielberg trying to feel his way through the conflicting aspects of his vision.\u201d<\/p>\n