REVIEW. DISCLOSURE DAY: In Steven Spielberg's world, everything has meaning but almost nothing is revealed.

Colman Domingo (Far Left), Emily Blunt (Center) and Josh O'Connor (Near Right) in Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day.

I honestly don't remember when I watched so many people get up during a movie to go to the bathroom. Maybe it was too much soda or coffee before the 1:00 pm matinee, but about every ten minutes or so, three or people worked their way out of the theater for a break. Most returned, but why the constant need to leave your seat for a movie that purports to "sweep you up from the start and rarely let(s) you down"? (Manohla Dargis, NY Times).

I suspect it might be something else. Boredom? Impatience? Disinterest? Hmmm.

For me, who stayed put in my seat until the long-awaited, but abruptly unsatisfying end (is a sequel already in the works?), I left the theater scratching my head. There were moments when I thought director Steven Spielberg was smiling, inviting us to just come along for a harmless alien chase thriller joyride. Other times, I squirmed at the clumsy proselytizing about the future of humanity, the need to develop empathy, the notion that aliens must assuredly be our friends. At times, I felt manipulated by the moments clearly designed to tug at heartstrings, especially the repeated references to childhood memories. Ultimately, though, I felt kind of cheated that this highly touted movie, called Spielberg's "best" in twenty years, left me feeling like it was nothing special.

I say this despite a very fine performance from Emily Blunt, whose Kansas City-based meterologist Margaret Fairchild, is a fine addition to her distinguished, if mostly unrecognized, filmography. It's the glue that holds this choppy narrative together. Ditto the increasingly versatile Josh O'Connor, the always reliable Colman Domingo, the up-and-coming Eve Hewson (in the thankless role of O'Connor's former nun girlfriend), and the cleverly cast villain, Colin Firth, who provide all the "types" necessary to complete screenwriter David Koepp's disjointed narrative, based on a story by Spielberg. Koepp seems to be as confused as I was figuring out if Spielberg was aiming for clever satire, thrilling alien chase adventure, government conspiracy tale, or human interest story. The answer is likely all of the above, which means Disclosure Day is a bit of a mess.

To sum it up, meterologist Margaret experiences a life-altering moment after a cardinal flies into the flat she shares with stalwart boyfriend Jackson (Wyatt Russell). She begins randomly speaking in foreign tongues and demonstrates an impressive "sixth sense," allowing her to not only read people's thoughts, but to grasp a complete understanding of their lives, including (and especially) the things that make them most emotionally vulnerable. A sign of the apocalypse?

In a parallel story, Dr. Daniel Kellner (O'Connor), a cybersecurity expert turned whistleblower, has just stolen files dating back to the Roswell Incident in 1947 (where conspiracy theories about the US military recovering an extra-terrestrial spacecraft are believed to have begun) from Wardex, a corporation that serves as a secret arm of US intelligence. Daniel is assisted by Hugo Wakefield (Domingo), the leader of a team of former Wardex employees, determined to release the alien files to the public. All of them pursued by Noah Scanlon (Firth) Wardex CEO who is determined to keep the files from being released.

The eventual convergence of these characters: the good, the bad and the unassuming bystanders, is evident from the get-go, but first we must endure countless chase sequences, numerous red herrings, and lots of cinematic devices designed to keep you on the edge of your seat. For reference, I was nowhere near the edge. Instead, I kept wondering, "Where is Tom Cruise in a breathtaking Mission Impossible hot pursuit when you need him?"

Spielberg is a master of the chase sequence (just think Raiders of the Lost Arc or the grossly underrated Sugarland Express), but here it seems like he's simply relying on past movie successes instead of creating something new and fresh. We're left with a patchwork of mostly conventional, occasionally amusing, awkward detours that lead to the inevitable conclusion: sequences of cliché after cliché with everything from crashing government vans to railroad crossing chaos to our hero and heroine leaping from a crashed car onto a moving train. All are images we've seen before.

The numerous chase sequences are interrupted by equally long moments of nonsensical gibberish about extra-terrestrials and, even worse, lengthy diatribes about the unfortunate state of humanity. When Hugo tries to explain to Noah that "empathy" is the highest level of evolution humanity can achieve, I almost walked out of the theater. Granted, Spielberg's left-leaning politics are well documented and, though I don't disagree with his concerns about where this country and the world are currently headed, I'm not sure if shameless pontificating is the best avenue to gain support for this worldview. I'll be curious to see if this movie is seen as more polarizing than it appears to be.

Finally, the (over) use of Judo-Christian symbols - from the stigmata that develop (and disappear) on the hands of Daniel's girlfriend Jane (Hewson) to the symbols that spontaneously appear in a Kansas cornfield (shades of M. Night Shaymalan's Signs) to Biblical passages explained by Jane's former abbess, Sister Maura (Elizabeth Marvel) to the coming together of hands, à la Michaelangel's Creation - becomes almost comic, surely not what Spielberg intended. Or did he? It's a lot for a self-professed agnostic.

And then there are the names of the major characters and their respective meanings: Margaret: "pure," Daniel: "God is my judge" and Hugo: "bright in spirit" serve to reinforce Spielberg's heavy-handed approach to his story. Regular collaborating composer John Williams underscores all this symbolism with a score so bombastic and overbearing, I couldn't help but wonder, what did Spielberg envision this movie to be? A commentary on the state of the world? A rebuke of the current US administration? A celebration of the human condition?

In some ways, I came away thinking that, like some of his recent films, Disclosure Day was a kind of catharsis for Spielberg, an opportunity to run with some notion about aliens that's been with him since childhood. Spielberg has spoken recently about the memory of his father getting him out of bed in the middle of night to watch the Perseid meteor shower in New Jersey. He apparently never forgot the brilliance of that night, and the promise that there was something important, something beautiful beyond the world we live in. Fair enough and certainly fodder for a lifetime of creating cinematic movie magic.

And so...Close Encounters of the Third Kind and E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial. And Jurassic Park and more. It's not unusual for directors to use film as a vehicle for their own stories, fears and dreams. The many great movies that have resulted from a director's vision are not to be discounted. But Spielberg, who arguably peaked thirty years ago with Schindler's List, after more than two decades of making some of the best, most entertaining popcorn movies of the late twentieth century, has since settled into making movies that matter. It's as though he's determined to craft another Schindler, to find another important topic or event with which to make a statement that carries appropriate gravitas. The fact that many critics are calling Disclosure Day Spielberg's best in over decades suggests that his post-Schindler films have not continued an upward climb.

Too bad. Spielberg is, hands down, one of the best directors of the late twentieth century, so it's difficult to admit that, even with his cinematic savvy and visual acumen, there is little here that is new, compelling or provocative. Pieces of information are doled out and left hanging without closure or continuity. And the movie itself feels like a compilation of stuff we've seen before, not an extension of ongoing ideas of themes. Contrary to what has been suggested, Disclosure Day is not a companion piece to Close Encounters for it does little to add to the dialogue about alien life or the presence of extra-terrestrial on planet Earth. Nor is it as heartwarming as ET. Instead, it's a grand pastiche of well-worn gags, stunts and chase sequences, punctuated by ham-fisted homilies and hackneyed iconography. If you suspend all disbelief and plausibility, you might find some of the movie's two-and-a-half hour running time enjoyable. Otherwise, it's more of an endurance run that yields more questions at the end than a satisfying conclusion.

I am still asking myself why the talents of fine actors like BAFTA/Oscar-winner Colin Firth, Oscar-nominees Colman Domingo and Emily Blunt, and SAG/Emmy winner Josh O'Connor were wasted on such conventional claptrap. In a recent interview, Blunt gushed, "If Steven calls, you respond." Fair enough. But, c'mon. The actors deserve better material. And so do the humans and extra-terrestrials that serve as the core of this very ambitious, but ultimately, disappointing tale. Paced like a 70s action movie, Disclosure Day contains more nostalgia than newness and fails to reveal much depth or insight about the fate of humanity which is its focus.

Spielberg has always been obsessed with aliens and has shown consistent respect toward various religious beliefs and tenets, but here it's relegated to a rehash of his earlier films. Like most Spielberg movies, the narrative is presented in broad strokes with characters dropped in as types ("the villain," "the whisteblower," "the protagonist") rather than as multi-dimensional people, making it difficult to form meaningful human connections or emotional takeaways. It's almost as if Spielberg imposed his own childhood reminiscenes on an idea that's never fully formed, a concept not fully thought through. In Spielberg's self-contained world, dreams are plentiful, but hope is as elusive as the movie's curious ending.

Cue the Close Encounters music.

*******

Disclosure Day is rated PG-13 for stylized violence and some bloody and intense scenes and strong language (but no real profanity). It is currently playing in theaters nationwide and will not be streaming for awhile, depending on its box office reception. Expect it to hit Peacock, Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV+ later this fall.