Disclosure Day

Spiritually Speaking in the Movies: “Disclosure Day”, PG-13. 2h25m. Directed by Steven Spielberg.Should you see it? Nope. Skip it. The Sci-Fi thriller “Disclosure Day” was such a disappointment.

The Quick Review:

To sum up, Spielberg uses convincing film-making capabilities and the considerable skills of actors, to lead us to the Gingerbread House with the promise of treats and delights. But in the end, we are taken for a ride, and cooked.

Skip Disclosure Day and avoid being baked. Go out to dinner instead. It will much more satisfying.

A Deeper Look into :Disclosure Day" :

Memories of Mr. Spielberg’s older films made this one watchable, but in the end, not enjoyable. His unique ability is to weave a story and tease an audience, making them think something big is imminent. “DD’s” premise and build-up are done well enough to keep watching.

But after all is said and done, “Disclosure Day” is like clouds without rain. There is no significant payoff, though he tries his level best to convince us there is one.

And I’m not sure what Mr. Spielberg’s beef against Judeo-Christian thought is, but he works hard to convince us, they have a problem with reality and not him. Spielberg v. The Bible. Hmmmm, I wonder whose going to win that one?

Moving on, the end is silly at best and fraudulent at worst.

For instance, the final scenes showing SkyPath news control centers, are critical and dwelt upon, so I will too. Having worked at an ABC affiliate as a newscast director and production supervisor, I can’t imagine directors and producers of the technically astonishing, SkyPath, reacting as shown. Their responsibility is awesome and also a burden.

Yet, their reaction is paramount to the story. They are over-whelmed at the disclosure “feed” from a small affiliate in Missouri. They can’t decide what to do, and end up “running live,” with the story. No, sorry. They are smarter than that, but whoever said Hollywood had a knack for accuracy?

The film’s critical and ending scenes of an awe-struck world-wide media realizing “we are not alone” just seemed phony, like wishful filmmaker thinking done solely for effect.

This is Hollywood’s fantasy. It’s transparent, like seeing the cards in a magician’s sleeve; like hearing the Wizard of Oz tell Dorothy, “Don’t look behind the curtain.” Believability begins to crumble.

And worse, the small army of antagonists who have been out to kill without remorse in a unrelenting vengeance the entire movie, suddenly give up for no explainable reason.

Watching this unfold, one realizes the end truly is near and it won’t be pretty.

To explain the fallacy of the ending is a lengthy spoiler, and I won’t do that. I will say it serves the sense that Mr. Spielberg wanted to convey something he considered important, but fails under the most modest of scrutiny. I fear “DD” is destined for the “BB” movie dustbin.

The abrupt end also shows that writers couldn’t think of a good way out of the corner they painted themselves in. It is most astonishing that they came up with this ending. Then, suddenly, the credits are rolling, the lights come on, and you’re left thinking, “That’s it?”

Studio promos are already saying, for financial reasons I’m sure, that this is a classic Sci-Fi movie, but it is faulty movie-making. As Drew Barrymore famously said in E.T., “Give me a break.”

When you drive home afterwards, the feeling of the “good parts” of the movie, will be replaced by something else. For me, It was a feeling I had been promised something undeliverable. P.T. Barnum’s saying, “There’s sucker born every minute,” came to mind.

To sum up, Spielberg uses convincing film-making capabilities and the considerable skills of actors, to lead us to the Gingerbread House with the promise of treats and delights. But in the end, we are taken for a ride, and cooked.

Skip Disclosure Day and avoid being baked. Go out to dinner instead. It will much more satisfying.