e doesn’t know why, yet, but Wardex cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (Josh O’Connor) has been waiting a lifetime to understand his unique mathematical abilities and the reason he was chosen to betray his employers by stealing the highly sensitive data he was hired to protect. She doesn’t know why, yet, but Wichita weatherwoman Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) has spent her whole life wandering from city to city, unable to find a permanent home, and has suddenly begun experiencing strange bouts of disorientation, marked by sputtering foreign languages. As the world at large inches closer to a cataclysmic crisis, Wardex chief Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth) closes in on Daniel and his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson) as they drive across the state, guided by enigmatic former colleague Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo), who attempts to navigate them both to safety and toward Margaret.

It begins with covert operations involving dangerous people engaging in shady goings-on as agitated witnesses handle classified tech. “History doesn’t have a reset key,” warns an ominous figure, as tensions rise, retorted with the line, “People have a right to know the truth.” Strangely enough, despite the film taking a whopping 40+ minutes before revealing the first hard bit of evidence about the film’s subject matter, none of what transpires is all that surprising; it’s practically guessable from the start which direction this movie will go.

It’s no secret that “Disclosure Day” is sci-fi/fantasy, and that it will explore questions about extraterrestrial life. But it does so with an excessive amount of characters, each given so much attention that it borders on too much character development – a curious conundrum indeed, except that many roles are plainly uninteresting (though Blunt’s acting is notably exceptional). It suspends disbelief right away, teasing all sorts of outer-space artifacts (the silliest kinds, which can do anything required in the moment, with no clearcut limitations or definitions) and otherworldly abnormalities, which makes it all a touch easier to digest when Margaret wigs out, or when Scanlon experiments with brain-zapping devices, or when people take control of one another’s movements. But even with all of these wild undertakings, the opening act is ludicrously overlong; the lead-in builds question after question without offering up answers, generating near boredom as the roles operate on instinct or confusion or blind adherence to commands.

The thesis of “Disclosure Day” is whether or not humankind would be capable of functioning after learning about the existence of space aliens; if presented with irrefutable proof, would societies suddenly collapse, or would they espouse the newfound enlightenment? There’s a brief minute of worthwhile debate concerning that idea, but then it’s dashed aside for religious drivel, insisting that believers in an almighty god would handle the previously undocumented creation of little green men as no big deal, as if accidentally left out of biblical texts due to it not having been worthy of additional exploration. If nothing else, the movie proves that religion and benevolent hypothetical creatures don’t mix well in cinema (“Stargate” and “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull” are comparable failures). The optimism here is absurd as well, not just from various reactions but also from levels of doubtful cooperation amid destabilizing knowledge, especially since the modern setting is meant to reflect current global conflicts and clashes and disagreements. It’s even goofier that the premise proposes that any single organization could keep secrets of such magnitude for nearly 80 years, or that corresponding organizations in other countries wouldn’t also have access to similar secrets (maybe the prejudiced aliens only visit Americans?).

Borrowing here and there from director Steven Spielberg’s own “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” as well as “Escape to Witch Mountain” and “Midnight Special,” numerous, generic tropes are employed, ranging from unwitting players misunderstanding the gravity of their situations (disappointing, as always, when it should be obvious how much the villains want to kill them), uncommon bravery serving as a driving force, villains who are villainous solely because they’re scripted to be that way, and a mysterious yet genial mentor guiding the protagonists through their journey – as if holding all the answers yet somehow needing their participation just the same. In fact, the final sequences are so ridiculous that it makes the more than two hours that preceded them appear entirely unnecessary. The worst offender, however, might be the arbitrary races against the clock, which always find personas narrowly fleeing (or eluding colliding objects) or antagonists arriving in the nick of time to apprehend the heroes (right before they escape again, of course). It will, however, appeal in some ways to fans of the auteur, as it utilizes his signature blend of psychological thrills, a few action scenes with harrowing stunts, unlikely underdogs doing a considerable amount of winning or escaping against the odds (which provides enjoyment), brief creepiness (but awe far more than horror), and childlike wonderment to counter disbelieving adults.

In the end, it may have lofty notions, but the storytelling is mundane at best; it never really tries to be something unusual or original or properly mind-blowing. It’s peculiarly lazy science-fiction; it so desperately wants to be profound, but it’s mostly just over-the-top and laughable. “I don’t understand what’s happening!”

– The Massie Twins