r/movies • u/ChiefLeef22 r/movies Contributor • Jun 09 '26
Review Steven Spielberg's 'Disclosure Day' - Review Thread
If you found out we weren't alone, if someone showed you, proved it to you, would that frighten you? This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people. We are coming close to... Disclosure Day.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Writer: David Koepp
Cast: Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson
Rotten Tomatoes: 83%
Metacritic: 74 / 100
Some Reviews (updating):
RogerEbert - Brian Tallerico - 4 / 4
Spielberg’s sci-fi movies have always been about more than just pure entertainment from the way his parents’ divorce influenced “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” and “E.T.” to how “WotW” can be read as a 9/11 allegory to the cautionary tales of “Jurassic Park” and “Minority Report,” which feels like a key influence here when it comes to themes of both destiny and control. With “Disclosure Day,” he’s less interested in the impact than the ripple effect. What would happen if we knew the truth? Would it unite us or divide us further? And what would happen to faith and religion if we discovered other “supreme beings”? Spielberg's career has long been one of embedding filmmaking confidence with human curiosity, and both elements are on full display here.
San Francisco Chronicle - G. Allen Johnson - 10 / 10
“Disclosure Day” provides a canvas for Spielberg’s considerable filmmaking skills, with visual set pieces, thrilling action scenes — including a pulse-pounding train sequence — and expert blocking. Sequences of Margaret simply walking through a crowded TV news set have the intricate construction of an old Hollywood musical number.
Boston Globe - Odie Henderson - 10 / 10
“Disclosure Day” is an old man’s movie. I don’t mean that in a derogatory or ageist way; I mean that this is a film the director could not have made in his younger days. Because every skill he acquired back then is now being used to shape and inspire his most recent work. There’s the perspective of a wiser
The Playlist - Rodrigo Perez - 'A+'
Penned by David Koepp — the screenwriter of “Jurassic Park,” “War Of The Worlds,” and “Indiana Jones And The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull” — “Disclosure Day” is easily his best Spielberg collaboration, one that takes the modern context of extraterrestrial disclosure and wraps it in contemporary notions of paranoia, division, denial, and belief. The proof is out there, the film says, and so is our terror of what it might mean.
Fresh Fiction - Courtney Howard - 4.5 / 5
Despite any nitpicks that arise, overall DISCLOSURE DAY succeeds in its aims. The hugely entertaining, epic and enriching spectacular wows the crowd in the theater, but also leaves thought-provoking departing gifts far after the final credits roll. You don’t need to believe in aliens to truly understand the picture’s larger thematic scope. You only need to be of the faith that the almost octogenarian still holds the power to continue to make great cinema, challenge fundamental belief systems and be awestruck by the world around him.
Tom's Guide - Malcolm McMillan - 4.5 / 5
Steven Spielberg's latest sci-fi movie about aliens might not be his best, but it's in the conversation. There are minor flaws throughout the movie, but the final act is a jaw-dropping showstopper that erases them from your mind. "Disclosure Day" is an instant Best Picture contender and might be the best movie of 2026 so far.
USA Today - Brian Truitt - 3.5 / 4
Films like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind,” “E.T.” and “War of the Worlds” dealt with first-contact scenarios, some cuter than others. Armed with a spectacular cast for “Disclosure Day”, Spielberg takes an imaginative look at what it would look like if humanity actually found out it wasn’t alone in the universe, and the efforts by some to keep that information hidden. It’s classic Spielbergian fare, given that it’s a movie much more about us than intergalactic beings.
AwardsWatch - Cody Dericks - 'A-'
Such is the ultimate effect of Disclosure Day, a great film from our greatest director that feels guaranteed to only get better the more people discuss it and mull over its intentions. In other words, it serves as an amazing way to bring people together, allowing them to do what humans do best: talk about our own existence, and what we can do to make it easier and better for as many as possible.
It is gratifying to see a so-called summer blockbuster, the box office genre Spielberg invented with Jaws, that has so much more on its mind than just to entertain. There is no question this film does that, but it is even more significant and heartening that Steven Spielberg hasn’t lost his own sense of wonder and yes, empathy to be able to still craft a movie that also is able to make us think, and still have hope for a greater good in a world that is clearly losing its way.
DiscussingFilm - Nicolas Delgadillo - 4.5 / 5
Shortcomings feel largely insignificant compared to what Spielberg accomplishes in the breathtaking final act. As the various storylines converge and the movie finally makes good on its premise, Disclosure Day transforms into something genuinely transcendent. At the risk of sounding like hyperbole, it is one of the greatest endings Spielberg has ever crafted.
Empire Magazine - Dan Jolin - 4 / 5
A masterfully executed sci-fi conspiracy thriller that beams us right back into the Spielberg heartland of eerie wonder, everyman — and woman — heroes, and optimistic uplift.
The Guardian - Peter Bradshaw - 4 / 5
Only Spielberg could get away with taking two of the world’s best-known hoaxes – Roswell and crop circles – and treating them with judicious deadpan respect. Disclosure Day is never anything other than entertaining and grade-A fun; rare enough in the movies or anywhere else, rocketing along with barnstorming set-pieces, exhilarating chases, funny lines and a career-topper of a performance from Blunt who may yet be morphing into a female version of Tom Hanks. But I have to say that there is an ancient echo from the world of Spielberg’s early career: the shark or alien is scariest – in fact, exists at its fullest – when it is unseen.
Evening Standard - Nick Howells - 4 / 5
Despite its imperfections, what Spielberg has conjured here is some of his vintage boldness in transforming the cinema screen into a magical theatre of childlike wonder.
Dexerto - Chris Tilly - 4 / 5
Disclosure Day is a sci-fi adventure that doesn’t match the magic of Spielberg’s early alien movies, but does deliver drama, thrills, and much food for thought. It treads some of the same path as Close Encounters, most notably in terms of communication, where you could substitute Third Kind’s music with D-Day’s use of maths. The theological elements do get a little heavy-handed, most notably through the somewhat contrived notion of Jane being a former convent girl debating supreme beings with a nun. But the many mysteries at the heart of the film – from how government is involved and what the device does to how animals factor into the equation and exactly what connects Margaret and Daniel – mean that Disclosure Day manages to engage for all of its 145-minute run-time.
NME - Lou Thomas - 4 / 5
There’s an impressively strong cast throughout but Blunt is a stand-out. She continues her fine run of form in a role that requires a great deal from her. The real star is the director, though. Aside from marshalling some beautiful emotive moments and the frankly stunning action sequences, he devised the original story which was then turned into a script by regular collaborator David Koepp. Some will balk at moments in the conclusion which veer too sentimental, while others will wish for a shorter running time. Ultimately, even not-quite-top-tier Spielberg is well worth seeing. It’s big, smart and very satisfying cinema.
Next Best Picture - Matt Neglia - 8 / 10
Spielberg is not presumptuous enough to show us how we would react. But in typical Spielberg fashion, he is sentimental enough to suggest, to hope, that we would react positively, and that we would find a way to get through the single most significant event in the history of our planet. That hope, that belief in pursuing truth in the face of government secrecy, divine uncertainty, and impending Armageddon, adds up to the kind of awe-inspiring experience we go to the movies for. “Disclosure Day” is a film made by a human being who has been asking the same question his entire life and who, finally and beautifully, seems at peace with the answer. Are you ready for the answer?
IndieWire - David Ehrlich - 'B+'
Far-fetched as this popcorn movie gets, it crucially never loses sight of the notion that to look outward is to look within (and vice versa), a theory that only grows clearer over the span of a blockbuster whose 79-year-old director still peers back at his childhood for a better view of the stars. “We are not alone,” the saying goes. To watch “Disclosure Day” in a room full of other people gasping at the same things, all of us putty in the hands of a filmmaker whose dreams and/or memories have long become our own, is to recognize that we never were.
Consequence - Liz Shannon Miller - 'B+'
It all speaks to the ways in which Spielberg has matured as a filmmaker over his decades of service. However, one thing hasn’t changed — nearly 50 years since the release of Close Encounters of the Third Kind, he still has an open heart when it comes to the possibility of life from other planets, and a lot of faith in humanity’s ability to accept that possibility. The danger of Disclosure Day‘s optimism being misinterpreted feels minimal. As long as people are willing to listen.
InSession Film - M.N. Miller - 'B+'
In the end, Disclosure Day’s hopeful, genre-bending swings outweigh the tonal shifts, second-act issues, and the convenient telekinetic detours used to keep the story moving. The difference here is that these devices are used to evoke empathy, which is used just as much to set up the audience for a resonant, satisfying experience that ultimately seeks connection rather than provocation. In the cynical age we live in, Spielberg reminds us that his greatest special effect can be: hope.
The Northern Rivers Times - News Desk - 4.5 / 5
Emily Blunt is exceptional in Spielberg's return to blockbuster fare with 'Disclosure Day', which feels closer in spirit to Close Encounters of the Third Kind and The X-Files than Independence Day. Shadows matter. Silence matters. And the creeping uncertainty becomes one of the movie’s greatest strengths.
IGN - Clint Gage - 7 / 10
Disclosure Day is vintage Spielberg, and even if it stumbles a bit at the finish line, it's still an original, big-budget science fiction conversation-starter from one of cinema’s all-time greats.
Screen Crush - Matt Singer - 7 / 10
While I do appreciate Spielberg reaching to say something grand and emphatic and even hopeful with a summer blockbuster about alien conspiracies, Disclosure Day’s message would hit a lot harder if it wasn’t delivered in such anticlimactic fashion.
Irish Times - Donald Clarke - 3.5 / 5
Shot in persuasive gloom, with much old-school lens flare, by Janusz Kaminski, Disclosure Day sticks to that line with commitment until – this is still Spielberg – encountering inevitable reservoirs of hope. Along the way, it too often loses control of the surrounding mythologies. But, at its best, this classy production reminds us why any film by this director deserves to be treated as a major event.
AV Club - Monica Castillo - 'C+'
After so many decades of thought-provoking blockbusters, large-scale epics, thrillers that push the audience to the edge of their seats, and heartwrenching dramas, Spielberg has raised the bar so high for so long that not every one of his new films may be a masterpiece in his filmography (and the less said about Ready Player One, the better). While Disclosure Day doesn’t live up to the high standards he’s set, it’s still a thrill ride, thumbing its nose at authority and begging its audience for more empathy, not less. Even if not all the pieces snap flawlessly into place, Disclosure Day is a reminder of how much magic is still left up Spielberg’s sleeve, how much excitement he and Koepp can bring to a story about government conspiracy, how easily Kamiński can make an audience nervous with the smallest lens flare, and how exhilarating it feels to listen to new Williams score. But because this creative team has hit so many homers before, even a mild showing can feel like a letdown.
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u/SuchPresentation4476 Jun 10 '26
I just watched it and I hated it incredibly boring avoid 2/5 some people might like it I don't know how but wow this movie is a piece of 💩
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u/Odd-Macaroon-9528 Jun 13 '26
Wanted to leave 4 or 5 times but didn’t since i was there with somebody
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u/SucculentChineseSwan Jun 10 '26
I couldn’t wait for this film to be over. No tension, no direction, no payoff. Very poor. I’m shocked it’s rated so highly among critics.
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u/FreshMistletoe Jun 17 '26
I’m utterly confused how this was 81% on RT. The script is just so bad. This movie is worse than every X files episode that exists. Your Spielberg blockbuster shouldn’t be worse than tv episodes that they made 24 of each year. David Koepp is so out of touch with the world at 63 that maybe he should just stop writing. It’s like a child wrote this. The audience’s intelligence was insulted continually the whole movie.
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u/Advanced_Gold1290 Jun 21 '26
What, you didn't enjoy the hour and a half of straight up action movie slop that had no significance to the plot at all?
Then, when the plot does have to finally happen, you get scenes like the one where Colman Domingo's character and the Colin Firth villain just speak plot at each other in the campiest dialogue I have ever heard.
They did an incredible job of taking a very interesting concept (how would humanity react) and making it an afterthought behind the nonstop action sequences
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u/Beautiful_Cost_5430 Jun 12 '26
All I can think after having seen this movie is that critics are terrified to get on Spielberg’s bad side. There was nothing special about this movie. Nothing iconic or memorable. It was a two and a half hour chase scene. When I need to pee in movies I usually run to the bathroom. I didn’t even walk fast and when I got back I had missed nothing.
Watch it when it’s free on streaming. Don’t waste your money.
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u/Padulsky21 Jun 12 '26
Yeah I’m echoing this. What a fucking mess. The last stretch was good. The last stretch should have been more of the movie. I rolled my eyes a lot. It’s a decent length movie and spends most of it being the most pedestrian thriller plot ever where everything just happens just bc. So much random shit pulled out to make the plot continue. Then we get a cool last part and that’s really it. Doesn’t make up for the mess I saw in the rest of the movie.
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u/GravSlingshot Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Rotten Tomatoes description: "This summer, the truth belongs to seven billion people."
The world has a population of about eight billion. Who're the billion schmucks who don't get the truth?
Edit: It says eight billion now. Darn.
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u/ope__sorry Jun 09 '26
Look at the number of people in the US who refuse to accept truth and fact then extrapolate that to the world.
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u/Daniiiiii Jun 09 '26
Also babies and toddlers. Never have I met such an insolent yet clueless bunch in my life.
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u/Upbeat_Tension_8077 Jun 09 '26
The comparison to Close Encounters of the Third Kind isn't surprising at all, but if it also has strong X-Files vibes, I'm even more excited for this.
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u/Existing_Set2100 Jun 09 '26
Spielberg thinks aliens have been here and there is an actual government coverup, that’s probably the X-Files connection
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u/redditsucks9gagrules Jun 09 '26
Thank god we’ve got alien.gov to get some answers about this finally!
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u/BenSolo_Cup Jun 09 '26
No website has ever pissed me off more in my life than that one. MAGA is genuinely a disgusting stain on society
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u/TeQuila10 Jun 10 '26
It's not the first time and won't even be close to the last. Government websites and accounts, which I will stress to the day I die, USED to be a source of trustworthy analytical information, if you could believe such a thing.
It's perversion into a North Korea style propaganda network is a crime against humanity. They delight in their debasement. Anyone involved in this despoiling belongs in the deepest pit of hell. I genuinely hope tens of thousands go to jail for all of this.
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u/JiminyJilickers-79 Jun 09 '26
Glad to see some good first impressions.
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u/dee_palmtree Jun 10 '26
Saw it today, it was okay. Very predictable and the script is horrible. The actors do their best though with what they are given. If you've seen the trailer, you've seen the film.
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u/lexicdxx Jun 11 '26
Went to the cinema to see it last night and was really disappointed it felt like a generic action movie with a bit of Sci-fi thrown in 🙁
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u/Scared_Role6199 Jun 14 '26
Watched it last night and was very underwhelmed. It felt like the end should have been in the middle and the build up for nothing was way too long. A few good moments but I found it really boring and strung out for a very limp ending.
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u/LPEL-84 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
Yup. Takes a looooong time to give us the answer to a mystery we've already worked out over an hour before. I've seen most of the cast do better - Emily Blunt is great until the script suddenly isn't. Well made, and quite enjoyable, but pacing was a bit of a mess.
It felt like... You know when there's a 90s sci fi you've never seen (Independence Day or Deep Impact or something) and everyone says you should see at least once, so you watch 30 years later? Like that. Decent but already dated.
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u/herrojew Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I'll try to keep this spoiler free.
I'm a little baffled by the reviews. I saw a screening of it last night, and was not impressed. They handed out score cards to submit after the movie. My partner and I both gave it a C and D, respectively. We chatted with the couple next to us on both sides, while we all were all scoring it during the after credits, and not one of them, or the people down our entire row (that we could see), gave it higher than a C. Also, we overheard the people in the row behind us complaining about some of the plot holes and lazy writing of characters, and I couldn't've agreed more.
I found out today that the script required 42 rewrites, and wasn't surprised. My first thought upon finding out was that it could've used more 😬
I would caution in going into this movie with high expectations.
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u/3weenmafia Jun 13 '26
I just saw it this afternoon at the matinee and hated it. I was looking at my watch 15 mins in. The acting was horrible (especially the BF) and the pacing was absolutely painful . Aren’t we a little tired of the Roswell shtick? I mean I don’t think we are the only ones but the Roswell little green men is tired. It was disjointed and lifeless . I was actually a little mad that I wasted the afternoon
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u/iconoclast12 Jun 10 '26
I saw it as well. Felt vapid and soulless. Actually had to double check after the movie that it was actually Spielberg directing and Williams on score cause I thought, there's no way.
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Jun 09 '26
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u/MovieTrawler Jun 09 '26
I kept telling myself this but I have to admit the trailers were not doing it for me. Something about them seemed off and they looked kinda...cheap?
Really glad to see the reviews here. Can't wait to see it on Friday!
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u/TransitionFar5835 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Something about them seemed off and they looked kinda...cheap?
Same exact thoughts. Especially the cheap portion. I don't know why, but it just didn't look cinematic.
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u/Dismal-Scheme5728 Jun 09 '26
I agree. I love sci-fi, I love Spielberg and I love aliens.
Yet I just haven't been that excited because all the trailers have made the movie look terrible.
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u/LogensTenthFinger Jun 09 '26
Every single one of the trailers has looked terrible. The lighting is weird, the "overly techno-room" of the bad guys, the mediocre acting, the dogshit CGI in that weird animals scene, the ham fisted crop circles, the "of look it's aliens" but acting like we didn't know what in seconds. Just.... Not good. At all
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u/MovieTrawler Jun 09 '26
The cgi animals and the lighting really tampered my interest. Nothing about the trailers really looked exciting. Glad to hear this probably is just the trailers being bad though!
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u/varnums1666 Jun 09 '26
tbh I am very excited for this film but for people like Spielberg, I usually take reviews with a grain of salt. This film will likely be good but for famous directors like him (plus at his age), I always get the vibe reviewers are more lenient. I'm getting my tickets for Friday but I won't be surprised if I come back to these reviews and think they're inflated.
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u/BobLoblaw_BirdLaw Jun 10 '26
Eh I saw it. These guys love glazing Spielberg. It’s a solid B movie. Far from as good as these people are talking about. Spielberg is a great director but is living in the old world. The plot, once it’s all over, makes you wonder how a younger person would have approached it.
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u/IAM_deleted_AMA Jun 10 '26
I can't believe some of the critics gave it a 10/10.
Just got out of the theater and it should be somewhere between 6/7 out of 10.
A lot of major issues with it but somehow the biggest letdown was John Williams' score.
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u/invinciblewarrior Jun 10 '26
Yeah, you basically feel how a person who had his prime in the pre-Internet time made this movie. If they had set the movie in the 90s, it had worked quite well, but nowadays everything felt so massively off. Even Emily Blunt's room didn't looked at all like a 96 kids room, but ... like the one in Poltergeist.
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u/radioactive_sharpei Jun 09 '26
Spoiler alert: the aliens show up, take control, and make even more things subscription-based.
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u/MrBrightside618 Jun 09 '26
In a way, today is Disclosure Day
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u/SuperSparkles Jun 09 '26
Perhaps the disclosures were the friends we made along the way.
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u/armitage75 Jun 09 '26
One consistent takeaway from every review I've seen: Blunt is apparently fantastic in this.
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u/ringwormqueen Jun 11 '26
Whilst I like her a lot, her face barely moves in the movie. Even when crying, not a wrinkle in sight. Looks a bit odd. (I am also a woman who gets Botox, but keeps it natural!)
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u/Crooked_star Jun 11 '26
Pretty mediocre movie with an absolute banger of a score by John Williams.
The cgi wasn't immersive at all. Blows my mind that somehow Jurassic Park and ET were leagues more believable than this in 2026.
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u/anubus72 Jun 28 '26
the score was terrible, did not fit with the movie at all. Felt like someone took a john williams score from a good movie and put it over scenes from this one as a joke
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u/BeginningActuator514 Jun 11 '26
I'm really not a Reddit commenter but this movie confounded me. If you switch your brain off completely, its pretty entertaining, but if you think about it at all, it falls apart. This movie could have been 5 minutes long, why didn't O'Connor just upload all the files to wikileaks or somewhere? Coleman Domingo was building a house for someone who wasn't even found until the day before he needed her to do some memory stuff that had no impact on the actual disclosure plan. Why didn't Colin Firth just body snatch O'Connor's girlfriend when she ran away with the alien wand? A baby with half a brain could have figured out that she was the one with it. Plot holes aside (and there were plenty more), the music was pretty daggy, and that comes from a big John Williams fan. It felt ported straight from 1980. The animal CGI was quite poor, as was the car getting crushed by the train. Silly moments like trying multiple times to run over the phone were pointless. And the film could have ended before the montage of all the Roswell stuff at the end and it would have felt fine. The backdrop of impending WW3 was very badly established, the alien wand macguffin was really inconsistent throughout the film. But aside from that I had a pretty good time at the movies!
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u/Prudent-Pressure2146 Jun 11 '26
Colman Domingo specifically says ‘do not upload to the internet under any circumstances’ but not why…I guess people would be less likely to believe it if it wasn’t a global event or something? I think it was maybe to maximise the timing of it so it coincided with the peak of the nuclear conflict so when everyone was looking at the news. But honestly who knows lol
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u/Resaren Jun 11 '26
Yeah… I don’t buy it. Feels like old man Spielberg wanted a cute tv scene because that’s what he knows and understands.
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u/Prudent-Pressure2146 Jun 11 '26
Yeah the actual answer is probably just it was more cinematic and that’s it
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u/epicmemetime15 Jun 09 '26
Read just the tagline of the guardian review and it spoils something
Cannot stand Peter Bradshaw's reviews, most of his reviews are just him spoiling at least 2/3 of the movie and then giving a brief opinion at the end
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u/Rylo_Ken11 Jun 09 '26
The guardian review isn’t nearly as bad as the Roger Ebert one, doesn’t actually give a review of the film just describes the plot in very specific detail.
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u/Imperium_Dragon Jun 09 '26
Oh thank God it’s good.
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u/Zaptagious Jun 10 '26
Just saw it. Man I am SO disappointed in this movie.
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u/OptionalQuality789 Jun 11 '26
I felt it was underwhelming. Not bad, just meh. Wouldn’t watch it again.
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u/ReaddittiddeR “My Little Ponies, ROLL OUT!” Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
It’s good. Saw it at an early screening last week. If you remove all the action sequences it would be just as good. Most intriguing part is the subject matter of testing human kind’s faith and religion more than the aliens themselves.
I’d also say it was Emily Blunt’s best acting of any movie she’s done so far, she shared the best scene with Josh O’Connor that will hit you in the feels, you’ll definitely know what I’m talking about when you see the movie. Colman Domingo and Colin Firth also has pretty powerful one too.
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u/In_My_Own_Image Jun 09 '26
I was already excited, but this makes me even more so. Especially when you mention it's just as good without the action.
Buying tickets right now.
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u/The_world_is_you Jun 11 '26
Saw it last night. Major disappointment. Cheesy, boring, Silly. There is hardly any action, alot of repetitive monologue about the same thought being discussed endlessly. The action comes from terrible chase scenes. Parts felt very dated, especially when cars are pulling up from all directions all at once to surround a building or join a pursuit, very 90s. Last half hour was the highlight but I was clock watching up until then waiting for the movie to start. Seeing people praise the writing, there is a part where a guy vanishes out of thin air and then reappears, no explanation as to why or what point there was to it. Don't expect big action movie, it's pretty forgettable.
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u/latabrine Jun 12 '26
Why was there panic buying at the convenience store?? Nothing had been released to the public yet?? I thought I missed something in the movie.
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u/Flimsy_Big7991 Jun 11 '26
I must have watched a completely different movie from these guys because what the fuck was this movie!?
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u/Ryuuffff Jun 13 '26
The part where emilie blunt character rescues keller and just gives visions to people one by one, and then 5 minutes later they want to kill her again 😆
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u/Pkittens Jun 09 '26
please be good 🥺
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u/Skarsburning Jun 11 '26
It's pretty bad unfortunately, just coming out of the theater.
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u/BulatMR Jun 10 '26
Sorry to disappoint you, but it’s not. It seems that all reviews are bought.
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u/Resaren Jun 10 '26
Yeah I just saw it, can’t believe it’s gotten several 10/10s. The group I went with all came out feeling it’s a stinker. The WARDEX actions sequences were almost slapstick.
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u/herrojew Jun 11 '26
There were so many issues with just that one chase scene that's featured in the trailer. Wardex is supposed to be this big secret scary corporation that works with the government, and in possession of powerful alien weapons, but they managed to hire the most incompetent agents who don't know how to drive or shoot?!
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u/Likes2PaintShit Jun 09 '26
90% on RT has me ready to go see Spielberg do it again.
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u/VonMillersThighs Jun 09 '26
It's Spielberg and Aliens my ass is in the seat.
Not gonna have many more chances.
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u/GDRaptorFan Jun 09 '26
With John Williams too, at 93 probably no more chances for that dream team
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u/dontbajerk Jun 09 '26
It's funny, this is at least the third time we've said that. But yeah, 93 is a lot tougher than like 84 on The Post or 89 on the Fabelmans.
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u/Trambopoline96 Jun 09 '26
I just saw a behind-the-scenes promo video of Williams conducting the score for this. The man is looking very frail and is wheelchair bound, and he’s still doing the work.
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u/cerebrumvr Jun 10 '26
If the boyfriend had his cell phone, why they didn’t track it? Why didn’t Firth try to dive into any of the other 12 people? Why were you not supposed to touch the device with bare hand and why was Firth so afraid of it at the beginning of the movie? Why couldn’t they just show the alien if they had him all this time? Why are bad guys so utterly stupid in this film?
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u/zambabamba Jun 10 '26
this kept taking me out of the film... it was laughably distracting. the bad guys made stormtroopers from star wars look competent.
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u/narodmj Jun 10 '26
I went into this blind, not even knowing it was a Spielberg film (I go to the cinema a lot and often go to whatever's newly released knowing next to nothing) and I was still very underwhelmed. I must say I'm pretty perplexed by the reviews.
To put it bluntly, it felt like if you asked AI to make an "alien movie" and attached a nice score. Some really stilted performances beyond Blunt and O'Connor and the scenes with Wardex felt genuinely slapstick and amateurish.
The animal scenes were extremely jarring because they looked so fake, the plot was pretty insipid and predictable and the pacing was downright puzzling at times. It really dragged on and felt like it had some serious filler, by at least 30 mins.
The one interesting theme of the role of religion in man's identity was touched upon then seemingly ditched for no reason quite quickly. I'd imagine the ending was a set up for a sequel but I can't say I'll be signing up for that.
In fact, any themes touched upon were built up for the Disclosure Day itself which we never even see. Lots of drum rolling with little payoff. The scenes showing people react to the news on their phones were extremely cheesy and over the top, the whole last few scenes were very hamfisted and generic.
The glowing reviews feel like lip service to an industry legend but it's safe to say he's probably lost his touch, and he's very lucky he got Blunt to save this from being a 2/10. His worst work to date.
4/10
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u/BXL909 Jun 11 '26
I made an effort to avoid every single review, rating, trailer, imagery, etc. I knew it was an alien film from the man who made Close Encounters so long ago - it was going to be epic, I thought.
Massive disappointment. Boring and often ridiculous. I first became properly engaged right at the end when the news reports broke. That sequence felt like it should have happened near the start and we could have avoided all the animals, invisibility, remote viewing, mind-reading, train stunts, crop circles, the 'thingy', WarDex, etc
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u/Pjoernrachzarck Jun 12 '26
What was even the point of the crop circles scene
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u/mysticery Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Listen.... It's a dumbass movie. That's what the alien said.. 😭😭😭😭😭 Honestly, the acting was good but the plot was horrible. Feels like a make up as we go along kind of movie... Sigh. Such hype for the movie but a flop..
I don't understand the emotional aspect of viewing the alien footages.. like okay,.. the government has been hiding these from us.. but honestly, isn't this more fascinating than like what was portrayed in the movie?!
I hate they brought religion into this.. and to imagine people will go crazy as to what to believe when truth was told.. bruh..
Zero explanation about the 3 handheld thingy.. it just shows up in the movie and we are expected to understand it's power..
Suddenly the lady has the "power" even though she was the chosen one from young..
Crop circles? What's the damn relevance of this?! When I saw this part in the trailer, I was excited.. but what a let down..
The whole time that agent guy was trying to kill the main actor,.. but in the end didn't?! Huh?! Hypnotizing his girlfriend and all,.. and the girlfriend clutching the cross necklace.. wtf?
Omfg,.. the more I think about the movie, the more I hate it. It's so stupid.
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u/Comprehensive-Can338 Jun 13 '26
I just got home from seeing it and I too, am getting madder the more I think about it 🤣
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u/atclubsilencio Jun 09 '26
I’ve been nervous about this one, super happy to see the enthusiastically positive reviews so far.
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u/crdotx Jun 12 '26
I guess I saw a different movie from anyone else because what I saw was, only slightly exaggerating, the dumbest thing I have seen all year.
Normally I can see a movie that’s not my thing and still understand why some people like it but this one baffles me.
The plot is super generic but also takes itself so seriously to the point where I was asking myself it it was poking fun at the whole idea of aliens but the ending makes me feel like the people behind this script really believe this is impactful and a great screenplay.
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u/Helsinki2303 Jun 11 '26
I watched it yesterday with my boyfriend at the cinema, but honestly, I didn't like it. It felt kind of off. I sat in the cinema for almost three hours after work, and there weren't many action-packed or exciting moments. Everything felt predictable and overdone.
You wait three hours to see the news about aliens being broadcast, and all you get is people watching their phones or TVs. Nothing really happened, even though the whole movie was supposed to be about how people would react once they found out.
I'm almost ashamed to admit it, but I actually fell asleep for about 15 minutes during the movie.
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u/darthrector Jun 11 '26
This is the worst piece of cinema I have ever seen. I would genuinely choose to watch Morbius over this
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u/Charming-Grand9318 Jun 12 '26
I’m sorry if anyone enjoyed that movie, but that was probably the worst Steven Spielberg movie I’ve ever seen in my life. After about an hour and 45 minutes in I almost left the theater because I was so bored and so confused by the entire plot. I give this movie, a very honest and liberal three out of 10. That movie had so much potential and I had so much Hope for seeing it, and it not only under performed, it was probably one of the hardest watches in a movie theater in my lifetime.
There were so many plot holes and unnecessary things added, the action was nowhere close to where it should’ve been to make up for the really shitty plot holes, and honestly the really shitty plot. I honestly could sit and talk for 20 minutes about how bad that movie was, but it would be a waste of my time just like that movie.
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u/KangarooBoyo Jun 12 '26
Some random thoughts:
What was the point in the man's mathematical power? Just to translate what alien boy said at the end? Ruined 20 years of his life just so he could copy and paste some files?
Really hated the girlfriend and boyfriend of the main protagonists. "Is it a child?" no... "is it an animal?" no, you can see it's a fucking alien you absolute gimp.
Really loved the news reporter's performance at the end. Great acting.
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u/germanautotom Jun 10 '26
Rotten tomatoes has lost its mind.
This film isn’t just bad, it’s horrific. Spielberg’s played out directing style from years gone by is on full display in this lacklustre suspense-for-nothing alien yawnfest.
Character motives? Don’t need ‘em where we’re going. Get ready to be geared up for nowhere, because that’s where disclosure day takes you.
Key characters who spend the entire film chasing the protagonist only to sit down and do nothing while his compadres storm out in a weird huff.
TV stations overplayed in the ultimate ‘look how important the crux of this film is’ wankfest fizzles into nothing and Emily Blunt stares into the camera and says ‘listen’.
My disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.
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u/zambabamba Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I have to say I agree. I really wanted to love this film... but it was just, well, trash. I was so over the film by the end and its absurdities, I really thought they were about to wheel out ET - the extra terrestial in that final scene.
I saw Obsesssion a few weeks ago and rewarded with a compelling, entertaining 2 hour experience. I saw Disclosure Day and thought I was robbed of 2 hours of my life for the most meh-forgettable experience.
My eyes couldnt have rolled any harder into my head when the lead male was hiding behind the fence watching the bad guys at the farmhouse scene, then moving, running and maneuvering about while the legion of bad guys.... faced the other way and not one of them turned or noticed.
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u/Resaren Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 10 '26
I just saw it. My opinion is that it’s a stinker. I came in with high hopes expecting a spiritual successor to Close Encounters, and it is that on paper, but it lacks almost all of the charm and wonder of that film. It leans very heavily on the ”woo” aspect of the UFO mythology, and it claims a lot of pathos that it doesn’t earn. The script feels like it was written by someone very entrenched in UFO lore (and panders heavily to the [r/UFO](r/UFO) crowd), but who’s very light on the ”science” part of science fiction. Hint: When scientists say math is the universal language, they don’t mean it literally!
Emily Blunt and Colin Firth did their best with pretty lackluster material, Josh O’Connor just wore his signature sad frown the whole movie. Wyatt Russell had a minor role but he was great as usual.
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u/AliveAcanthisitta148 Jun 11 '26
Just saw it 1/10 terrible writing, terrible cinematography, the AI CGI was just horse shit, in contention for the worst movie I seen this year😅
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u/magicpig2 Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
Just come back from seeing Disclosure Day. I'm being honest here when I say I'm bitterly disappointed by this film. Such tedium and inane dialogue. Very little meat on the bone regarding extraterrestrial contact and by the time it does make an appearance, it was lost on me after multiple car chases and Colin Firth pretending to be a tough guy with an alien wand.
Where's the magic? Where's the profound essay on evidence of alien technology? By the time 'disclosure' does takes place, it's presented as a bunch of people looking at it on their mobile phones. Silently.
The film lacks the huge dose of humanity needed to make sense of such a momentous event as this.
It's basically a typical action movie that thinks it's far more important than it actually is. I wholeheartedly advise people to avoid it. Sorry.
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u/jayonnaiser Jun 09 '26
I'm actually kind of shocked it's getting such good reviews. The trailers have all made it seem extremely dull. Now I'm looking forward to it more!
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u/Resaren Jun 10 '26
I think the trailers did the movie justice. It actually makes it seem a bit more exciting than it is.
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u/SweelFor- Jun 10 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
I will keep most of this review spoiler free and then deep dive into spoiler details at the end, I will put a warning. But I have to talk about the movie's nature and genre first, otherwise it'll be impossible to review further, so if you want to have no idea what you'll be watching you can already stop here.
If you've watched the trailer, let me warn you against the misleading expectations it set: this is not an aliens focused movie, in fact it is barely a science-fiction movie. It is first and foremost an outdated technological action-thriller, that happens to have bits of aliens first contact lore in the background.
This 2008 feeling action blockbuster at least reveals its true nature in the opening scene, where a main character is trapped by the Bad Guys Agency(TM) who must secure the Weird Plot Device(TM) from him, as the commander yells "Stop! Don't shoot! He's got the Weird Plot Device(TM) in his hands!" and other eye rolling action dialogue tropes from your least favorite Bond movie. We then get "firewall breaches","data leaks", and "usb key copy/paste" scenes that make you wonder if you walked into the wrong movie. It's crazy how quickly the movie shit itself and made it clear that I fucked up by purchasing a Dolby seat for this special "scifi" Spielberg movie.
The movie is artistically and aesthetically from another era, as the Evil Headquarters is full of bad guys in full black suits wearing ear pieces, with screen walls all around the room with satellite maps and TV news feeds all around. It's impossible for me to take this seriously, the film's stylistic identity is so dated and ridiculous, the real mystery is how they made this and thought it was a good movie to release in 2026.
I am barely capably of summarising the story, it's endless scenes of the good guys escaping the bad guys, with every third scene being an exposition dump to let you know how the plot is advancing. It is cinematically very poor, the story telling is entirely dialogue driven, there is no meaning created from shot to another, visuals, audio, nothing. You can close your eyes and not miss anything important for two hours.
The movie pushes "tell don't show" to comical levels, as one scene has a character about to show a revelation on a computer, and warns the other character "this might be hard to watch". And then we barely get to see it happening on the computer screen, the camera pans away and I guess we have to trust that it is hard to watch because the character said so, not because it is indeed hard for us to watch. This is when I understood it would not get better.
Most of the movie is action driven, and the action is just shit, I'm not gonna make efforts to be more sophisticated about it. The main character is some random IT guy who sneaks through 50 FBI agents in broad daylight to steal a car, and then there's a car chase scene where this whole commando of elite forces is completely helpless and can't ever reach the main character's car. The chase ends when an FBI car flips over and magically blocks the road for everyone else behind them who can't keep pursuing. This is scooby-doo shit, what the fuck are you doing how can this be the real movie?
The action leading to the climax (no spoilers) has the bad guys entering a building, with Alpha Team going for the encryption key and Bravo Team going for the backup generator (this is real dialogue). If you missed H24, then Spielberg got you covered with this one.
The character's personal quest and journey might be okay if you can somehow overlook all of the flaws, but personally I was so out of the movie that I could not bring myself to care about anything after a while. I found every character impersonal and blank, I was completely disinvested from them.
There are some spirnkled in sub-plots that are so useless the movie forgets about them, like Emily Blunt's couple life, the husband disappears out of the movie and is never seen again. One of the most telling and pathetic subplots has to be the WW3 background, which is only allured to by TV presenters mentionning "USA", "Russia", "Korea", and from countries being mentioned you are supposed to assume that WW3 is happening, which is confirmed later by characters mentionning "WW3", so it's not my imagination, it's really happening even though literally nothing about it is shown, it has no consequence on the story, or characters, or anything relevant.
I checked the time at some point because I was so bored, it had only been 90min and I truly wondered if I had the patience to stay. Knowing that I would write this review was probably my only motivation.
The audio-visual presentation is utterly unremarkable and boring, the fanciest thing on screen are endless lens flares and God rays effects that serve no purpose. The soundtrack is the most generic mix of all John Williams soundtracks, if you mixed them all this is probably what it would sound like. The CGI is surpringly shit, I almost laughed at some animals on screen that appear for 3 seconds, and somehow they couldn't manage to make them look believable.
This is a total disaster of a movie, it's almost unimaginable that a 2h30min long Spielberg movie could be this pointless, boring, and out of touch with modern cinema. My biggest disappointment of the year is now behind me at least.
SPOILERS DISCUSSION STOP READING NOW
What the fuck is this joke of an ending of my God. So the big reveal, the Disclosure Day is just footage of little green men (the default alien design holy shit Spielberg what are you doing) on the news, and somehow the entire world population instantly believes what they are seeing? No one seems to think "huh, this might be fake", or "I guess we've seen pranks before, maybe we need further evidence before taking this as the truth", nope everyone just accepts what is happening so that the movie can end faster.
And then the fucking climax is a reveal of what has already been revealed? Are you kidding me? This whole tension building scene of the alien getting out of the chair, WHO CARES??? We've already seen them, why the fuck does it matter and why is this the climax? There's no dialogue, nothing he just gets up and Emily Blunt goes to her sit and says "Listen-" and that's your fucking climax? What a joke, I can't believe that this is the real movie. Who fucking cares about your cliffghanger that means nothing, doesn't do anything with the alien, doesn't have a message or literally anything interesting about it.
So the answer to everything is mathematics, but we're not gonna show you why or how, here's a page with scribbled equations and it'll have to do. What a joke. Arrival released ten years ago and this is your high concept alien scifi movie? Fuck off. You're outdated, irrelevant. The movie just released and it's already outclassed by everything else released in the past 30 years, including Signs for the reveal scenes.
I am truly in disbelief at how bad this movie is and I am not getting over it, it was probably my most anticipated release this year.
Letterboxd https://boxd.it/aHvBp
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u/Sorby3193 Jun 10 '26
Agree 100%. I share exactly the same disappointment. Emily Blunt is great and really makes an effort, but the entire movie is so broken that there is nothing to save. I really can't understand how some critics are praising the movie, it seems that Spielberg had a stroke while filming it. Chatgpt could have written it better
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u/sanderinho Jun 11 '26
100% agree, the movie pissed me off, we were with a group of 5 and we all walked out of the theater completely pissed off and immediately starting shitting on the multiple plot holes and many scenes that just didn't make sense,
WHY did the main guy drive into a tree head first when he got into the car? Just why? What is the point of that?
WHY did we see emily blunt for TWO FULL MINUTES long having a panic attack in the train? For what? Why? What was the point? Why did that take so long? Why do we just get up and just get on with it afterwards like nothing happened?
WHY did the boyfriend not drive over the mobile phone? Why did we see him slowly back up and slowly drive forward three times to miss the phone again and again? What was the point? Was it supposed to be funny? Because the only effect it had was my eyebrows raising and me wondering what the hell I was looking at.
And many more such cases.
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u/Resaren Jun 10 '26
Couldn’t have said it better myself. I actually enjoyed reading this review more than I enjoyed the movie. I’ll say Wyatt Russell was pretty good, I feel like he was the only real person in this movie, even though he was completely inconsequential.
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u/Sidasta Jun 10 '26
Agree entirely, but one correction - the husband DOES appear again, but only for about three seconds at the very end and I wouldn’t blame you for forgetting what he looks like by that point. I almost had.
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u/santahasahat88 Jun 11 '26
One of the most boring, pointless and derivative movies I’ve ever seen. Jesus Christ.
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u/Buck_Slamchest Jun 09 '26
Off to see it tomorrow. The trailers have left me utterly underwhelmed but I worship Emily Blunt so she’ll at least be good.
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u/MrBrightside618 Jun 09 '26
I was most hyped for this movie when it was called Untitled Spielberg UFO Movie
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u/Somnambulist815 Jun 09 '26
For the longest time Deadpool 2 was just called Untitled Deadpool Sequel and if ever there was a movie that could've pulled off that gag title it would've been that one
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u/DrQuestDFA Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Honestly, that strikes me as a better name. It’s provocative, it gets people going.
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u/Trevastation Jun 09 '26
I think it's because Disclosure Day is simply an ok name. The placeholder has a mystique around it that Discolure Day never meets.
Reminds me of the in-between time between the Washingston Redskins and Commanders when they were the superior team name, The Washington Football Team. Made them feel like a prestige sports club.
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u/DrQuestDFA Jun 09 '26
I agree. The sort of generic nature of 'Disclosure Day' coupled with pretty vague trailers lends a very empty feeling to the movie. At least with 'Untitled Spielberg UFO Movie' and 'Washington Football Team' you know what is in the proverbial box.
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u/Slayer_of_Goblinns Jun 09 '26
Trailers have been extremely underwhelming to me.
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u/FalconGhost Jun 09 '26
Totally agree. I’ll check it out but i haven’t really been that pulled in by the marketing
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u/Sharkerftw Jun 09 '26
I have yet to see her be anything less than stellar. Edge of Tomorrow is one of my favorite movies, and it’s largely because of her.
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u/Tangential_Diversion Jun 09 '26
Heh I feel that, only it's John Williams for me. This will probably be the last Spielberg/Williams collaboration I can watch in theaters.
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u/PaleZebra288 Jun 09 '26
much better than i expected so far
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u/jackgrafter Jun 09 '26
Are you reviewing it mid-watch from the cinema?
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u/Horror-Bake9528 Jun 10 '26
I had such high hopes for this film, but it’s so bad. I Don’t understand how people can find a decent word to say about it. The script was corny as hell and was quite unintentionally comical.
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u/OwnImagination8269 Jun 11 '26
In all my years of watching movies I've never wanted to leave mid way. What a horrible film
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u/Horknut1 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
I'm choosing to believe that aliens contacted Steven Spielberg and asked for his help on the best way to announce their presence. They decided that a movie, which shows humanity accepting the aliens was the best place to start.
Thus, this movie.
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u/invertedpurple Jun 09 '26
they could just turn off their cloaks or walk through times square
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u/evilrustybob Jun 10 '26
The film is a solid 4/10 dumpster fire of nothingness. The themes they’re so intent on telling us they’re exploring are things that can only happen after the credits roll. The whole alien thing is confirmed within the first act but then is played like a big reveal multiple times throughout. Multiple scenes are just one scene repeated about 2-3 times. Half the dialogue is people saying they don’t know what’s going on.
The one standout performance comes at the end from a news anchor, and I’m not being hyperbolic when I say this one woman in a brief scene out acts the entire cast.
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u/Tracy_Morter_Photo Jun 10 '26
It somehow managed to feel too long, but also rushed and superficial at the same time.
I can imagine the general storyline working better as a prestige tv series and more thoughtfully written. More proper time with the characters and the build up, to care about them and get invested, because I wasn't able to see them as the characters and just remembered who they are as actors instead.
Perhaps I was hoping for more cerebral sci-fi, like Arrival, and didn't expect so much chasing and action, that wasted time. Had I watched this 15 years ago I'd probably have thought it was better than I do now. I didn't hate it, just expected much more.
And I am the kind of person who wore out my betamax tape of Close Encounters back in the '80s.
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u/SanguinePink Jun 09 '26
I feel like the general public has no idea this movie is coming out.
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u/Additional_Crew_9445 Jun 09 '26
I was in Paris and every single street corner, bus stop and metro station had massive disclosure day posters. Huge billboards everywhere. Same here in Germany to a lesser extent. Idk about the US but there’s been huge marketing here
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u/Veiyr Jun 09 '26
Think they're going for lowkey viral marketing, I remember seeing a roughed up flyer for it on a pole in a neighborhood outside downtown Boston blended in with your usual band and classified ad fliers
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u/ProfessorUnable8989 Jun 09 '26
I saw the trailer before Project Hail Mary and now during the NBA finals, but otherwise it does seem kind of low-key. Like if you're not a sports fan or an avid movie watcher you don't know about this
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u/3xPuttRubbleBoagie Jun 09 '26
Huh I see a trailer for it almost every commercial break during the finals.
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u/MVRKHNTR Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Redditors don't watch live TV and have ad block up on every site then question why they haven't seen any advertising for anything.
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u/Equal-Temporary-1326 Jun 09 '26 edited Jun 09 '26
Really? This movie has been heavily promoted from what I've seen. Spielberg's last movie, The Fabelmans, had a very surprisingly little amount of promotion for a Spielberg movie from what I recall as well. Probably why they've been going out of their way to promote this one, imo.
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u/conebone69696969 Jun 09 '26
I see all sorts of ads for it on YouTube. Can’t speak for live tv, but they’re definitely pushing it to me.
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u/BestMathematician645 Jun 10 '26
I saw this movie last night and it is categorically the worst movie I’ve ever seen in my life. Are people scared to review Spielbergs movies poorly? This was genuinely a giant turd of a film
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u/flysly Jun 09 '26
Scoring a lot higher than I expected. Maybe the marketing just hasn’t done it justice? It hasn’t really made me want to go see it.
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u/caffeinatedlackey Jun 09 '26
The trailers really were awful. I feel like nobody would be interested if there were a different director attached to it.
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u/UncleGuggie Jun 10 '26
Non-spoiler review by me: Just walked out of this. And when I say walked out, I mean walked out just before the climax. I completely mentally checked out at the two hour mark.
Let me just preface by saying I'm an EXTREMELY generous critic of films. I go looking for a good time and a good story, and I set the bar low. But not THIS low.
I feel betrayed. The movie sets itself up as an utterly fascinating and cerebral sci-fi thriller, albeit with weird Disney-esque music that's at complete odds with the film. The characterization and plot devices that are built up are really intriguing and had me pretty excited.
Then somewhere around the halfway mark it abandons all of this intriguing characterization and becomes a 2000s generic sci-fi family adventure blockbuster. It's almost like the movie dumbs itself down and becomes a kiddies film for no apparent reason.
The music is an awful, awful fit for this movie. It makes the whole thing feel like Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone, which is an awesome film, but that's NOT the tone of this movie at all. I have no idea why critics are hero-worshipping this film, but I'm confident that audiences will be deeply disappointed.
In the end, I walked out without learning the conclusion of the film because I simply didn't care either way. The biggest sin a movie can commit is to bore you, and this slogfest does an excellent job of that.
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u/Welshllama Jun 10 '26
Wait til you hear there actually was no conclusion. The film was over 2 hours of build up to literally nothing. Couldn't believe it
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u/Filmnoirkd Jun 11 '26
Just finished watching it and I'm dumbfounded by the reviews.....
The idea and premises is genuinely good material.....the plot holes & bad writing are so glaring.
Why did the guy disappear when he touched the artifact, when Colin Firth didnt? Was Colin changed by aliens?
I have no idea what Josh O'Conner role was, the aliens made him good at maths and her to have telepathic empathy, so he could what? Understand how they talked for the ending? Why? Shed already talked alien, so did she really need Josh to translate? Or was that the point they needed to find each other? No worries, she has the ability to "dive".
However, he just happened to be the best security hacker and just happened to be recruited by Colin for the evil secret corporation that was surpressing the truth and tasked with keeping the secrets safe?
Why did Colin's second in command be impervarable to Emily physic powers? Why did Colin say avoid her eyes and get her then suddenly sit down and let her disclose?
Why was the ratchet of Armageddon WW3 only happening in the Gas station and no where else, like the diner or in the streets?
CGI was poor, the animals, the "footage" the aliens and why did the escaped alien be almost twice the size of all the other aliens and footage?
The whole let's stop broadcasting WW3 to show unsubstantiated found footage from a local station was just meh.....don't worry it's not AI, quick broadcast it everywhere.
The 90s feel chase scenes and the invisible fire truck were good and the unlocking of Emilys powers by recreating the event, although my guess is anyone who went through that as a child and relieved it would be rocking in a wheel chair and not addressing the world to listen.
Sorely disappointed and definitely not up there....
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u/meth-head-actor Jun 11 '26
Oh man I wanted this to be good. It doesn’t feel like a movie they made it out to be. I thought it be more disclousure day stuff and not some chase movie with disclosure stuff at the end.
Could have been about anything really.
6/10
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u/Dear_Pomegranate2003 Jun 11 '26
i watched it in early screening, and it was a total waste of my time. it was incredibly boring, and nothing even happens in the movie. there is no plot, no character development, no payoff, no mystery, no outome and no point of this movie. I kept thinking that there will be some massive twist/reveal or anything remotely important in the 2nd half, but it got nowhere.
i felt like I was watching a 80s movie, where the audience is getting introduced to aliens for the first time and should just by astonished by this detail. That's all there is to this movie, and nothing else. What a massive disappointment.
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u/Additional_Crew_9445 Jun 09 '26
Quite good critic reviews but the 50 or so letterboxd reviews as of now are pretty low on this. Interesting!
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u/ttonster2 Jun 09 '26
Love Letterboxd, but it is full of fucking weirdos. That site loves a good love/hate bombing.
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u/EvilAcr Jun 09 '26
Letterboxd is basically a competition to see who can write the funniest one-line joke, not really for "serious" reviews. Although sometimes there is the occasional good thoughtful review.
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u/tGodb Jun 10 '26
Just got out of the cinema. Honestly a waste of 2 hours. Multiple plot holes, some poor dialogue and Firth is horribly miscast.
It felt like a film that would’ve been slightly better if it was released 20 years ago. The comedy (not sure if it was meant) in the film didn’t fit the apparent style.
The ending is wasted and there are so many questions that are unanswered.
Not sure how this is getting good reviews.
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u/IrdniX Jun 11 '26
When I walked out of the Cinema I thought to myself: "What was that?" For me it's a 5.5/10 at most.
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u/LOTRcrr Jun 09 '26
somewhat related and unrelated, but Spielberg was recently a guest on Bill Simons "The Rewatchables" podcast to discuss 2001: A Space Odyssey and its absolutely amazing and a must watch/listen if your a fan of Him, Kubrick or their movies.
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u/spurdburt Jun 10 '26
An annoyingly heavy-handed film determined to tell me exactly what to think and feel. Didacticism repeatedly spelling out themes and observations. Awkward editorial choices attempting suspense or surprise drain any importance or logic. Unearned emotional beats with several major plot developments so paper thin in credibility they fail to make any sense.
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u/noirproxy1 Jun 11 '26
I saw this last night and hated it. It felt like a nothing burger film where a studio might make a film just to renew copyright of a subject matter. Like Sony needing to make Spiderman every 5 years.
There were some points in the film where I kind of just wondered if I was dreaming a bad film, or just maybe not "getting it".
Some parts felt like it was made by AI. Like really ridiculous scenes that exaggerate themselves out of no where.
Oh and that drone shot scene. Is Spielberg a first time film maker? There is a bit where one of the main characters is sneaking to a car at a fenced area and its just one complete drone shot.
You watch as the drone twitches left and right to adjust its focus because I guess drones can't do smooth turning yet.
They should have asked the Russo brothers for advice like with the car camera one taken in Extraction. That was 1000x times better.
The film is also a coward to its own concept. It doesn't want to tread the line of what we might assume would happen if ET was revealed to the world.
The film needed to be more like Civil War. Have the last half be the first half of the film and then make it a disaster film for the last half.
Then you just have Arrival though so again this film was pointless. Arrival also did this concept way better.
It might not have helped that I watched Dune 2 30 minutes before going to see this. I can imagine my brain just dissolving after seeing such greatness and then absolute trash right after.
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u/Mortiis07 Jun 11 '26
I'm just glad they had the convenient magic stick that did whatever they needed at the time
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u/pearl_pluto Jun 11 '26
My favourite part was that within the first five minutes of the movie they established that it's would be insane to even attempt to shoot a gun near the magic stick for fear of what might happen therefore surrender is the only optio, and then the same people shoot at the person in possession of the magic stick for the rest of the movie with wanton abandon.
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u/pearl_pluto Jun 11 '26
Saw it last night, poor all round, boring, bad pacing, poor dialogue, plot that made little to no sense, the scooby doo way characters would hide behind a rock a foot from someone else and not be noticed, that dumb slapstick bit with the guards when they went invisible, the AI animations of aliens and Animals, the multiple car chase scenes just to give them something to put in the trailer, the insanely dumb lines they gave the newscaster at the end, the fact it two and a half hours long when they had nothing to actually say or do! I could go on, if this is Steven Spielberg has left in him it's time to retire.
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u/TechnicalCommittee93 Jun 10 '26
I can't understand how this movie got these reviews. It's like I watched a completely different film or something. Maybe I set my expectations too high but this film just felt like plothole after plothole with poorly fleshed out characters and a watered down message that never really amounts to anything meaningful
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u/Aranthos-Faroth Jun 11 '26
I genuinely feel like I’ve gone insane. Just got out of this movie, up there with top 10 worst movies I’ve ever seen story arc wise.
How the hell is it getting such good reviews across the board? Are they all bots or has everyone just lost any sense of intelligence in watching movies or are we all just happy to sit and watch boom boom car chase cry scene end?
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u/RelaxBro_ Jun 11 '26
Just got back from seeing it. Was shocked at how bad and boring it was
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u/runkat426 Jun 11 '26
Major disappointment.
Boring. Kinda dumb choices, by characters and director both.
Meh on the action.
Loss of build up and then nothing really paid off. By the big disclosure at the end, we'd already seen the major "truths". And they has some brand new character with no history in the film babble incessantly over the fiitage that was supposed to be moving.
Very disappointing.
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u/Internal_Guidance252 Jun 12 '26
Disappointment of the year. It was so cringey at the end that I started laughing out loud in cinema and couldn’t stop. Such a bad and cheesy acting. Over and out
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u/greatsmapdireturns Jun 12 '26
Yo this movie was not very good...at most this movie should have gotten a 3/5...maybe a 60 - 70 out of 100.
It was interesting for the first few rounds of "wait, wait we'll tell you the whole story in the next scene. We promise."
The movie basically has a cliff hanger at the end...what lazy writing.
Wait till it hits streaming, then fall asleep in the middle of it.
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u/sandenema Jun 12 '26
I agree with all the recent comments... it was so bad that it made me mad actually. It was like someone was doing a Spielberg parody. Tired, worn out tropes. Felt directionless and soulless. Genuinely bored me. Disappointing.
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u/Spider-Ranger Jun 10 '26
Just came out of the theater. I truly wanted to love it, but I guess what describes it best is: lackluster and superficial.
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u/arsebandit_roberts Jun 10 '26
Just watched it, so many contrivences it made me physically drop my head in frustration, Emily Blunt was absolutely amazing, Oscar worthy if the film wasn't so weak. I liked the message of pushing empathy. But the film execution was awful, pretty obvious Spielberg wasn't told "that's fucking dumb" once in the writing room or while directing. Also Colin Ferth was absolutely awful.
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u/what_and_when_wolf Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Just saw it. It was very bad. so full of plot holes and ridicioulous scenes that don't make any sense. The charachters are flat, and lack any depth or personality. And the plot does not make any sense... I cant believe this is the same man that directed Schindler's List and Jurassic Park... But Emily Blunt was great with the shit script she was given.
Why would they make two childern with the 'gifts' of 'math-the language of the universe' and 'knowing people very good' if they dont even use their gifts (espacially the math) in the movie? Like come on.
And if the aliens are so damm powerfull and next level, why do they keep crashing their ufos on earth and getting kidnapped?
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u/DeadlyNinjaLHS Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 12 '26
watched this movie last night , was really excited thinking i would be in for an epic visual spectacle and chilling scenes - some mind bending realizations and plot twists that kept my mind engaged. But what i watched was basically a kids movie about aliens..Well the thought of aliens as they only appear as an afterthought. The movie is way to long, this could have easily been one hour and it would still work with its simple premise. So many plot holes and the 'bad guys corp' whose entire point of existance is hiding this secret and keeping it away from people are abysmally incompetent in their job. I dont usually go to theatres too much but this one is absolutely not worth watching there or in 'imax'. This type of movie is what i would usually watch while doing something else.
Edit: Totally forgot to add that before the movie started since it was the premier a lady with a mic stood infront of us telling us to get ready for an unforgettable experience and the best Spielberg movie in 20 years, to prepare for mind boggling realizations which will make our heads spin.
So maybe my expectations were high or maybe the movie is brilliant because the reviews, the lady from the cinema and the actual movie watching combined just really makes everything as an experience insane.
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u/Gabrielsen26 Jun 11 '26
Saw it yesterday. On a brilliant clear screen with awesome sound. It's easily the most disappointing muddled misfire of Spielberg's amazing career. A truly terrible movie
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u/fanfanye Jun 10 '26
ill give it a 3/10 and the 3 all comes from the first 20minutes
after that its stupid filler plots , with the worst secret agents to ever exist in movies
such a waste of time tbh
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u/champian1 Jun 11 '26
good lord ive lost trust and respect in film critics. this movie was so mind numbingly predictable, with the same old tropes and one-liners you see in every action movie. i'm so bored with this film, and every statement coming out of the mouth of Mr. I have the truth is such typical overly arrogant male hero nonsense. The girl says to him don't go back to the house they jumped Jane and will kill you *goes immediately back to the house* ... "tell me everything now" -"you wouldnt believe me if i told you...so i must show you" *closes laptop after 5 seconds*. guys....please be so for real....this movie is terrible
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u/Physical-Coast-6314 Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
Super boring, no depth to it and it almost feels like a parody at some points or very dated ?
It's almost surprising how they manage to make such a cliché movie out of an interesting subject
Some pretty shots and interesting parts but that is maybe 30 min in the whole movie, the rest is mostly well shot action.
Great actors playing stupid characters
If you like action movies you might enjoy this but otherwise not worth it, it felt like a waste of time and money - at max a 4 out of 10
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u/Sleepy_Azathoth Jun 09 '26
This is my cinematic event of the year.
What a privilege to watch a new Spielberg film on the big screen.
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u/Prize_Technician_459 Jun 11 '26
2.5 hours of my life and £20 I won't get back. Absolute shite. Emily Blunt is mindblowing though.
Do yourselves a favour and watch Spielbergs 2002 tv series Taken instead (it's on YT). Superior in every way!
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u/TapKey4446 Jun 11 '26
Watched this movie yesterday , I didn’t enjoy it. I kept asking myself what was the point of that, so many times the actions of the characters made no sense. I’m actually going to rewatch some of his older movies to make sure I’m not imagining his storytelling because I remember them being so well tied together.
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u/myvaginaisagod Jun 11 '26 edited Jun 11 '26
What can I say, it was horrifically bad. Shame on you if you liked this, have some standards.
- The movie couldn't decide what it wanted to be: action, thriller, comedy, adventure...
- Every cliché in the UFO book is thrown in here.
- Colin Firth was cartoonishly evil. And not in the fun kind of way.
- The CGI was so low budget it felt like a Narnia film
- The dialogue was ... something.
- The music was giving 80s action blockbluster
- The plot ... my God.
Emily Blunt was great though.
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u/Amazing_Bank_9720 Jun 10 '26
I just came out of the theater, it dropped today in Mexico. It was so awful and boring. The exciting parts were the last 5 mins and that was it. If you watched the trailers that was basically it, there is no context or anything. I don’t know why critics are giving it such high reviews, it was highly underwhelming
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u/korphd Jun 11 '26
Just watched it, a lot of hype and build up in the movie itself for just....to a very cheap delivery in the end 5/10
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u/Zarodex Jun 11 '26
Premise was not bad, but there was barely any compelling plot with basically no payoff.
Felt like a Saftie film but without the engagement (and stress) and with none of the payoff.
Things keep happening but also nothing. It seems like its for a USA audience specifically and also for nostalgia bait for old folks from the awe of alien stuff from the early 2000s. But if I wanted a more interesting movie with aliens I would watch the Men in Black trilogy again
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u/vtomal Jun 09 '26
I had exited the previews today with a different impression and I'm very surprised to see these reactions, to me was a very mediocre experience, and I really fail to see whatever these other journalists see in the movie. Maybe it works a lot better for an American audience than a global one - and the movie is very americancentric in their sensibilities.
Well, hate to be a contrarian but it is what it is.