Plugged In Entertainment Reviews

Guest (Female): What are you going to do?

Guest (Male): Full disclosure to the whole world.

Adam Holz: In Steven Spielberg's new movie Disclosure Day now in theaters, the acclaimed director returns to a theme that has captivated his imagination for nearly 50 years: What if aliens arrived on Earth? This time, the existence of aliens is an established fact to a handful of people who work for the shadowy agency known as WardX, and they intend to keep a tight lid on that secret.

Dr. Danny Kenner once worked for WardX, but now, with the help of Kansas City TV weather woman Margaret Fairchild, they're determined to blow that lid clean off. But as is often the case in these situations, the folks at WardX have other ideas.

Guest (Male): How will disclosure change us? I believe for the better. It will remind us of our capacity for empathy and that there is something bigger out there than just ourselves.

Adam Holz: Disclosure Day marks Spielberg's fifth foray into the question of what happens when aliens encounter humans. The story explores how such a disclosure would affect the Judeo-Christian understanding of God, and Spielberg suggests that this discovery would constitute a crisis of faith for many. In addition to the plot's murky intersection with spiritual themes, we also get some harsh profanity and a lot of high-octane peril and violence as WardX agents chase Danny and Margaret for much of the movie.

Like Spielberg's first two alien movies, Close Encounters and E.T., Disclosure Day works hard to conjure up an engrossing cinematic experience that ponders big spiritual questions. But as both a movie and a theological thought experiment, Disclosure Day ultimately fails to launch. So we're giving it a three out of five for family-friendliness. Read the full review at pluggedin.com/radio, and be sure to follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. I'm Adam Holz with the Plugged In movie review by Focus on the Family.