Comment: Reveal Day is an action packed, light hearted experience

The summer blockbuster season is over it has started honestly with the theatrical release of Disclosure Daydirector Steven Spielberg’s much-anticipated return to the “aliens are among us” sci-fi origin. Verdict: nothing new or original here as movies about aliens go, but it’s a fast-paced movie starring Emily Blunt that can’t fail to entertain.

(Some spoilers below but nothing major to reveal.)

The first half of the film is essentially a political story—shades of 1974 Parallax view and similar films—when international conflicts reached their climax in World War III. A cyber security expert named Daniel (Josh O’Connor) has stolen exotic technology and sensitive files from his employer, Wardex Corporation, a secret extension of the US government led by Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth). Scanlon chases Daniel away by grabbing his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson). During the race, Daniel double-crosses and runs away with Jane, and the two are on the run when Scanlon declares Daniel a traitor.

Meanwhile, Kansas City TV meteorologist Margaret (Emily Blunt) is having breakfast with her friend Jackson (Wyatt Russell) when a cardinal flies out the window and locks eyes with her before flying away. Margaret starts talking to Jackson again, only in Russian—a language she has never learned. On the way to work, they find that they can read other people’s thoughts and feelings, and communicate in their own languages. Then—in the most important moment shown in all the movies—Margaret begins her weather report, but she only speaks a foreign language on the air. That moment is instantly contagious.

This brings him to the attention of Scanlon, as well as Scanlon’s Wardex partner Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo). Hugo then pulls the strings behind the scenes to plan Daniel’s theft of the top secret weapon. Its purpose: to reveal its contents – the details of what people have experienced over the past 80 years – to the world. Scanlon also wants to stop the truth from coming out, and it becomes a race against time as Daniel and Margaret try to escape his followers and find each other.

A change in vibe

I won’t say much about the last 30 minutes or so, because it might be too much (although the last trailer gave a very strong impression). Suffice it to say that there is a pronounced shift in vibe to the mystery as the plot threads come together. In Spielberg’s capable hands, it works, although some criticized the CGI, especially the animals. Considering what the animals represent, I think it was the right choice to make them seem otherworldly, like they’re coming out of our dark, dark world.