What's bigger and even more important than the arrival of a new Steven Spielberg movie in cinemas? Oh we don't know. How about the existence of alien life on earth?
That's the premise of Disclosure Day, a new sci-fi thriller that sees Spielberg returning to the idea of these little green men he adores so much. This time however, the little green men in question are actually grey, and they have an important message for mankind.
But what is that message? How did we reach this point? And most importantly of all, how awesome is Emily Blunt in this movie? The answers to all that are on their way, except for the whole Emily Blunt thing. Because, duh.
Disclosure Day ending explained
After a lot of running and driving and all kinds of chasing, Daniel and Margaret finally reach Hugo, the man who once worked for the company that's now chasing them. By rebuilding Margaret's childhood home, Hugo helps them both figure out their paranormal connection to each other, one first established during an alien visitation on 23 February 1996.
Unfortunately, Wardex show up then and surround them. Thankfully, Margaret's able to tap into her power and use that alien Swiss Army Knife she's been carrying to make them all invisible, helping Hugo's team escape. Upon arriving at the KCXE news studio where Margaret works, Daniel uploads the footage he stole previously that proves aliens exist and the government has been covering it up.
Wardex cut the power to the studio, but that's precisely when Daniel's girlfriend Jane shows up with another alien doohickey device that can immediately switch the power back on. Huh. Would you look at that.
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With the power back on, Wardex decide to... well, they decide to do nothing. Sure, they have lots of guns and military-style training at their disposal, but Noah, the head of the organisation, suddenly gives up entirely. He literally pulls up a chair and just decides to watch Margaret reveal the same truth he's spent his whole life trying to keep under wraps.
And that's exactly what Margaret does, explaining to everyone that the US has known about aliens since 1947, stealing their tech and torturing them to the government's own ends. Just your standard government hijinks in an alien movie then.
But then something miraculous happens. As the archive video footage spreads to news stations across every country, the entire world stops in its tracks, mesmerised by what they see. Everyone from regular citizens to soldiers fighting are transfixed by the truth that's being disclosed on their phones.
As this unfolds, Hugo welcomes a mysterious visitor to the studio who's revealed to be a living, breathing alien. Presumably, this must be In Vivo 17, the extraterrestrial Hugo helped release from Wardex custody. The big guy is here to see Margaret and Daniel. Well, Daniel specifically, because Daniel is the only one who can understand the 8-bit binary language these lifeforms speak. Why they didn't give this gift to more humans is anyone's guess, but no matter.
In Vivo 17 whispers something to Daniel like a big grey Bill Murray from Lost in Translation. Why he whispers is unclear given that no one can understand him anyway, but maybe even giant grey bug-eyed aliens have a flair for the dramatic.
Daniel then translates the message, whispering the words to Margaret in English. Sure, he could have just said them out loud too, but where would the fun be in that? Turning to the cameras, Margaret begins to relay the message that's come from beyond the stars, decades in the making.
"Listen," she says, and then the credits roll in before we can hear what she was going to say next. Annoying? Perhaps. Necessary? Very much so.
Why Disclosure Day had to end that way
You might be wondering why Spielberg and screenwriter David Koepp decided to end the movie before the alien's full message could be revealed. You might even be a bit mad about it, but the truth is we already know exactly what the aliens were going to say.
OK, not exactly. No one knows what would have been said, word-for-word, except these guys and probably the cast too. Yet there are plenty of breadcrumbs to follow that all but confirm what the aliens are actually trying to convey.
In Hugo's earlier conversation with Noah, it was revealed that empathy is "the foremost evolutionary advantage". It's why they amplified Margaret's own empathy to a supernatural degree. Rejection of this will, in their words, lead to "extinction".
And they're right to say it. Amidst all the endless chasing, news reports in the background during the movie allude to a world on the precipice of "World War Three" thanks to hostility between North Korea and Europe.
This then is the message that Margaret's about to relay. That empathy is what humanity will need if we're to prevent the war that's about to unfold. The aliens actually said it once before during Margaret’s hijacked weather broadcast: "Don't be afraid of what you don't know."
While this does refer in part to the existence of aliens, sure, it's also imploring us to put aside our own differences too. Stop being afraid of anyone different, be they aliens or people from another country, and start looking at what you do have in common. In short, the message is just what Margaret says at the end of the movie: "Listen."
You know, like Beyonce in Dreamgirls, but more direct and with less vocal flair.
So never mind what's supposed to come after in Margaret's message, anything else would have been unnecessary. The aliens want us to "listen", to stop shouting over each other and come together at a time when empathy and being united in truth is rarer than ever.
Classic Spielberg, in other words.
Disclosure Day is out now in cinemas.
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After teaching in England and South Korea, David turned to writing in Germany, where he covered everything from superhero movies to the Berlin Film Festival.
In 2019, David moved to London to join Digital Spy, where he could indulge his love of comics, horror and LGBTQ+ storytelling as Deputy TV Editor, and later, as Acting TV Editor.
David has spoken on numerous LGBTQ+ panels to discuss queer representation and in 2020, he created the Rainbow Crew interview series, which celebrates LGBTQ+ talent on both sides of the camera via video content and longform reads.
Beyond that, David has interviewed all your faves, including Henry Cavill, Pedro Pascal, Olivia Colman, Patrick Stewart, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Dornan, Regina King, and more — not to mention countless Drag Race legends.
As a freelance entertainment journalist, David has bylines across a range of publications including Empire Online, Radio Times, INTO, Highsnobiety, Den of Geek, The Digital Fix and Sight & Sound.
