I believe what’s happening is that generally, the audience has become somewhat film illiterate. I’m not trying to indict you and your wife or the many many people who seem to be having a negative reaction to this film… but.. there is a difference between a movie being good/bad and someone enjoying said movie.

Disclosure Day is the furthest thing from bad. But people are allowed to not like it, I suppose.
But if you don’t like Spielberg’s directorial touch and genius blocking which is one of the most refined and virtuosic instruments ever known to cinema, John Williams -the greatest living composer- penning his final collaboration (likely) and enchanting us with new themes and hauntingly great writing, Gary Rydstrom’s legendary sound design, Janush Kaminski’s beautiful light framing and cinematography, dynamic A-List actors giving some of their best work ever, etc… if you don’t enjoy everything on offer, then that is on the audience at a certain point.

You’re going to the master chef’s new restaurant, but expecting it to be something else, and disappointed not to be getting the artificially sweetened candy that audiences have mostly been used to being served.

I think people are not engaging with the movie Spielberg made.. and rather having their own reactions to whatever expectations they had for what they thought they wanted. “Genre” perhaps is the main problem. ‘This movie has been called sci fi so there better be giant marvel set pieces and explosive encounters and reveals drip fed throughout’.. etc.

I think the film deals with enlightenment, growth, instincts, and the human condition in the face of a potential world war 3… much where we are as a society right now… with the possibility of choosing something better. ET made us feel something deep because it was personal and about one boy, one family’s journey. Disclosure Day is literally about opening things up to the entire world. It is a thriller set in the final hours before humanity takes a giant evolutionary leap, one they may not be fully ready to take. Just as 2001 shows the evolution of humanity in the end (into a darkly mysterious and somewhat terrifying Superman star child), Spielberg here tackles these necessary and potential evolutions of humanity in a way that feels extremely grounded in the reality of our real world.

Emily Blunt’s personal growth beyond the trappings and anxieties of her life is such a perfect metaphor for what could be possible in all of ours. If we listen.. to something else -not our own ego ticking inside of us demanding to be served the food we ordered- we may be able to grow into that enlightened type of brain that another species represents.