Via 1977's Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1982's ET the Extra-Terrestrial, Steven Spielberg established his connection to stories of aliens who interact with humans early in his career. Spielberg returns to this topic with 2026's Disclosure Day.

In Kansas City, local news meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) begins to display some inexplicable new psychic abilities. These appear to relate to extraterrestrials, and that attracts the attention of the Wardex Corporation, a private entity that attempts to suppress evidence of alien visitations.

At the same time, cybersecurity analyst Dr. Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor) turns whistleblower and attempts to make this information public, a pursuit that also leads Wardex to come after him. Separately - and eventually together - Margaret and Daniel deal with various threats as they try to get to the bottom of matters.

Given the legacy of the Spielberg movies I mentioned at the start, viewers likely went into Day with high expectations. I know I did, along with hopes that a return to his “roots” would prompt the veteran filmmaker to create another memorable alien encounter fable.

Unfortunately, Day fails to live up those aspirations. I find no shame in the fact it doesn’t vaguely approach the greatness of ET and Close Encounters, as both of those rank among the greatest movies ever made regardless of genre.

However, Day doesn’t simply fall short of Spielberg’s earlier works. Instead, it struggles to become an interesting movie regardless of comparisons to other films.

I hesitate to say that Day demonstrates a Spielberg in decline, one who can’t make good movies anymore. Instead, I regard Day simply as evidence that Spielberg can make competent films but not efforts that remind us of his prior greatness.

Honestly, I don’t view any Spielberg movies post-1982 as genuinely great, but he made plenty that became at least really good. That said, I find it tough to cite any Spielberg I fully enjoyed since probably 2005’s War of the Worlds.

Again, not that his filmography over the last 21 years lacks charm. I just fail to locate anything in there that genuinely delighted me.

More problematic, stories the 1970s/80s Spielberg would’ve knocked out of the park were either spotty – like 2018’s Ready Player One - or genuinely bad - like 2016’s The BFG.

Like those two, Day offers a tale right up the alley of Classic Spielberg. Like those two, Current Spielberg drops the ball.

Not that Day turns into a truly poor film, as it maintains that layer of competence to which I alluded. However, it lacks any of the spark or magic it needs to prosper.

Indeed, for a life and death story of secrets and chases, Day seems bizarrely dull. Even a big set piece in which a train barrels down our leads feels oddly tame and without excitement.

The nature of the narrative doesn’t help, as Day flits among the two “heroic leads” and the baddies without a lot of logic or coherence. The movie fails to tie these threads together in a manner that allows momentum to build.

Don’t expect much from the characters, as they remain thin and forgettable. The actors fail to bring life to them as well.

Not that I blame the cast, as the roles just feel so undeveloped. Spielberg surrounds them with all the trappings of fantasy and wonder but can’t make these moments sparkle.

And then there’s the ending, a climax that should go down as one of the dumbest ever filmed. No spoilers, of course, but the finale stretches credulity so far past the breaking point that I remain surprised my eyes didn’t permanently roll back in my head.

Even if I’d loved the prior two hours or so, the conclusion of Day probably would’ve ruined it. This part of the film becomes so utterly unbelievable and idiotic I still can’t believe a veteran screenwriter like David Koepp composed it and a director like Spielberg filmed it – and then didn’t think better of its inclusion.

Despite that severely problematic finish, the Spielberg of the 70s/80s still probably could’ve made something good out of Disclosure Day. The Spielberg of 2026 couldn’t, so this winds up as a largely dull and forgettable movie saddled with one of the worst endings in movie history.

Disclosure Day appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this 4K UHD Disc. A native 4K production, expect a top-notch Dolby Vision presentation here.

Sharpness always worked well. Nary a sliver of softness interfered with this tight and precise image.

No issues with jagged edges or shimmering materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Source flaws failed to manifest.

In terms of palette, Day mixed blues, greens and ambers most of the time. These looked appropriate within stylistic choices and they enjoyed a boost from HDR.

Blacks felt deep and tight, while low-light shots seemed clear and concise. HDR meant whites and contrast got added punch. All in all, I felt very pleased with the picture.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack didn’t quite live up to what one might expect from a big-budget sci-fi thriller. However, that happened because Day went heavier on plot intrigue than action.

In that manner, the soundscape suited the narrative, and it did kick to life when necessary. The smattering of big set pieces used the spectrum well and created engulging material.

As for the rest, the soundfield featured music in a broad way and formed a nice sense of place. Though the mix didn’t dazzle, it filled out the array in a way that befit the story.

Audio quality satisfied, with music that seemed full and rich. Effects came with accurate and lively tones that packed a nice low-end punch as necessary.

Speech remained distinctive and clear. Though not a demo reel, the soundtrack satisfied.

How did the 4K UHD compare to the Blu-ray version? Both offered identical audio.

Taken from a native 4K source, the Dolby Vision image brought the usual improvements in terms of sharpness, colors and blacks. While the Blu-ray looked terrific, the 4K UHD topped it.

Two video programs appear here, and Encountering the Unknown spans 54 minutes, three seconds. It brings info from director Steven Spielberg, producer Kristie Macosko Krieger, screenwriter David Koepp, director of photography Janusz Kaminski, production designer Adam Stockhausen, executive producer Chris Brigham, assistant costume designer Brian Hemesath, costume designer Paul Tazewell, property master Joel Weaver, stunt double Logan Holland, stunt coordinators Andy Gill and Brian Machleit, 2nd AD Lisa Cossrow, production assistant Brooke Goshtigian, art director Deborah Wheatley, editor Sarah Broshar, visual effects supervisor Matthew Butler, visual effects producer Lauren Ritchie, newsroom consultant Jackie Amador, NBC News tech manager Kit Williams, puppeteers Savannah Suderman and Alan Smith, and actors Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor, Colman Domingo, Colin Firth, Eve Hewson, Wyatt Russell, Tommy Martinez, Henry Lloyd-Hughes, Brian Zeitchick, and David Auerbach.

The show looks at the project's origins and development, real-life influences, story and characters, cast and performances, sets and locations, costumes and props, stunts and action, various effects, editing and sound, and alien design and creation. Despite some of the expected happy talk, "Unknown" brings a pretty good overall view of the production.

A Legendary Collaboration goes for four minutes, nine seconds. We find notes from Spielberg, Broshar, Krieger, and composer John Williams.

We find brief notes about Williams’ score for Day but mostly we encounter a lot of praise for their decades-long collaboration. Accept it for the puff piece it is.

A second disc provides a Blu-ray copy of Day. It comes with the same extras as the 4K UHD.

Steven Spielberg returns to the topic of alien/human contact via the highly disappointing Disclosure Day. Even if I ignore the absurd ending, the movie bores too much of the time and lacks the sense of magic the filmmaker brought to his earlier classics in the genre. The 4K UHD offers solid picture and audio along with a good documentary. Disclosure Day turns into a shockingly dull mix of sci-fi, the supernatural and thriller.