Disclosure Day

[Matt2112]

Saw this in the IMAX theatre at the National Media Museum.

It's apparently been a long term goal of Steven Spielberg to turn his story of an alien visitation cover up into a feature film, so there's been a lot of expectation riding on it.

Technically it's as accomplished as you'd expect, with classic Spielbergian grace notes and lens-flare effects almost throughout; the cinematography by long-time collaborator Janusz Kaminski is sublime and the action set-pieces are orchestrated with the familiar panache and flair.  The performances from Emily Blunt, Josh O'Connor and Colman Domingo are competent enough, while Colin Firth is on good form in one of his occasional bad guy roles.

Less successful though is David Koepp's script, which too often mishandles weighty themes and struck me (as it has a fair few others online) as being too riddled with plot holes to be taken completely seriously.

It undermines all the other great qualities of this film, which in the end is a technically impressive near two-and-a-half hours of po-faced hokum.

Rating: ***