Dir. Steven Spielberg · 2026 · 145 min · Peacock (US); in cinemas since June
A cybersecurity specialist, Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), takes extraterrestrial technology and files from a secretive government outfit called Wardex, which documents human contact with aliens going back decades. Its boss, Noah Scanlon (Colin Firth), brands him a foreign spy. Meanwhile in Kansas City, TV meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) goes live on air and starts speaking a language nobody recognises. The clip goes viral, and Wardex takes an interest. That is the first act, and it is all this review will tell you. David Koepp wrote the script from a story by Spielberg, and John Williams scores it: their thirtieth film together.
Critics largely agree on Blunt. The Independent and NME, four stars each, single her out, and the Guardian praises her too. The chase structure, two people running from the same organisation for different reasons, is where reviewers find the film at its tensest, and Sight and Sound's Kate Stables singles out the cat-and-mouse thriller and the cinematography as pleasures. The set pieces get repeated credit, including from critics who are cool on the rest.
"Disclosure Day is never anything other than entertaining and grade-A fun."
Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian
This is where critics split, and the split is the story. Variety's Owen Gleiberman says it never delivers the contact high of awe that Close Encounters did. Stables makes a similar point at more length: the film cares more about how aliens change human relationships than about what they might reveal, and its sentimental detours cost it momentum. Her verdict: "There's two-thirds of a fine movie here." The Telegraph and BBC were harder still, at two stars each, and complaints about thin characters and a woolly plot recur even in friendly notices.
So the useful question is not whether it is good, but what you want from a Spielberg alien film. Aggregators sit at roughly 80 per cent positive, and the verdict here lands accordingly: a well-made, well-acted thriller that stops short of wonder.
Pick one or more.
It reached Peacock on 9 October 2026, according to Peacock's own announcement, after a theatrical run that began in June. Availability varies by country, so check your local services before you plan the evening. The score is a critical reading built from published reviews, not a first-hand viewing.
Sources: Sight and Sound review, Dark Horizons review roundup, Love London Love Culture roundup, Rotten Tomatoes, Peacock, Wikipedia.