Steven Spielberg goes back to the future with ‘Disclosure Day’

Only Spielberg could get away with taking two of the world’s best-known hoaxes – Roswell and crop circles – and treating them with judicious deadpan respect.

Spielberg has dubbed this film his closing instalment of a trilogy begun by Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) and ET the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).

Now the 79-year-old is back with what feels like a spiritual sequel to the thrills of Close Encounters mixed with revelations almost as irritating as those at the end of his worst Indy adventure.

But throughout the 21st century, Spielberg has been quite loudly devoted to commenting on the times he’s living through, whether by plumbing the past (with the pointed messaging of The Post and Bridge of Spies) or the future (the frightening surveillance state of Minority Report or the frictionless dystopia of Ready Player One).