Hollywood’s savior aliens

I would describe my interest in Steven Spielberg as “moderate.” I would describe my interest in aliens or the existence of aliens or stories about aliens as “almost nonexistent.” My “movies about aliens Mt. Rushmore” list only has one movie on it, and it is Arrival.

But I have a weird and abiding interest in shallow things that masquerade as deep things and then the fascinations people have with those things (including my own at times). And a shallow thing masquerading as a deep thing is exactly what Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is. (The movie is rated PG-13 for action/violence, some bloody images and strong language.)

There are some tried and true Hollywood staple characters on display here, including the Angelic Old Nun Who Has All the Answers, the Evil Corporate Guy (Colin Firth), and the Troubled Young Girl Questioning Everything (Eve Hewson).

The Spielberg staples are all here as well, including all kinds of camera flare, cars zooming up to buildings in a certain way, John Williams music, the Girl with Unique Gifts (Emily Blunt, who is great), and people laying on transparent tables and sort of levitating up to either aliens or alien accessories. There’s a Handheld Thing with Special Powers—which powers could be used for good (spoiler: in the Theology of Spielberg, aliens are always good and people are the worst except for the couple people who Get It and are actually the best) or evil, depending on whose hand the thing is in. There is even somebody hanging off a moving train, which is always a nice time.

If you like all of these sorts of things, you’ll like this movie. I kinda did. It feels like Raiders of the Lost Ark but only if Raiders took itself real seriously and was never funny. It has its moments. It has the young guy from the last Knives Out movie (Josh O’Connor), who has a kind face but isn’t a movie star. He feels like a discount Jeremy Allen White, to me.

Here’s my problem with movies like this: They always seem to wring their hands and hammer the same angsty refrain, which is “If only I had something to believe in!!” followed closely by, “If only there was a way to redeem humanity, which is really screwed up!”

Enter aliens, whose aircraft look cool, whose eyes are big, who are always gentle and kind, and who will, if we only listen to them, teach us how to be less crappy. They’ll probably also “unite” us somehow, whatever that means.

I get this trope, and why it always plays. Humanity is really screwed up, thanks to original sin and the garden. And I don’t expect secular Hollywood to make a movie about the authority of Scripture and how Christ’s sinless life and substitutionary death as atonement for my sins is actually the hopeful thing and is the answer to humanity’s sin problem.

Spielberg thought the movie would cause “ontological shock” or “social dislocation.” Or perhaps cause people to question their faith in God. I would gently and with great admiration for Spielberg’s talents, say: The movie isn’t good enough to do either of those things and follows a very long way behind things like cancer and babies dying and wars and rumors of wars and famine and pestilence and loneliness et. al. as reasons for people to question God’s existence or whether He is indeed sovereign and good. It turns out normal life has plenty of ontological shock to go around.

Sadly, I’ve been on both sides of Hubris Mountain, and have sometimes thought that “this really deep thing I’m doing is gonna really make people think and change the world!” And when said deep thing is either ignored entirely or misinterpreted or laughed at or whatever, you grow up a little bit and realize your ideas really aren’t all that extraordinary and you do what you should have done to begin with which is read your Bible and really love it, and really love your imperfect church and hug your wife and really learn what your kids are going through and stop trying to be so deep all the time because basically nobody cares.

Says the guy writing this Think Piece.

Spielberg has enough money and enough of a track record to make us pay attention, at least for a few weeks. And he did what he does best, which is provide a fun couple of hours, which were far from life-changing.