Disclosure Day Director Steven Spielberg Does One Thing Better Than Anyone Else In Movie History

"Disclosure Day," Steven Spielberg's new film, may have been sold as yet another sci-fi alien flick from the director of "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "E.T.", but the truth is that Spielberg's latest is actually a chase movie. And as any fan of Steven Spielberg can you tell you, he knows a thing or two about chase movies. In fact, it's fair to say that no one does chase movies (or chase scenes) as well as Steven Spielberg.

In "Disclosure Day," whistleblower Daniel Kellner (Josh O'Connor), his girlfriend Jane (Eve Hewson), and psychic meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (Emily Blunt) make a mad dash to expose the truth about alien life. You see, aliens have indeed been visiting us ever since the infamous Roswell crash, and a mysterious company called WARDEX, in league with the United States government, has worked tirelessly to cover it up. Daniel, encouraged by former WARDEX employee Hugo (Colman Domingo), has decided enough is enough, and stolen irrefutable proof about alien existence. This doesn't sit well with WARDEX owner Noah Scanlon (a surprisingly scary Colin Firth).

"Disclosure Day" drops us right into the middle of the action of this story and seemingly never lets up. Our heroes are constantly on the run, moving from one location to another as WARDEX goons try to stop them. This gives Spielberg an excuse to stage yet another thrilling chase movie.

Spielberg's filmography is full of chase films. "Duel," "The Sugarland Express," "Minority Report," "Catch Me if You Can," "The Adventures of Tintin," and (ugh) "Ready Player One" all fit into this classification. And even when Spielberg isn't making a full-blown chase movie, he's creating iconic chase sequences. The "Indiana Jones" movies are full of them. Ditto "Jurassic Park," which has the T. Rex and Velociraptors chasing the heroes all over the damn place. Even "The Post" has chase movie elements, as intrepid journalists race to get the truth out.

What makes Spielberg so great at chase movies is what makes him so great at directing in general: movement. Spielberg has an almost sixth sense when it comes to camera placement and movement; he's able to determine the most natural place for the viewer's gaze to go when characters are on the move. Combining tracking shots and dolly shots with a unbeatable grasp on blocking all comes together in perfect harmony.

Spielberg also understands how important it is to get as much information in the frame as possible. Modern movie trends frequently have filmmakers blurring out the backgrounds of shots (see: pretty much every MCU movie). Spielberg, in contrast, uses wide lenses and a deep depth of field. From a car getaway scene (complete with the car crashing through a house) to a brilliant, intense sequence involving a speeding train, "Disclosure Day" reminds us yet again that no one stages chase sequences like Steven Spielberg.