Spielberg has done it again.

Disclosure Day is the best film I've seen this year. Written by David Koepp and directed by Steven Spielberg, this is a wide-eyed, optimistic, and deeply emotional sci-fi thriller about first contact — and what it means for the people caught in the middle of it. It is exactly the kind of movie only Spielberg could make at this point in his career. A filmmaker writing his final statement on the thing that shaped him.

Emily Blunt as Margaret Fairchild is the heart of this film and she is perfectly deployed — her likability and believability aren't incidental, they are the whole point. Colman Domingo as Hugo is a walking bag of empathy and a reminder of what a special talent he is. Josh O'Connor as Dr. Daniel Kellner anchors the film's scientific urgency, and Colin Firth is genuinely chilling as a man who believes completely in the rightness of what he is doing.

I saw this in IMAX with my wife. I've been thinking about it ever since. Four and a half stars and a heart — and I mean every bit of it. This one is special.