June 18, 2026 – We live in dark times, and this is reflected in Steven Spielberg's new UFO movie, which is like a dark, sinister sequel to Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977). The world has changed in the past 50 years since Close Encounters, and not for the better.

In Close Encounters, people were trying to discover the truth about extraterrestrials. There were elaborate coverups, for sure, but the government wasn't trying to kill people to keep them from finding out the truth. In his new film, Spielberg posits an evil corporation, Wardex, which profits from alien technology and will kill to keep its secrets. Opposing the evil corporation is an opposing organization, including some ex-Wardex employees who have turned against the company, intent on publicizing the truth about extraterrestrials. In other words, lots and lots of people know the truth, but have somehow managed to cover it up for more than 80 years. That's not the way to successfully keep a huge secret.

At the center of this war are two people who have been gifted special powers by aliens, telepathy, astral projection, the power to control other people's perceptions, and other psychic powers. These two are TV meteorologist Margaret Fairchild (played by Emily Blunt of “Edge of Tomorrow”) and a double agent, Dr. Daniel Kellner (played by Josh O'Connor of “Challengers”). Kellner is working for Wardex in order to get his hands on definitive proof of extraterrestrial visitations on earth. When he gets the proof, he steals it with the goal of exposing it all to the world, and the chase is on.

At the same time this happens, Margaret begins to behave strangely, speaking in a kind of clicking mathematical language that only Kellner can understand. Her alien gifts, long dormant, have been activated. She begins to understand and talk in other languages, like Korean, that she did not know before. She begins to connect with people on a telepathic level. Margaret and Kellner are in different parts of the country, but they begin traveling towards each other, guided in part, by the secret anti-Wardex UFO organization. They are helped and guided by Hugo Wakefield (Colman Domingo of “Sing Sing”) and his fellow volunteers. Wakefield is a former Wardex employee turned whistleblower, who seems to have some psychic abilities of his own.

One gets the idea that something magical will happen when Margaret and Kellner finally meet, but the climax of this movie is more complicated than that, involving alien artifacts, remote seeing and the ability to control the minds of other people. The man whose task it is to prevent public release of UFO secrets is Wardex executive Noah Scanlon (played by Colin Firth of “Kingsman: The Secret Service”). He employs alien technology and remote seeing to find out where Margaret and Kellner are hiding. He finds a somewhat willing remote viewing victim in Kellner's girlfriend, Jane Blankenship (Eve Hewson of “Bridge of Spies”). Jane is on the run with Kellner.

The story is told like two road trips, complete with car chases, shootouts, lots of close calls and psychic magic, along with some Catholic religion. The other two parts of the story follow the actions of Noah Scanlon and Hugo Wakefield as they try to outsmart each other. The proof of aliens on earth includes Roswell, of course, along with other well-worn UFO stories over the years. There is even a crop circle scene. This is hardly original material, but Spielberg is a master story teller, and he makes this running battle into a good movie. He doesn't duplicate the sense of wonder he created in Close Encounters, but this is a very solid, entertaining movie.

If you want to know the truth about UFOs, watch The UFO Movie They Don't Want You to See (free with ads on YouTube) along with Mick West's YouTube channel. If you want a poetic statement on this subject, take a look at Carl Sagan's brief, insightful, astronomy-based essay Folly of Human Conceits. There is zero evidence that Aliens have visited the earth, but the subject makes for great science fiction stories.

In this movie, the world seems to be on the brink of annihilation, and there is a hint here that maybe the aliens, like angels, will somehow deliver us from peril. Sagan wrote in The Folly of Human Conceits that “Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves ... it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.” This movie rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff (no extra charges apply). I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

Copyright © 2026 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.

Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at