Film reviewers
Metacritic , which uses a weighted average , assigned the film a score of 52 out of 100, based on four critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. [17]
Christian Zilko of IndieWire stated, "As someone who has never been persuaded by anything I had ever heard about aliens before watching the film, I feel qualified to tell you that The Age of Disclosure is really, really convincing...The amount of military officials who share detailed, corroborating stories of alien encounters, and congresspeople who vouch for the credibility of their claims, make this feel like a documentary with front-page news potential...Of course, there’s still the problem of never being able to see this classified evidence, and each viewer will have to decide how many generals swearing that they’ve seen aliens with their own eyes is enough to convince them." [18]
Owen Gleiberman of Variety wrote, "The title of the film refers to the idea — or is it merely the hope? — that we now live in an age when the government is being pressured to shed its secrecy. The people want to know, and the film says: We will know. But if that's the case, then when are we actually going to be shown something that looks like more than a dupe of a dupe of an old video game depicting a blurry black dot of an alien spaceship cruising over water at what looks to be about 300 miles per hour? I'll believe it when I see it." [13]
In a separate Variety article discussing the film, Selome Hailu wrote, "It’s not hyperbole to say that The Age of Disclosure — and the conversations it creates — could change the world." [19]
Writing in The Hollywood Reporter , Daniel Fienberg called the film a "sensationalistic wolf in understated sheep's clothing" and opined that "almost nothing in The Age of Disclosure is 'new,' per se" but that the quality of its production values set it apart from similar films of the genre and that "some viewers will happily celebrate the fantasy, when it looks this legitimate". Fienberg dismissed it as a “a basic cable exploitation doc done up with a fancy gloss”, in which “nothing is proven, and thus nothing can be refuted”. [20]
On Collider , Nate Richard wrote that the film "delivers some fascinating information" but was "executed in the most bland way possible" and that "the pacing makes the movie feel like you're watching a college PowerPoint presentation". Nonetheless, Richard stated that there have "been far worse docs on the subject of UFOs". [21]
Bryan Abrams of the Motion Picture Association wrote that the film "should start a real, sustained conversation about what seems now an obvious fact—we are not alone". [22]
According to The Guardian reviewer Adrian Horton, "As IndieWire put it, The Age of Disclosure presents 'the most convincing argument you can make without showing any actual evidence'." [23]
Scientists
Joshua Semeter, a professor of electrical engineering at Boston University who served on a NASA panel charged with studying classified evidence for the existence of UFOs, was skeptical of the film's allegations of high level conspiracy, stating that "I have seen no evidence that the government has been hiding anything". Based on the film's trailer, Semeter criticized the interview format, saying, "ultimately, testimonies are simply not enough. They need to be backed up with evidence. Thus far, whenever there is an extraordinary claim, there is insufficient evidence to support it. And whenever there is sufficient evidence, the explanation is non-extraordinary." [24]
