Digger
Dustin Chase
“Digger” has a lot of layers, none of them particularly good. Some have called it a big twist in the first act, but if you are familiar with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s work and the layering technique he used in “Bardo” or “Birdman”, the familiar gimmick (purposefully using that word, because the four-time Oscar winning filmmaker needs a new angle) used here isn’t that surprising. With “The Revenant”, (a film that didn’t use said layering), that cinematic experience was equal parts Iñárritu’s visionary direction, Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar winning performance, and a true feeling of we haven’t been here before. “Digger” doesn’t feel shared, it’s the Tom Cruise show, from marketing, narrative, and every frame. Sure, it’s a chance for Cruise to do something different from the action stunt work, but the layering I’m referring to without spoiling it for you, undercuts his performance.
“None of this makes sense,” Digger Rockwell (Cruise) says at one point. Climate change just got real when an ice shelf the size of Philadelphia breaks off from all of Digger’s drilling and is headed for Norway. The United States is in panic mode, especially President Compson (John Goodman) who cleared the way for his buddy Digger to drill anywhere and everywhere he wants. As the situation melts from dire to catastrophe,
“Digger” is the definition of bait and switch, selling the audience one thing and giving them something completely different.
Digger is tasked with embracing the problem the way generations before him. Remind everyone that without digging and oil, none of us would enjoy our freedom and Tik Tok.
It’s sort of the worst parts of “Birdman” meets “Don’t Look Up.” As the film opens with Cruise giving us his rowdy, foul mouthed introduction to the character, you can’t help but assume it was based on imitations of George W. Bush, Digger just isn’t as quick dodging the shoe. The film is a lot of dialogue, bluster, shouting and bold performance choices that are meant to make the audience think “wow, this is a different Cruise” but reality lands a bit more “what was he thinking”. You don’t have to look far to find potential for “Digger” to improve with 2026’s it girl Sandra Hüller (“Project Hail Mary”) as Digger’s sister. She unlike “House of the Dragon” star Emma D’Arcy are wasted in meaningless roles.
The production design is one of, if not, the most singular impressive elements to the rather drab looking film. There is a big monologue sequence where Digger embraces his villainy. While the crowd (appropriately) chants “blah” behind his meaningless words, his red suit in a sea of grey is a fox in the hen house metaphor. The performance in this scene is meant to be his big awards moment, in a film that can’t help itself but to tell us how impressive it and the lead actor is. It’s reminiscent of a Southern Baptist preacher during summer rival shouting hellfire and damnation, and just like those dramatic experiences you can’t wait for it to end. “Digger” is the definition of bait and switch, selling the audience one thing and giving them something completely different. Some might call it Avante garde, others meta, in the end, it’s just a mess.
Final Thought
Tom Cruise digs for Oscar gold here but the bait and switch of “Digger” is a monumental turn off.