Digger (2026) – Review
Quick Thoughts:
- Tom Cruise uses every ounce of his acting prowess to make the film watchable. Without him, I don’t think I could recommend it.
- There’s a wonderful polar bear bit
- The cast is stacked.
- It’s a big swing (which is admirable), but sometimes directors should go for a triple instead of a home run. It’s more work.
- Alejandro G. Iñárritu must’ve watched Roy Andersson’s Living Trilogy before he started filming. The color palette is similar.
- It’s big, loaded with ambition, and seemingly made to win awards. I like it.
- It makes sense that Cruise and Iñárritu teamed up. They go for it.
- Digger is a difficult movie to review because there’s an oilfield of spoilers that don’t need to be spilled.
Digger focuses on Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), a super-rich oil tycoon trying to prevent a worldwide catastrophe caused by his money-hungry shenanigans. After ignoring hundreds of emails/calls/texts about the dangers his drilling platform is causing in Greenland, a massive chunk of ice the size of Boston (or five times the size of Washington, D.C.) starts floating towards the coastlines of western Europe. In a state of panic, Digger calls in his chief scientist Ganesh (Riz Ahmed), the United States president (John Goodman – who spends most of the film complaining about “ass cancer”), the vice president (Michael Stuhlbarg), his sister Emma (Sandra Hüller), and a plethora of US officials to help him come up with a plan to save the world. Once assembled in Digger’s opulent (and seemingly never-ending) mansion, the group yells at each other for minutes at a time and does nothing to solve the problem (Let Norway deal with it).
The highlight is Tom Cruise, who swims through pages of dialogue to keep Digger afloat as it bobs recklessly on cinematic oceans. Wearing prosthetics from legend Kazu Hiro (The Smashing Machine, Maestro, Darkest Hour, How the Grinch Stole Christmas), Cruise shuffles and yells his way through massive sets built by production designers Dennis Gassner (Blade Runner 2049, Skyfall) and Richard L. Johnson (The Truman Show, Pacific Rim). The nice thing about casting Tom Cruise as the world’s richest man is that you actually believe he could be wildly rich. Cruise is charismatic, funny, mean, and all-in, which keeps the film moving. Digger’s best friend is a 30-year-old cat named Maggie, who seems like she hasn’t enjoyed a day in at least 15 years. When the cat isn’t pooping on Digger’s bed, she is carried around the house (by angry maids) and sits in a custom cat bed where she groans for death. Digger has no problem pilfering the world for its natural resources, but he won’t let his beloved cat die.
Despite featuring a shovel-wielding character named Digger, the movie never digs deep into any of its topics. It has a lot to say, but none of it is new or informative (Landman pumps the oil industry more efficiently). Iñárritu built the film around an idea (which happens a lot) that lingered in his brain for close to 10 years, and built it around a charismatic maniac who becomes the most powerful man in the world. In an interview, Iñárritu says he wasn’t interested in the story; instead, he wanted to figure out a way to “say it” to audiences. The way he and the other four credited writers “say it” is similar to an oil pump leak that sprays millions of gallons of crude oil into the air.
At its core, there’s a lot to like about Digger, but it would’ve been better if Iñárritu wasn’t so focused on making it look like a Roy Andersson film. Digger is such a big film that it must’ve been easy to lose focus on the story when the entire production crew was preoccupied with creating massive sets, intricate prosthetics, animatronic cats, matte paintings, miniature sets, and intricate costumes.
It’s easy to appreciate the ambitious Digger, and easy to understand how ambition led to its downfall. Overall, Tom Cruise makes the experience watchable because he pumps every ounce of his acting prowess into each scene (the guy has energy for years). Cruise works incredibly hard and has a showstopping monologue that proves why he’s an A-list talent.
