Fact: Digger stars Tom Cruise in the titular role.
Fact: The film is directed by Oscar winner Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Fact: Nothing you think you know from the trailers will prepare you for what this R-rated dark comedy actually delivers.
It’s also a fact that the studio is adamant reviews avoid mentioning any specifics about the plot. So, that leaves me in a real bind: either this review will be a short and snappy 300 words, or I’ll have to bob and weave around what’s actually going on with Digger—without giving the game away. And trust me, I’m not that skilled at bobbing and weaving.
What can be disclosed is this: Digger is loaded with over-the-top, maximalist, hyper-realized performances that somehow flirt with the annoying line without ever toppling over it. It’s a delicate tightrope act (as if there’s any other type), and the cast pull it off with a kind of weirdly twisted, infectious energy that, at times, is a little exhausting.
The jumping-off point, if you will, is Warner Bros. Pictures’ minimal synopsis: “The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.”
That is the barebones description of the first 30 or so minutes. It leaves out the juicy parts – the twists and turns that make you feel like you’re on an unintentional acid trip with characters straight out of Dr. Strangelove or Lewis Carroll’s imagination. Just go with it and you’ll be fine.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, and Sabina Berman’s screenplay pounds home an environmental message that is almost too relatable at this moment in time. But that doesn’t excuse anyone from paying attention. It’s a farcical adventure that lacks subtlety, told in a way that is going to divide audiences into two camps: “What the hell did I just watch?” and “I’m going to be thinking about this for months.”
Iñárritu found the right partner in Tom Cruise. Yes, Digger’s a little Les Grossman mixed with Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men. Yet, it’s a completely original, incredibly bold performance unlike anything we’ve seen Cruise, or frankly many others, ever give themselves fully over to.
Cruise’s Digger is a billionaire to rival Musk in both wealth and ego. The highest echelons of government are at his beck and call, along with the world’s leading veterinarians whose sole job is to keep a cat that’s long since crossed death’s door – but somehow still breathes – alive. And there’s the obvious physical transformation that hides Cruise beneath pounds of prosthetics. He moves with a mix of expected swagger and grotesque exaggeration, somehow evoking both power and patheticness within seconds of each other. It’s a strange, magnetic balancing act that anchors the film’s wildest moments in something almost…stressing “almost”… human.
If you don’t include the cat, Riz Ahmed and John Goodman come the closest to matching Cruise’s commitment to the screenplay’s insanity. Ahmed stars as an environmentalist burdened with the unenviable job of explaining climate science to people who are used to throwing money – or bombs – at any and all problems. Ahmed tosses a life raft to the audience, giving us a calm, steady character to cling to when everyone around him has gone completely bonkers.
Goodman is pitch-perfect as an incompetent U.S. president, constantly searching for scapegoats and unwilling to accept any blame. He and his minions are experts at spinning tall tales, even as the earth pays the price for disastrous environmental decisions made in the quest for massive financial payouts.
Visually, Digger calls to mind Wes Anderson, or maybe a hybrid Anderson/Inarritu production. There’s something distinctly fairy tale-ish about the sets, as though what’s just out of the camera’s view might be otherworldly or mythical. Which meshes perfectly with the film’s tone.
Iñárritu’s Digger is a cautionary tale that puts the audience into sensory overload for nearly two hours. It’s funny and uncomfortable. (That cat is hideous!) And without saying anything about the plot, I’ve surprisingly managed to write double my anticipated 300 words.
Digger’s a fever dream – equal parts chaos and spectacle – and guaranteed to be unlike anything you’ll ever see attempted again.
GRADE: B+
Rating: R for pervasive language
Runtime: 128 minutes
Release Date: October 2, 2026
Studio: Warner Bros. Pictures
Cast: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons
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