It’s difficult to know where to start when discussing the latest Tom Cruise movie, Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant). It’s so dense, absurdist and polemical that I’m not sure how to cover everything I want to discuss while keeping this article reasonably edible.
Firstly, I haven’t had this much fun or laughed this much in a movie theatre for as long as I can remember. And these aren’t cheap, thrill-seeking Naked Gun gags (not that they aren’t great, too), but the kind where you wonder whether you should be laughing, yet can’t help yourself because of the film’s nuance and dark satire. If you appreciate an artist pushing the boundaries of their medium, you’ll have a good time.
Also, the less you know about the plot and its reveals going in, the better. That’s nearly always the case, but it couldn’t be truer of Digger. There will, however, be some big spoilers further down, which I’ll flag beforehand.
What stood out for me and felt truly groundbreaking in cinema were the following aspects of the movie.
Firstly, the sound effects were unlike anything I have ever encountered in a movie. I was absolutely spellbound by the detail of the sound, to the point where it almost felt like being inside a theme park capsule, bombarded by the strangest yet most intriguing sounds, many of which I’d never heard before.
Secondly, the production design was a real work of art, and I mean that in the literal, classical sense. Each scene was like a painting within a painting. I was thinking of Turner’s paintings throughout.
I couldn’t help thinking, too, about how Wes Anderson has his own unique brand of production design, but Digger could be said to have its own as well, such was its originality and murky beauty. Another extraordinary thing was how the costumes and characters seemed like anthropomorphic offshoots of the setting itself. They seamlessly blended and morphed into the set, as if they’d just walked out of the walls or carpet. (For example, see image at the top of the article)
This movie has to be seen in the cinema!
Digger leans more towards the arthouse and independent film crowd, which might partly explain why it has one of Tom Cruise’s worst box-office takings. Now, onto why it was so poorly received by movie critics (52% on Rotten Tomatoes) and had a modest public reception. Okay, let me take a big scoop of air for this one…
When all is said and done, Digger is one long piece of dark satire about the perils of ignoring environmental issues and climate change. Now, if I were to read that description, I might be put off going to see it. I don’t want to see a movie which has a strong ideological bent when all I want to do is stuff as much popcorn into my mouth as possible and be entertained. But where I think this leftist message works is in how it sh/ts on both sides by exposing their double standards.
As is widely known, movie critics, like academics in the humanities, tend to lean towards the left, and some are extremely left-wing. So, when they see issues such as climate change and environmental concerns being satirised, along with the characters associated with them being made fun of in an astute, multifaceted and entertaining way, the majority of them go bonkers.
“Hey, you can’t joke about that stuff!” The movie itself tackles that attitude head-on, making the point that if you can’t laugh at yourself and take a bit of self-deprecating humour, perhaps you’re taking yourself a little too seriously. I just loved that.
This intolerable ‘ultra-seriousness’ and blinkered vision are among the reasons I bailed out of the ‘Political Left’ and became more classically liberal. I was once a progressive, but they became radicalised and turned into social justice warriors and moral exhibitionists. They’re sour pusses and mean-spirited beneath their ’empathetic facade’, and the kind of people you most definitely want to steer clear of in life.
And by golly, have I met my fair share of them in a country once besieged by Marxist-socialist ideology and guerrilla groups, which led to decades of armed conflict and whose influence remains prevalent today. Eek!
Allow me to digress further a smidgeon… In the Western World, their woke, conscientised ’cause’ gained momentum alongside the explosion of social media around 2008, which is no coincidence, of course. They fuelled identity politics and created tribal wars, encroached on free speech by deplatforming speakers, and deliberately omitted factual and scientific evidence when it didn’t align with their collectivist aims. It’s scary stuff. I call it ‘Western Maoism’.
Anyway, back to the movie. There are significant plot reveals below (and some I’ve forwarded from comments – in the link below – that reflect my own sentiments), so if you intend to watch the movie, I’d hesitate to read any further.
The play reveal was what really made the movie click for me, because that’s when you realise you aren’t actually watching history; you’re watching how people decades later decided to retell it. So all the exaggerated politicians, the over-the-top version of Digger, and the way everything gets simplified into one villain start to feel intentional.
Cruise and the rest of the cast give it their all, and by the end, I was a little discombobulated by what I’d seen, but I was certainly enthralled. So yeah, the best way I can describe Digger is this: expect nothing from it and just let the chaos unfold.
Ah, yeah, and make sure to see it with people who have thoughts of their own and aren’t bound by the MESSAGE, as the Critical Drinker would put it. Speaking of whom, I’d definitely recommend his take on Digger, which he titled Fascinating Disaster, if you’re so inclined.
He mentioned how Digger reminded him of the dystopian craziness, production design and humour of Brazil. Having just revisited Brazil a few weeks ago, I can certainly see some similarities, and a bit of Terry Gilliam in the frantic, outlandish pace of this movie. There’s a lot of Iñárritu’s own Birdman in it, too, especially with the play reveal, the background shenanigans and the side plots.
By the end, I was wondering whether the play was essentially propaganda. Everyone gets to blame Digger, cheer when he dies, and feel they’ve processed the past, despite the fact that their current society includes censorship, armed robots and the slogan “Compliance is Freedom.”
So perhaps the whole point is that history has been simplified into a story in which one man caused everything, and no one has to consider everyone else’s role or what replaced the old system. That was the part I thought was really clever.
I would be delighted to read your opinions of Digger, if you’ve seen it. As always, thanks so much for reading.
References:
1. Digger (2026 film) – Wikipedia
2. Digger – IMDB
