Review | Screw the haters, I dug ‘Digger’
Tom Cruise in “Digger.” Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures.
Despite the absurd brashness of Tom Cruise’s Foghorn Leghorn-esque southern accent and a bevy of bloated, in-your-face political thematics, there’s something strangely endearing about Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s hotly anticipated “Digger.”
In its build-up, so much about “Digger” has been shrouded in secrecy. Although the film is tracking to underperform at the box office after middling early reviews, the first trailer (a glorified Tom Cruise sizzle reel) generated a bizarre level of buzz. From forgoing the traditional film festival circuit for a film of this caliber to internet rumors that it was secretly a musical, perhaps the only thing we really knew about “Digger” was that we had no idea what it would really be.
After seeing “Digger”... I’m still not entirely sure how to categorize it. While pieces of the marketing billed this as a defining political satire of our absurd times with incompetent political leaders and compounding climate disasters, that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
While it’s almost impossible to discuss “Digger” without spoilers, I’m going to try my best, as half of the fun here is the slow teasing out of the full premise. In many ways, the actual plot of the film isn’t fully evident until its final moments, but it largely follows oil tycoon Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) as his drilling operation goes exceedingly and catastrophically wrong. With direct links to our reality, referencing the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement and name-dropping Al Gore, it almost couldn’t be more grounded in our present moment.
Yet, although there’s undeniable value in this political commentary, I almost feel like “Digger” functions better as a satire of unproductive political commentary in films like “Don’t Look Up.” Beneath these splashy and evocative political jabs, Iñárritu finds his footing in a much broader, probing analysis of the functions and value of satirical storytelling in the face of imminent doom.
As the absurd fantasies of egotistical billionaire Digger Rockwell begin to crumble, the borders of reality physically bleed through the screen. Iñárritu is no stranger to this surrealist style, with his last film, “Bardo: False Chronicles of a Handful of Truths,” drawing similarly divisive reviews for its loose plot in favor of heady and existential themes. It may be easy to pass off “Digger” as a bloated reflection on politics, storytelling and reality, but this messiness is precisely where I found the humanity in the film.
Finding a playfulness in making our quiet existential doom a loud farce, “Digger” is a full embrace of the abstract and overstimulating nature of modern life.
So much of the success of this relies on Cruise’s performance, almost a complete reversal of his star persona in his recent filmography. Spending the last few years running at full speed across the world in “Mission Impossible” or mythologizing himself in “Top Gun: Maverick,” the ugly and perfectly detestable Digger Rockwell couldn’t be more of a departure from these characters. There are times where I forgot Cruise was under the heavy prosthetics, making this arguably his greatest transformation to date.
Even with Cruise going big, the supporting cast shouldn’t be underestimated. John Goodman provided a good chunk of the laughs here, playing an all-too-familiar war-mongering president on the constant verge of death. I was also happy to see Sandra Hüller here in her second Hollywood film this year alongside “Project Hail Mary,” and Jesse Plemons (who lingers in the background for most of the film) steals the show with a killer third-act monologue.
It’s also worth noting the work of Production Designer Dennis Gassner as a clear standout, with the grandiose sets feeling straight out of a Wes Anderson film. Filled with an odd sense of artifice peering into the psyche of the billionaire and heightening a few stand-out comedic beats, it’s difficult to imagine what this film would be without these lavish sets.
It’s worth noting though, as much as this is a “satire,” there weren’t as many laugh-out-loud moments as I would have hoped for. The electric audience that packed the Folino Theater for an early screening certainly skewed my opinions on a few gags that might not have landed as well in other contexts. As good as Cruise is here, I’m ultimately not convinced he can singlehandedly carry the comedic weight of a project like this.
This sentiment is shared by a number of others who have already seen “Digger,” and while I agree in some respects, it’s worth pondering if this really needs to be gut-busting laughter from top to bottom. To me, the mundanely comedic moments and dramatic irony shrouding the film define its “satire,” something I far prefer to the heavy-handed pandering of political humor we have grown accustomed to recently.
Is “Digger” the defining political satire of our generation by way of “Dr. Strangelove”?
Almost certainly not. But “Digger” is undoubtedly one of a kind, with a surprising number of layers to dig into, making it one of the most unique and fulfilling filmgoing experiences I’ve had this year.
