DIGGER
Starring: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, John Goodman, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Emma D’Arcy, Sophie Wilde, Burn Gorman, and Robert John Burke
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
AMARÚ
Señor Iñárritu, I applaud you. With Digger, you achieved two unbelievably entertaining feats. First, satirizing one of this planet’s single most harmful forces, old white men with unchecked power. Second, making a truly unpredictable original film. I promise that audiences have no clue what they’re going to witness when they walk into the theater, but for me, I walked out thoroughly captivated by every wild turn in this hilarious adventure. Tom Cruise is a force, Riz Ahmed is a gem, director Alejandro G. Iñárritu shoots gorgeous shots, and the score quirkily brings it all together. Man, I dug the hell out of this weird-ass film.
PAIGE
Well, Digger is not the movie you’re expecting. While it’s bold and absurd, it’s also kind of empty. The film tries to be profound with its themes, but it ultimately says things that feel obvious and familiar. This political satire has the right ideas, but it’s in the execution that it digs itself into a hole since it lacks the depth that it’s striving for. Don’t get me wrong, its set and production design are astonishing, and Tom Cruise delivers one of his best performances in a long time, but that still wasn’t enough for me to completely dig this movie.
ADRIANO
There’s a part of me that’s conflicted about whether or not Digger’s smarter than I’m giving it credit for, or if it’s not as smart as it thinks it is. While it’s got a talented cast screaming the whole time, and an ambitious narrative swing that I thoroughly enjoyed, its satire is fairly weak, and then the movie tries to metatextualize it by becoming a satire about satire. I don’t believe Alejandro G. Iñárritu and company are big-brained enough to be bad on purpose, and it’s also not funny enough, but it’s stuck with me, and that’s commendable as is.
ROBERT
A true blindside experience can be disorienting and take time for recalibration. When I think about Digger, it was like being hit by a narrative Mack Truck that didn’t care about my processing capabilities. As it is an Iñárritu joint, it met a standard of apex production value, and unearthed fabulous performances from Tom Cruise down through the stacked actors gallery. Yet, the subject matter and its execution was blunt and unrelenting, which can prop up its artistic quality at times while pandering at others. The satirized world they crafted was evocative but, like Atlas, crushed the shoulders on which it rested.
QUENTIN
While not all of Digger’s big and weird swings land, you must admire the audacity. The performances, however, absolutely land. John Goodman and especially Riz Ahmed deliver award-worthy supporting turns alongside Tom Cruise, who seems hellbent on reminding people that he is an actor first and a capital-M-movie-star second. On top of that, the hilarity comes in all forms, from funny one-liners to too-on-the-nose satire, from campy parody to ridiculous sight gags. Even the sound design made me laugh. Digger feels like it could be the next The Big Lebowski, a movie underappreciated in its time that ultimately becomes a classic with a fervent fanbase.
JANE
However polarizing Tom Cruise’s heavily prosthetic and detestable oil tycoon is, he and the ambitious and farcical Digger are a ton of fun. Apart from one major jolt, Emmanuel Lubezki’s innovative camerawork immersed me in and drew me out of Digger’s funhouse world seamlessly, and although at times the film overexplained itself, it avoided becoming a morality play. Instead, it felt like a testament to the stubbornness, resilience, and ultimate complacency of humanity. I laughed out loud, cheered for a man I hated, realized that I’m no better than Riz Ahmed’s bumbling scientist, and days later am still thinking about it.
BODE
If you feel the need to explain your joke to the audience, it’s probably not that funny to begin with. Digger feels the need to explain its own, right down to its big twist, and I found it genuinely tough to sit through. While what director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is doing is admirable on paper, the execution for his ultimate satire of satires is neither very funny nor anywhere as profound as he wants it to be. Perhaps that’s the point (it argues as such, at least with the comedy), but its oft-exaggerated tone and failed attempts at emotionality say otherwise. Sorry. I’m just not a fan.
KATIE
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger is audaciously extravagant and often absolutely unhinged, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I understand why some may get frustrated or fed up with its central conceit, and it's certainly self-indulgent and sometimes exhausting to watch, but I loved the fourth-wall-breaking framing device and how it draws attention to filmmaking, the function of art, and our societal perception of reality. Tom Cruise’s performance is brilliant, and the performances across the board are delightfully crass. Above all, it’s original, ambitious, entertaining, and I was absorbed by the meta narrative.
