"Digger" REVIEW

Published on 10/2/2026 

Written by: Braylon Mitchell 

Directed by: Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu 

Cast: Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma D'Arcy, etc. 

Plot: 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. 

REVIEW 

"Digger" is wild. Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarritu is no stranger to taking bold swings with his films, but with a budget ranging somewhere from $160 to $180 million dollars, a large ensemble led by the most beloved movie star alive caked in old-man prosthetics, and a socially charged story about a hated billionaire oil tycoon destroying the Earth—just calling this a bold swing would be an understatement, and that's a major reason as to why "Digger" was so highly anticipated by film fans and expected to make its mark as a significant awards season player. This ambitious swing ended up materializing as a swing and a miss, critically getting panned and at the time of writing this review is projected to become one of the biggest box-office flops in Warner Bros. history—oh, and on the same weekend they've officially announced their highly controversial acquisition by Paramount and merger into media conglomerate Skydance. Some people are going to love this film, but a majority of people are going to either dislike it or full on hate it. "Digger" is a catastrophic box-office failure that critics and audiences alike can agree on disliking. With all that in mind, I'm here to communicate to you that I loved it. I loved "Digger". This film shook me. Leaving the theater, I was taken aback by how excited I was reflecting on the audaciousness of what I'd just witnessed. I find it very difficult to write this review without spoiling major aspects of the film; if you're reading this having seen the film I'm certain you absolutely understand why I'm going to have to tip-toe around the massive elephant in ol' Digger Rockwell's room. All I'll say is that around thirty minutes into the film, the narrative rug is pulled out from under you in a way I never would've expected. It's a shocking twist that I'm kind of amazed the film's extensive marketing and trailers/teasers managed to navigate around. What you've seen or heard about this film isn't the half of it, and I'll leave it at that. Due to the film's sudden "change" thirty minutes in, I'm sure that many will point to much of the rest of the plot feeling diminished in narrative impact or reason to care. I don't see it that way. I see it as an amplification of the film's messages on how politics and the "real world" come across as a looney, confusing, and ridiculous premeditated stage-play to all of us viewers watching through the news. It's all so very silly, and I feel that is obviously the point of the film. Again, I apologize for speaking with relative vagueness but keep in mind that I'm writing around an anchor that should only be revealed to you within the context of watching the film. Iñarritu clobbers you over the head with that message. This film yells at you everything it wants you to take away from it. It's not on the nose, it is the entire nose. Iñarritu preaches and bares this film's consciousness so loudly, so tensely, so boldly that you're not supposed to know whether or not it's clear or muddled. Even at the most successful points of his career and with two Best Director Academy Awards on his shelves, the way in which Iñarritu lays out the messages in his films alongside the way he presents these messages has long been divisive to some, but as of the past few years there's been a growing sense of criticism from film fans over his style of filmmaking. This film is surely the nail in the coffin of disdain or disagreement when it comes to those who already didn't gel with his heavy handed antics and ambitious execution, but within this film I found his voice and approach to be so powerful in tandem with such a wacky plot that's built on layers of leaning into the realm of the pretentiousness of brash social/political satire. The film isn't particularly funny, but is fun. Isn't particularly fleshed out, but clever and dimensional. Tacked entirely on the back of Tom Cruise's performance and ability to the hold the screen together, his strength as a performer sings stronger than it has in decades. To me, carrying a film as unpredictable, stumpy, and frantic as this with an amazing screwball performance of epic proportions is more impressive than any stunt he's done in the "Mission: Impossible" franchise. It may be hated by many now, it may reach an "Amsterdam"/"The Son"/Downsizing" level of expected awards buzz that completely fizzles out—but mark my words as someone early to the party, ten to twenty years from now this film will have a reappraisal and comfortable cult status as a misunderstood work of bold brilliance. "Digger" is one of the most fascinating, great disasters I've seen in a long time. 

THREE BEST ELEMENTS

• Tom Cruise's performance. Wow. Cruise is a lot to handle in this film, in fact he pretty much IS this film. His performance is nuts. He's plastered in prosthetics, a fat suit, a heavy Texan accent, and cartoonish physicality at times—doing as Cruise does best, gracefully diving fully into his character and not giving two shits about what anybody thinks. He's always been an incredible, underrated comedic actor and this role allows him to get as goofy as I suspect he's always wanted to be. Again, I won't spoil the film for you but trust me that there's another unexpected layer to his performance that he plays just as brilliantly. In my opinion, his work in "Digger" is up there with "Magnolia", "Jerry Maguire", "Born on the Fourth of July", and "Collateral" as one of the best performances of Cruise's long career. 

• The production design. Large-scale and full of personality, oddness, and Kubrick-esque decadent minimalism. Digger's mansion, the White House rooms, the congress/parliament/town square room, and many more locations are instantly memorable because of their uniqueness. The amount of detail put into every aspect of the set dressing of Digger's bedroom alone deserves an Oscar. Also, to keep beating a dead horse, due to spoilers I can't discuss in detail elements of the film that contain incredible sets and production value as well. It really doesn't feel preemptive to me to claim that this is the best, most impressive production design in a 2026 film. 

• The makeup. From a makeup team led by prestigious two-time Oscar winning makeup artist Kazu Hiro (he did the makeup in "Darkest Hour", "Maestro", "Norbit", "Bombshell", etc.) it's no surprise that the makeup in this film is stellar, I'd even say it's career-best work from Hiro. Digger Rockwell's look is incredibly detailed, memorable, and succeeds at making one of the most recognizable faces in all of Hollywood look unrecognizable. 

WORST ELEMENT 

• Although I loved the film, I'm not going to pretend that aspects of the film's intentions felt a little hollow in practice and overall the film's heavy-handed sporadicalness narrative will understandably be considered frankly annoying by many viewers. 

RATING

8/10

You'll either love it or hate it, buddy!