Digger

There’s something surreal about seeing Tom Cruise, the action franchise extraordinaire, in a non-IP role. For an actor whose later career has been overshadowed by his enmeshment with the Church of Scientology, his first role in an original production in almost a decade is a suitably bonkers one. Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger is Birdman meets Dr Strangelove, an ambitious, at times compelling, black comedy that’s satirical to a fault.

A near-unrecognisable Cruise gives an Oscar-worthy performance as ruthless oil baron Digger Rockwell, whose affection (or ability to feel even a modicum of empathy) is reserved for his ailing 30-year-old cat. His plundering of the Arctic’s natural resources leads to a looming cataclysm that threatens to accelerate the climate crisis within mere days. First and foremost, he is, of course, concerned about the effect this will have on his empire. He is joined in this consternation by the geriatric President (John Goodman), a Trumpian type who rejects science and thrives on the sycophancy of his equally ageing male cabinet. It’s a role in which Goodman shines; he hasn’t been this terrifying since Barton Fink, spitting and sneering his lines as he channels Sterling Hayden’s paranoid general from Dr Strangelove. Meanwhile, the always fantastic Riz Ahmed plays Dr Ganesh, the voice of scientific rationality attempting to mediate the government’s climate denialism.

What starts as a Coen Brothers-esque black comedy descends into gimmicky twists (the first of two, in fact, but the likes of which this review won’t spoil). It’s a frustrating watch, as there’s an excellent 21^st-century allegory in there, let down by an overreliance on postmodernist ploys. For instance, it offers pertinent commentary on how the billionaire class knew their avarice would destroy the planet, yet this is equally undermined by sophomoric narrative devices. It’s a shame since there’s no better time than the present to directly address the crisis causing searing temperatures across the globe, one that will likely lead to parts of it being uninhabitable and mass displacement. Likewise, its lampooning of America’s lust for nuclear aggression is as humorous as it is bleakly accurate, but again underwritten.

Digger is Marmite. Viewers will either leave captivated by its absurdism or deeply disappointed by its insistence on said absurdism over substance. But it’s nonetheless an audacious, biting satire, a meta commentary on the way people create art and artifice in the midst of a disaster of their own making.

Antonia Georgiou

Digger is released nationwide on 2^nd October 2026.

Watch the trailer for Digger here: