Tom Cruise hangs off planes and leaps across buildings for his action movies, but when it comes to acting choices, the superstar has largely played it safe — until now. In Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger, Cruise goes full absurdist in a transformative and nearly unrecognizable role. Digger may be sold as a mainstream movie, but it’s very much an arthouse feature, and Cruise fans expecting another crowd-pleasing blockbuster may be scratching their heads watching this wild satire.
Cruise leads an impressive ensemble that includes Riz Ahmed (Venom), John Goodman (The Connors), Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Emma D’Arcy (House of the Dragon).
Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an insanely rich and greedy businessman whose reckless dealings unleash a global catastrophe.
Like Birdman, Iñárritu’s Digger is chaotic and manic, but the Mexican director leans much further into satire than in his previous films. Digger feels like Birdman meets a Wes Anderson movie, with Iñárritu injecting absurdist elements, deadpan humor and dysfunction into a story about how one wealthy businessman and his rich white friends — including the President of the United States — can bring down an entire planet through greed and self-preservation. Sound familiar?
The director presents these extreme caricatures as imbeciles to drive the point home.
Tom Cruise Goes All In
Cruise takes Digger to the extreme in the most entertaining way.
When it comes to Cruise’s transformative roles, a few immediately come to mind. By far the most amusing is his nearly unrecognizable turn as studio head Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. His villainous role opposite Jamie Foxx in Michael Mann’s Collateral was equally eye-opening. Cruise has also tackled romantic comedy and drama in Jerry Maguire and delivered one of his most dramatic performances in Magnolia.
But Digger gives Cruise the opportunity to disappear into something entirely different.
He loses himself in the role to the point that you occasionally forget you’re watching one of the most famous actors in the world. It’s one of the most entertaining performances we’ve seen from Cruise and arguably his most provocative role to date.
Cruise’s costars Riz Ahmed and John Goodman also turn in noteworthy performances. Goodman is no stranger to eccentric characters, but we haven’t seen him quite like this. Ahmed similarly transforms into a unique character unlike anything we’ve seen from the actor before.
The Satire Sometimes Overstays Its Welcome
Digger does run a bit too long, with extensive exposition that doesn’t always propel the action forward. Instead, much of it reinforces the same point: these are not the people who should be in charge.
Visually, however, the film continually finds ways to surprise.
The production design by Dennis Gassner and Richard L. Johnson is a standout, as is Cosmo Sheldrake’s whimsical score. Sheldrake’s bizarre but memorable music adds another layer to the satire, while the end-credit song incorporates jungle sounds alongside the revelation of the film’s time period.
The surreal and clever set pieces become especially effective in the third act, elevating Cruise’s performance as the increasingly outrageous caricature at the center of it all.
Final Thoughts
Digger won’t be for everyone.
While Cruise is making the rounds around the world for sit-down interviews after a long hiatus from talk shows, audiences shouldn’t mistake Digger for another traditional Tom Cruise vehicle. This is arthouse filmmaking dressed up with one of the biggest movie stars on the planet. Its abstract concept, absurdist humor and deliberately chaotic storytelling are a long way from the escapism of Cruise’s popcorn flicks.
The film also arrives at an interesting moment, when resentment toward billionaires and concerns over the world’s resources being exploited for profit have become part of the larger cultural conversation. Digger turns that sentiment into an outrageous satire about greed, power and self-preservation.
The movie may occasionally hammer its message harder and longer than necessary, but Cruise makes the madness worth watching. By abandoning the heroic movie-star persona audiences know so well, he delivers a fearless, bizarre and wildly entertaining performance that may be the biggest acting swing of his career.
Digger is now playing in movie theaters.