Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s Digger is an eco-satire/severe social warning that is like no other film released this year. A farcical message film that is high concept cinema for the adventurous filmgoer.
Iñarritu is a true artist and one of today’s most important directors. His 30 year career holds an incredible body of work. Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Film, 2000’s Amores Peros; a visceral and complex piece that found critical praise and good international box office. The emotionally profound 21 Grams was next, followed by the intensely soulful trio, Babel, Biutiful, Birdman…, and finally, The Revenant. The later two would see Iñarritu awarded deserved back to back Oscars for directing.
With 2022’s Bardo: False Chronicles os a Handful of Truths, Iñárritu took greater leaps in his cinematic expression. The film was unlike any of his previous works; a surreal Fellini-tinged journey into the surreal. Many thumbed their noses, but the ambition was too strong to ignore. This was cinematic freedom of the highest order and a deeply personal film with a lot to say about the world. Did it work? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Digger is this type of experience.
Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s latest (co-written with Sabina Berman, Jez Butterworth, Nicolás Giacobone, and Alexander Dinelaris) is is a baffling experience, punctuated by glimmers of brilliance. Certain moments will find big laughs while others pummel with subtext. Method is found in the filmmaker’s madness, but the story and its characters become lost in the (purposely) over-the-top zaniness.
Absurdist comedy is difficult to pull off. Many of our finest directors have tried their hand at such a style. Some get it (Robert Altman’s Brewster McCloud, Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove), some don’t (Altman’s Beyond Therapy, John Schlesinger’s Honky Tonk Freeway).
While certainly its intent, Digger is too overwhelming. Absurdism may not be Iñárritu’s greatest strength. It is true that the director never loses control of his message, but the manner in which he shoots the story is some kind of bizarre sensory attack. Yet, there is good to be found in the film’s lead.
In his most exciting and provocative role to date, Tom Cruise is Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in America whose underwater pipeline causes a global disaster that will pollute the air and water while killing millions. The performance is a powerhouse blend of George C. Scott’s General “Buck” Turgidson (from Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove) and Cruise’s wild-abandon dedication to inhabiting an unlikable character.
Cruise has relaxed into his action star persona for a successful 30 years, with only the occasional foray into “serious work” to keep his acting skills honest.
Since becoming an unstoppable force during 29 years of Mission Impossible movies, it was only Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut, and Michael Mann’s Collateral that allowed Cruise the opportunity explore the different (and deeper) levels of his talents. Digger Rockwell is the right character for the actor’s adventurous creation. What may appear to be a one-note performance morphs into something quite special. Digger is an abrasive, funny, and repulsive creature and a self-deluded egomaniac who will crush anyone who dares mess with his money and reputation.
There is another layer to the character (and the story) that may not fully work and one that will not be revealed here. The film’s unusual reveal allows Cruise important moments that speak to both the selfishness and resilience of humanity. On screen for the entirety of the film, Tom Cruise gives it his all.
John Goodman dives over the edge without a parachute as the President of the United States. Subtly is a four letter word, as Goodman finds no restraint in a turn so wild that it stands above the already go-big atmosphere. Every second of the performance is pure torture.
Michael Stuhlbarg and Robert John Burke are reduced to goofily designed redundancy, while Sandra Hüller’s talents are completely wasted in what amounts to a walk-on.
Jesse Plemmons and Riz Ahmed are the only supporting players who have roles of substance. As with his role in 2024’s Civil War, Plemmons has little screen time, but makes it count.
Frequent collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki continues his partnership with Iñárritu’, but for this one, their collaboration fails to thrill. The cinematographer shoots Dennis Gassner’s inventive set designs with a washed-out palate. The visual design is pretentiously bleak and there is an over reliance on low angled distorted faces that add to the frustration.
The film’s biggest issue is found in its substance. The message is important, but there is nothing new to be said. The world’s current problems are in our collective faces 24 hours a day. We don’t need a film to hammer such issues over our heads for two hours without a reprieve. Cruise’s character spends the first 10 minutes in bed. Once he gets up, the film refuses to stop. Everything is immediately ramped up and the direction never settles. Each character is constantly irritable and aggressive, taking the picture’s insanity far beyond the boiling point and into the stratosphere of annoyance.
Digger is challenging and adventurous; an important film ruined by a maddening structure. By the film’s final shot (which is quite brilliant), the film has told us nothing new regarding its subject matter.
Late in the film, Cruise has a long monologue where he argues how we are all hypocrites when denouncing a reliance on fossil fuels. As his bloated monologue continues, the frustrated audience begins to chant, “Blah. Blah.”
By the end of the bloated pontification that is Digger, we are all chanting with them.
Digger
Screenplay by Sabina Berman, Jez Butterworth, Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Starring Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemmons, Michael Stuhlbarg, Robert John Burke, Sandra Hüller
R, 128 Minutes, Warner Brothers
