Once in a blue moon, Tom Cruise comes along to remind everyone that yes, he is, in fact, a great actor. Not that Cruise’s performances in Mission: Impossible 19 or thereabouts have been bad. But they’ve got nothing on Alejandro G. Iñárritu‘s Digger — where Cruise lives and breathes the titular Digger Rockwell for two manic hours.
We’re slightly late to the Digger party, which meant we were aware of the poor word of mouth the Birdman auteur received, and the even poorer box office returns. We’ll say this for Digger — it’s a cult classic in the making that we revelled in, start to finish. But… we can also see why the audience is bouncing off. Part of the reason is deceptive marketing, which we feel was necessary to preserve the experience that Iñárritu was going for.
We promise this’ll make sense eventually
You’ll appreciate, then, how difficult it is to discuss Digger and its wider themes from a critical viewpoint. But if the trailers have you champing at the bit to see Cruise embody a slimy oil tycoon, then you’ll get Digger in all his glory. We’ll leave it at that, with a recommendation to check out Digger in theatres.
The film brims with great writing, performances, production, music, and a compelling story we couldn’t take our eyes from. Not everything landed, but it never does. We’ll also say that it wasn’t until the third act that everything ‘clicked’ into place for us, and elevated an already good movie to ‘great’ status.
Digger follows Digger Rockwell, the most powerful man in the world at the head of a wealthy oil company. He is responsible for setting off what would best be described as a natural disaster, except this isn’t natural. He embarks on a mission to correct his mistake or, at least, be seen to correct his mistake of epic proportions. Digger shares the blame with the President, whose shoes are filled by the awesome John Goodman.
That’s the gist, anyway. Iñárritu trusts his audience enough to present them with a little more behind-the-scenes that we won’t get into in this review, and hopes they’ll be willing to go along with it. We certainly were. Digger oozes flair from every orifice, from the vibrant (but still lifeless) set design down to the utterly uncomfy camera angles. Anyone familiar with Birdman will be prepped for what awaits them inside this truly bizarre film.
The movie strays into oftentimes silly, preachy, and meta territory for much of the movie’s two-and-a-bit-hour runtime. It handles the shift masterfully, though, even if the final location isn’t to your liking. This is a satire through and through, and unapologetically so. The comedy is expectedly dark, but it never ventures so deep that it can’t pull back from the brink. Our (decidedly barren) theatre was chuckling throughout.
Cruise control: OFF
Digger simply would not work without someone willing to give their everything to the role, and Tom Cruise obliges. He dives into the over-the-top character of Digger Rockwell, and emerges under a weight of make-up and prosthetics that make him almost unrecognisable. That’s always the goal of your leading man, but Cruise pulls off the task with a deliberate swagger we’re not sure many could emulate.
The same goes for the rest of this stacked cast, featuring, in addition to John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, and Jesse Plemons. Plemons arguably delivers the most nuanced performance of the lot, despite his brief runtime. Goodman goes off the rails in the best way possible, matching Cruise’s energy at every turn.
It’s no surprise that Hüller and Ahmed are equally fantastic as, respectively, Digger’s half-sister and environmental safety scientist. They’re rarely given time to shine — that right is reserved for Cruise. When the opportunity presents itself, they leap at it. We could see Ahmed scooping a few supporting actor nominations.
Cruise will certainly receive a nod for best actor, though his win is anything but assured. Right now? Nothing we’ve seen this year rivals his performance in our minds, though we’re still months away from award season.
Absolutely normal film. Nothing to see here…
It helps that Digger is a feast for the eyes from start to finish. Every set is meticulously designed to help sell… whatever Digger is, beyond what you’ve seen in the trailers. All of it works in the movie’s favour, upselling the absurdist vibe it works so hard to conjure. There’s no shortage of things to look at or hear, amplified tenfold by our IMAX theatre. It’s not a must-see in the format, but it does elevate the experience a considerable amount.
Then there’s the unsettling and even hilarious score, attributed to Cosmo Sheldrake. Comprising wacky animal sounds and ethereal bass drops. Like the rest of Digger, there’s nothing half-assed about what Sheldrake has cobbled together, despite the challenge presented by the outright oddity that is this film’s script. If Digger looks larger than life, it’s already done its job. It comes across in the theatre, and we’re sure it’ll come across when doing your best impression of a couch potato.
Digger verdict
Digger absolutely won’t be for everyone. We’d recommend those folks on the fence about Iñárritu’s latest swing take the plunge and get to the nearest theatre. Digger isn’t a challenging movie — on the surface anyway — and you’d be surprised by what it’s got to say. When it finally gets there, anyway.
Iñárritu has crafted something genuinely bizarre, but there’s such confidence behind every detail that we couldn’t help but marvel. The writing, casting, acting, score, and set design blend beautifully, even when they aren’t necessarily firing on all cylinders. Ultimately, this is Tom Cruise’s show. Digger Rockwell is the definition of absurd, and Cruise throws himself at the challenge with the commitment we’ve come to expect from the man. We had a blast with the movie, anyway.
And it’s for that reason we’d recommend digging into Digger while it’s still on the big screen.
Digger is now showing in South African theatres.
