“Digger” is a lumbering satire that strains under its own ambition. Despite a big budget, original script, and strong cast, the film collapses under the weight of its excess. Tom Cruise, heavily transformed with prosthetics and padding, plays Digger Rockwell, a Texas oil tycoon whose greed triggers a climate disaster.
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the movie is visually frantic but emotionally hollow. Cruise’s performance, while committed, is buried under grotesque makeup, evoking Orson Welles’s Charles Foster Kane — a comparison that does the film no favors.
The story centers on Digger’s mansion, a gaudy monument to wealth, where political figures like President John Goodman and Vice President Michael Stuhlbarg seek help after an Arctic oil field catastrophe. The screenplay, co-written by Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman, attempts satire but lands with a thud. Even Sandra Hüller’s brief turn as Emma, Digger’s sister, can’t salvage the mirthless tone.
The film’s self-reflexive twist — revealing the characters are part of a stage play — feels forced and unearned. With its over-the-top visuals, clunky metaphors, and failed humor, “Digger” is a white elephant that even Cruise can’t save.
Source: New York Times Top Stories · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing