Opening in theaters on October 9 is ‘Digger,’ directed by Alejando G. Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma D’Arcy, Robert John Burke, and Jesse Plemons.
Related Article: 5 Things We Learned From Tom Cruise At The ‘Digger’ Trailer Event
Initial Thoughts
There are two things I can say about ‘Digger’ right off the bat: first, this is Tom Cruise’s most out-there, unique performance in more than a decade, fully deserving of Oscar recognition and one of his most compelling roles in years. Second, ‘Digger’ is going to be one hell of a divisive movie, as Cruise and director Alejando G. Iñárritu deliver something that is not what audiences might expect or even understand.
Yet I was hooked right away, first by Cruise’s performance and the heavily stylized, acidly satirical world built around him, second by the commitment of the supporting cast – particularly a brilliant Riz Ahmed – and third by the very audacious choices that the movie makes. Yes, the movie can be heavy-handed, as Iñárritu tends to be sometimes, and yes, there are lingering questions about the universe it portrays, but ‘Digger’ is still a rich, bitterly amusing experience that eventually shows you out on a sobering, haunting note.
Story and Direction
Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) is an aging, curmudgeonly billionaire oilman who lives in a vast, isolated mansion – carved out of stone and full of hunting trophies and oversized works of art — and runs a massive oil drilling platform in Greenland. His only real concern seems to be for Maggie, his elderly, very sickly cat, for whom he calls in both a vet and his own personal doctor. But things take a drastic turn as he is told – after ignoring warnings from both his head of ‘climate security,’ Dr. Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) and the workers on the ground – that the Arctic operation is about to go FUBAR.
With Digger’s operation releasing methane gas from below the ocean floor – among other problems – the platform explodes and a giant chunk of the ice shelf (nicknamed Judy) breaks off and begins floating across the ocean toward Europe. The results will be catastrophic, with millions of people in danger and – more importantly to Digger — untold quantities of money in damage possible unless a way is found to stop it. His half-sister, Emma (Sandra Hüller) sees her environmental non-profit – which Digger funds as a sort of cover – go down the drain. The addled, short-tempered President Compson (John Goodman) assembles his all-white, all-male cabinet (notably at Digger’s residence and not the White House) and implores Digger to find a solution — or at least find a way to control the narrative.
Controlling the narrative – and how that narrative is perceived, made into reality, and filtered through art – is a major theme of ‘Digger,’ and the way that the film’s own storyline twists, pivots, and morphs precludes us from saying anything else here about how it moves forward. Suffice to say that there are three layers to Digger’s story – the events immediately inside his personal sphere, the situation unfolding outside his bubble of unreality, and the larger world that encompasses both – and their cumulative impact will change one’s perception of the film.
The film starts out as a dark political satire, much in the vein of ‘Dr. Strangelove,’ as the sheer corruption, ineptness, and callousness of the people we choose to lead us and those who have the most resources available to them becomes quickly evident in scenes both farcical and exasperating. It only becomes clear later in the film just how much these people will cost us, when the comedic aspects begin to take a back seat to something far sadder and heartbreaking.
To be sure, none of this is exactly subtle. Iñárritu is not known for a light touch, and some of the speech-making and narrative tricks may aggravate some viewers no matter where you land politically. Some of the jokes don’t land as well as they could. But as the bigger picture emerges, there is a deep emotional undercurrent to ‘Digger’ that sometimes clashes with the broad comedic overtones yet is still moving by the end (Iñárritu is one of four credited screenwriters on the film, along with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Sabina Berman, while Berman, Iñárritu, and Jez Butterworth provided the story).
The below-the-line contributors also help immensely. Iñárritu’s regular cinematographer, the great Emmanuel ‘Chivo’ Lubezki, creates images of absolute beauty and detail with subtle shadings of color and shadow. Composer Cosmo Sheldrake’s score combines lyrical, plaintive passages with deep, ominous rumblings that embed themselves in the larger soundscape. And Dennis Gassner’s production design – while a bit confusing due to certain story constrictions – provides a stark blend of realism and artifice that visualizes the film’s themes.
Cast and Performances
The role of Digger Rockwell will go down as one of Tom Cruise’s great late-stage performances. After spending much of the last 10 years in action-hero mode, Cruise reaches for something completely different here. But he inhabits the role of Digger from the first moment and is fully believable throughout, even as more layers to the character are unpeeled and Digger’s true nature comes to the surface. It’s a tour de force from an actor who hasn’t taken many chances in recent years.
The entire ensemble fires on all cylinders here – sometimes over-firing as the narrative demands – but special attention must be paid to Riz Ahmed, whose Dr. Ganesh is perhaps the most noble (and therefore put-upon) character in the film, and who gives a speech for the ages during a scene on Digger’s plane. John Goodman’s President Compson is delightfully, frighteningly unhinged, giving us a persona that’s not too far removed from what we’ve been seeing in real life.
The other players are more archetypes than fully developed characters – like Michael Stuhlbarg’s wet-noodle vice president (there’s even a joke about that trope at his expense) and Robert John Burke’s bloodthirsty Joint Chief of Staff – but they serve their purposes. The only actor that comes across as underused is the great Sandra Hüller as Digger’s sister Emma, who feels like she should get more screentime. And Jesse Plemons also shows up in a brief but key role, delivering a monologue late in the film that is perhaps the linchpin to the entire story.
Final Thoughts
There are several showstopper speeches in ‘Digger’ – in addition to those by Ahmed and Plemons, Cruise gives a barnburner in which Digger lays bare a certain hypocrisy at the very center of our society with stunning clarity – and while some are sure to call the film out for them, each is delivered with an amount of heart and passion that hits hard.
That heart – and the film’s bracing, multi-layered structure – are what make ‘Digger’ stand out as one of 2026’s richest, most original films. Its ruminations on society, politics, art, nature, and our relationship to all of them are cohesive and powerful, and while its transitions from one tone to another are not always seamless, the film still captures the imagination from the start – and leaves us wondering just how deep a hole we’re digging ourselves into, and whether or not we can get out.
‘Digger’ receives a score of 90 out of 100.
What is the plot of ‘Digger’?
The most powerful man in the world races to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he unleashed destroys everything.
Who is in the cast of ‘Digger’?
- Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell
- Riz Ahmed as Ganesh
- John Goodman as President Compson
- Sandra Hüller as Emma Rockwell
- Michael Stuhlbarg as the Vice President
- Jesse Plemons as Kenny
- Robert John Burke as Fitzgerald
- Emma D’Arcy as Lina
- Sophie Wilde as Hannah
- Burn Gorman as Amos
List of Movies Directed by Alejando G. Iñárritu:
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