By Alfie Coan, Third Year, Physics
Alejandro González Iñárritu’s uncharacteristically shortly-titled Digger (2026) stars 64-year-old Tom Cruise as 65-year-old billionaire Digger Rockell - the most powerful man on the planet. It is a (literally) layered subversion full of on-the-nose satire that is desaturated both visually and in its insistent lack of optimism.
At one point in the film, Riz Ahmed’s Dr. Ganesh claims that ‘perception is not reality’ and this is certainly the case for most of the film’s 128-minute runtime. The film violently resists being put in a box or being assigned a single label. Indeed, it is many things at once: laboriously unfunny (intentionally or not), blunt and uncompromisingly nihilistic - all to faults of varyingly severe degrees. It is also definitely original.
Technically, Digger is mostly brilliant. Intricate long takes and masterful blocking elevate the film’s deceptive nature and are evocative of Iñárritu’s direction of Birdman (2014). Every shot is framed to a point and the desaturated style is uniquely striking, both of which can be credited to master cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who has previously shot Birdman and Terrence Malick’s visual wonderwork The Tree of Life (2011). Digger’s wide-angles and dramatic compositions are particularly reminiscent of Lubezki’s work on Iñárritu’s masterpiece The Revenant (2015).
An unusual but effective score by English composer Cosmo Sheldrake carries us along with whistles, claps and generally off-beat tracks, which set a distinctly weird tone. It enhances the unsettling and even unpleasant scenes and can only be considered a success as a film score. Another of Digger’s virtues is to put the ‘act’ in didactic. Tom Cruise’s performance is commendable, although perhaps not enough for the self-branded ‘Man of Movies’ and ‘Champion of Cinema’ to catch the Academy’s eye.
Riz Ahmed is as effective as always as the fact-man and perpetual voice of reason and Jesse Plemons succeeds in being uniquely brilliant in every role he plays, even one as small as this. John Goodman puts on a funny face as President Compson and Sandra Hüller’s performance as Emma is the only one that falls uncharacteristically flat.
The film is certainly thought-provoking - I found it often provoked thoughts such as ‘What on Earth is going on?’, ‘Where am I?’, and ‘Oh, I see - all right’. It lacks the charm of Wes Anderson’s similarly multi-layered Asteroid City (2023) and the humour of Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove (1964) with a bleak, cynical demeanour and a consistent lack of enjoyable moments.
Leanor Allon
That aside, in some moments, Digger is clever in its deception and multilayeredness and does genuinely promote self-reflection as it argues that, although we are very much doomed, we are also completely and utterly hopeless. But is it a misunderstood masterpiece or a pretentious disaster? I’d say neither. It has many strengths in its cinematography, acting, and direction and, above all, serves as a stark (although perhaps unnecessary and very late) reminder of our very, very real reality amidst a vast crisis.
Featured image: IMDb / Digger
Do you think Digger is a masterpiece or a disaster?
