When the invitation arrived for the screening of “Digger,” the new film directed by Alejandro Iñárritu and starring Tom Cruise, it contained a request that anyone writing about the film, “in order to give audiences the opportunity to enjoy the film to its fullest and allow them to discover the story as it unfolds,” refrain from revealing spoilers.
Pretty boilerplate stuff, really, if weirdly detailed. But a lot of films and TV shows make a similar request. Before the film started, a studio representative repeated the request. Again, it happens. And then, after the lights went down and before the film began, a title card made the request again. That was pretty unusual.
Now I understand why.
What is 'Digger' about? Not what you think
I won’t reveal why, of course. All I can say is that whatever
you think the film, Cruise’s first non-franchise leading role in ages, might be, you are almost certainly wrong. On the other hand, it is indisputably an Iñárritu film, and as the two-time Oscar winner has his fans and his detractors (and his detractors hate his movies), take that as you will.
The film begins with Digger (Cruise), a rich oil magnate of the sort who has the slogan “Rise early, work hard, strike oil” on his mantle, waking to a sick cat and the news that one of his oil rigs has played a role in an environmental disaster — an ice shelf “five times the size of Washington, D.C.” has broken free and is floating toward Europe.
Digger is rich enough and powerful enough that the president (John Goodman) and his cabinet and senior staff meet at his estate to discuss the options, of which there are seemingly no good ones.
There’s a lot of Stanley Kubrick’s "Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb" energy to these scenes, some funny (a Trump-with-the-evangelists moment of absurdity), some flat. The decision is made to "firewall" information, to control the message, which also has a ripped-from-the-headlines feel. (Iñárritu wrote the script, along with a host of others, which is rarely a good sign. Too many cooks and all that.)
The acting in 'Digger' is over the top. On purpose, mostly
Of course it’s all ridiculous and disastrous, and everyone plays every scene way over the top. Goodman hams it up so much you fear his face will explode. (Some actors love chewing the scenery. Goodman seems not to.)
This is by design, and not just because Iñárritu goes big in all of his films. Subtle, he’s not, and maybe never less so than here, which is saying something. These scenes are also blanched, the color having been drained from them, as if there were a faint dusting of powder all over everything. Again, this is no accident.
In fact, sometimes when you reach the point of praising the production designer, it’s because there’s not much else to say about a film. There is a lot more to say about “Digger.” I just can’t say it. But I will say that Dennis Gassner, the production designer, is going to win an Oscar. His work is every bit as important to the story as Cruise or Iñárritu’s.
Ah, Cruise, the underrated superstar, the last movie star, the crazed eccentric, the enigma. It’s fair to say that when people wished he’d break away from his “Mission: Impossible” and “Top Gun” career path and death-wish stunts and get back to working with directors like Iñárritu, maybe something like “Minority Report” or “Magnolia,” they weren’t expecting this.
Tom Cruise goes all in in 'Digger,' as ever
The thing with Cruise is, no matter how you feel about him, there is no denying that he is going to go all in, take no half-measures, and that is definitely the case here. He’s not always given material he can fully bring to life, but man, when he sinks his teeth into something, as he does in a lengthy soliloquy in which he extols the virtues of fossil fuels, he is astonishing.
The supporting cast is excellent, and includes Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and, best of all, Riz Ahmed, as Digger’s environmental expert whose conscience and honesty are at odds with his day job. Ahmed’s is the rare supporting character who gets to play something more complex than a stock cartoon, and he makes the most of it. He has a couple of scenes with Cruise that are, besides Cruise’s bravura set pieces, the best things in the film.
There is a lot going on here. It’s a movie about the state of the world, about honesty, about truth, about performative actions, about what we think we see when the reality is something else. I’m not sure Iñárritu pulls off what he’s going for, though in fairness, I’m not exactly sure what it is he’s going for, either. I was put in mind of a version of “Synecdoche, New York,” Charlie Kaufman’s brilliant absurdist masterpiece, one of my favorite movies of all time.
This isn’t that; few films are. I’d love to have seen Cruise take the risks that movie required. “Digger” never rises to that level of genius, not even close. It has such lofty ambitions and go-for-broke performances, but never really connects.
'Digger' 3 stars
Great ★★★★★ Good ★★★★
Fair ★★★ Bad ★★ Bomb ★
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman.
Rating: R for pervasive language.
How to watch: In theaters Friday, Oct. 2.
Reach Goodykoontz at bill.goodykoontz@arizonarepublic.com. Facebook: facebook.com/GoodyOnFilm. Media commentary with a side of snark? Sign up for The Watchlist newsletter with Bill Goodykoontz.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: I assure you, Tom Cruise’s ‘Digger’ is not the movie you think it is
