Digger Review Tom Cruise’s Strange New Role Takes Aim at Power, Climate Change and Hollywood
Tom Cruise has spent decades making impossible missions look routine. He has climbed buildings, flown aircraft, jumped from cliffs and repeatedly turned his own body into the main attraction of a blockbuster. But Digger gives him a very different challenge.
Instead of playing another fearless spy or action hero, Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon whose business decisions help trigger an environmental catastrophe. Directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the film mixes climate satire, dark comedy, political absurdism and a deliberately theatrical style.
That makes Digger difficult to classify. It is part disaster movie, part satire and part commentary on celebrity, wealth and the powerful men who seem convinced they can control everything around them. Critics have been divided over whether that ambitious approach works, with several reviews praising Cruise’s commitment and the film’s visual ambition while questioning its tone and storytelling.
Digger Movie: What Is the Film About?
At the centre of Digger is Digger Rockwell, a powerful oil businessman who has built his fortune by exploiting natural resources. Cruise plays him as loud, arrogant and completely convinced that his wealth gives him the ability to solve any problem.
That confidence begins to collapse when an accident connected to his drilling operation creates an environmental disaster. Scientists warn that the consequences could become catastrophic, while politicians and business leaders struggle to work out how to respond.
Rather than turning the story into a conventional disaster thriller, Iñárritu uses the crisis as a way to examine how wealthy corporations, governments and powerful individuals respond when their decisions have consequences they can no longer control.
The film’s environmental catastrophe therefore becomes more than a backdrop. It is the mechanism through which Digger takes aim at corporate greed, political incompetence and society’s fascination with powerful personalities.
Tom Cruise Plays a Very Different Kind of Character
Digger Rockwell is almost the opposite of the characters audiences normally associate with Tom Cruise.
For years, Cruise has been one of Hollywood’s defining action stars, particularly through franchises such as Mission: Impossible. His screen image is built around physical control, determination and characters who find a way out when everyone else thinks the situation is hopeless.
Digger deliberately turns that image upside down.
Cruise is buried beneath prosthetics and makeup to create an older, heavier and visibly deteriorating oil magnate. The transformation is part of the film’s larger joke: one of Hollywood’s famously youthful stars is playing a man whose body and empire both appear to be falling apart.
The performance is intentionally excessive. Digger talks loudly, behaves badly and carries himself like someone who has never seriously considered the possibility that he might be wrong. Yet Cruise’s commitment is difficult to ignore. Even reviewers who disliked parts of the film have singled out his performance as one of its more compelling elements.
Why Digger Looks Nothing Like a Traditional Tom Cruise Movie
If you’re expecting another Mission: Impossible-style adventure, Digger is going in a completely different direction.
There are still moments of physicality, but the film is much more interested in Cruise’s celebrity image than in using him as a conventional action hero. The contrast is deliberate. Audiences are used to watching Cruise control impossible situations; here, his character is partly responsible for creating a crisis that cannot simply be defeated with courage or physical strength.
That makes the casting itself part of the film’s commentary.
Cruise has become almost inseparable from the idea of the unstoppable movie star. Digger takes that familiar image and places it inside a story about a man who believes money, influence and confidence can protect him from consequences.
It is an uncomfortable fit—and that appears to be precisely the point.
Alejandro González Iñárritu Turns Climate Change Into Dark Satire
Director Alejandro González Iñárritu, known for films including Birdman and The Revenant, approaches the material with a style that is far removed from a straightforward environmental thriller.
Instead of asking audiences to simply worry about the disaster, Digger repeatedly pushes its characters toward absurdity. Politicians, scientists, businessmen and other powerful figures are placed in situations where the seriousness of the crisis clashes with their inability to respond sensibly.
The result is closer to a dark political comedy than a conventional catastrophe movie.
Several critics have compared the film’s ambitions to classic political and apocalyptic satire, while also pointing out that its elaborate approach can become frustrating. The Guardian, for example, described the movie as an ambitious but overly laborious satire, while The New Yorker highlighted the contrast between its deliberately theatrical dialogue and striking visual design.
The Film’s Biggest Target Is Power
One of the more interesting things about Digger is that its villain isn’t simply an evil businessman.
Digger represents a much broader idea: the belief that people with enough money can insulate themselves from the consequences of their actions.
His wealth gives him access to private jets, political influence and enormous resources. Yet when the environmental crisis arrives, those advantages suddenly look much less useful.
The film repeatedly puts that contradiction under the microscope. Digger has spent his life believing that every problem has a financial solution. The disaster surrounding him is a problem that money cannot simply make disappear.
That is where the movie’s satire becomes most pointed.
Tom Cruise’s Prosthetic Transformation Is Part of the Joke
Cruise’s appearance in Digger has become one of the film’s most noticeable talking points.
Rather than trying to preserve the actor’s familiar glamorous image, the movie deliberately distorts it. Digger has a sagging body, ageing features and an exaggerated physical appearance that makes him look almost cartoonish.
That choice matters because Cruise himself has become famous for maintaining an unusually youthful screen presence well into his sixties.
The movie therefore creates a strange visual contradiction. The real Tom Cruise remains one of Hollywood’s most physically committed stars, while the fictional Digger is presented as a man whose body appears to be breaking down.
The contrast adds another layer to the film’s fascination with ageing, celebrity and the mythology surrounding powerful men.
Is Digger Really a Climate Change Movie?
Yes, but calling it only a climate change movie would miss what Iñárritu is attempting.
The environmental disaster is the starting point rather than the entire subject. The story uses climate catastrophe to examine human behaviour: denial, greed, political calculation and the tendency to treat enormous problems as someone else’s responsibility.
The film is especially interested in the gap between knowing something is wrong and actually doing something about it.
That makes Digger less of a traditional warning about the environment and more of a satire about how institutions behave when confronted with a crisis that cannot be easily contained.
The Film’s Strange Theatrical Style
One of the biggest reasons Digger has produced such divided reactions is its unusual presentation.
The film does not always behave like a conventional Hollywood production. Its environments, performances and visual compositions often feel deliberately artificial. That theatrical quality becomes increasingly important as the story develops.
Rather than hiding the machinery of the production, Iñárritu appears interested in exposing it.
This creates an intentional distance between the audience and the characters. Instead of simply becoming emotionally invested in the disaster, viewers are encouraged to think about how disasters are represented, performed and consumed.
It is an ambitious idea, although whether it makes the movie more meaningful or simply more complicated depends heavily on the viewer.
Riz Ahmed Adds Another Dimension to the Story
Alongside Cruise, Riz Ahmed plays scientist Ganesh, a character who represents a more rational response to the growing crisis.
While Digger is driven by money, instinct and self-preservation, Ganesh is concerned with understanding what is actually happening and communicating the potential consequences.
Their dynamic gives the film one of its clearest conflicts: scientific reality versus the interests of people who would rather control the narrative.
Ahmed has received particular praise from some critics, with reviews highlighting his ability to give the film’s increasingly strange world a grounded human presence.
What Critics Are Saying About Digger
The critical response to Digger has been mixed, and that division is important to understand before watching it.
Some critics have admired the film’s willingness to take major risks. Its combination of Tom Cruise, Iñárritu, climate satire, theatrical storytelling and political commentary is certainly unusual for a major Hollywood production.
Others have found the movie overly self-conscious and repetitive. The criticism isn’t necessarily that Digger lacks ideas; rather, some reviewers believe it has too many ideas and doesn’t always know how to bring them together.
RogerEbert.com’s review called the film painfully self-satisfied, while the Los Angeles Times described it as a messy climate satire that occasionally finds something worthwhile in its strange approach. Meanwhile, The New Yorker was more appreciative of its visual ambition and conceptual experimentation.
That split may ultimately be part of the movie’s appeal. Digger is clearly not trying to be a safe, conventional Tom Cruise vehicle.
Is Digger Worth Watching?
If you are watching Digger because you want another high-energy Tom Cruise action movie, this probably isn’t the film you’re expecting.
But if you’re interested in seeing Cruise take a genuinely unusual role, the movie becomes much more intriguing.
His performance is intentionally grotesque, Iñárritu’s direction is visually ambitious, and the film has considerably more on its mind than its disaster-movie setup initially suggests.
The problem is that ambition doesn’t automatically translate into an effective film. Some viewers may appreciate the satire and theatrical experimentation, while others may find the movie too pleased with its own cleverness.
Either way, Digger is difficult to dismiss as ordinary.
Digger Review: Final Verdict
Digger is an unusual Tom Cruise movie—and that may be both its greatest strength and its biggest weakness.
Cruise commits completely to playing an ageing oil billionaire who represents greed, power and the belief that money can solve anything. Iñárritu surrounds him with an increasingly surreal world where climate catastrophe, politics and celebrity collide.
The result is messy, strange and deliberately uncomfortable.
It doesn’t always land its satire, and its elaborate style may test the patience of viewers looking for a more straightforward story. But there is something refreshing about seeing a major Hollywood star take a role that actively dismantles the image audiences have built around him.
Digger isn’t another Tom Cruise spectacle. It’s a film about the spectacle of Tom Cruise himself—and about what happens when the world’s most recognisable movie star is asked to play a man who can’t outrun the consequences of his own actions.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. What is Digger about?
Digger follows Digger Rockwell, a wealthy oil tycoon whose drilling operation becomes connected to a catastrophic environmental crisis. The film uses the disaster to explore corporate power, climate change, political failure and the behaviour of wealthy elites.
2. Who plays Digger Rockwell?
Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, the wealthy oil businessman at the centre of the story.
3. Who directed Digger?
Digger was directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, the filmmaker behind Birdman and The Revenant.
4. Who stars alongside Tom Cruise in Digger?
The cast includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, Michael Stuhlbarg and other performers.
5. Is Digger a Tom Cruise action movie?
Not in the traditional sense. Although Cruise’s physicality remains part of his screen presence, Digger is primarily a dark satire and environmental disaster story rather than a conventional action film.
6. Is Digger based on a true story?
The film is presented as a fictional story. Its environmental and political themes draw on real-world concerns, but Digger Rockwell is a fictional character.
7. What is Digger trying to say?
At its core, the film examines power, wealth, corporate greed, climate anxiety and the tendency of powerful institutions to treat enormous problems as something that can simply be managed or controlled.
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