{"id":8086919,"date":"2026-09-29T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-09-29T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/?p=8086919"},"modified":"2026-09-29T08:50:53","modified_gmt":"2026-09-29T15:50:53","slug":"digger-review-tom-cruise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thewrap.com\/creative-content\/reviews\/digger-review-tom-cruise\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Digger\u2019 Review: Tom Cruise Gives 110% in This Powerless, Self-Adulating Claptrap"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n

It\u2019s revealing that Warner Bros. tried to erase “Coyote vs. Acme<\/a>” from existence but threw its whole support behind Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s annoying satire \u201cDigger.\u201d In Dave Green\u2019s Looney Tunes film, the southern fried Foghorn Leghorn is the villain, a minor character who represents everything wrong in the world and has no redeeming qualities. In \u201cDigger,\u201d Tom Cruise also plays a villainous Foghorn Leghorn, but his version is a seductive, intriguing enigma that takes center stage. It\u2019s the kind of movie about evil billionaires that evil billionaires would enjoy, which makes it the worst kind of movie about evil billionaires.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Cruise is Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon who only cares about two things: money and his 30-year-old cat that desperately wants to die. Digger won\u2019t let it, because he\u2019s a selfish man. Likewise, the people of Earth desperately want to live, but Digger won\u2019t let them because, again, he\u2019s a selfish man. He ignores every warning about his drilling operations in Greenland until it\u2019s officially too late. Methane gas destroys his machines, kills his workers, and ejects a giant glacier heading towards northern Europe, with a projected death toll that can barely be imagined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Naturally, Digger responds by protecting himself from legal liability and spinning the scenario in his favor. The boorish President Compson, played (well, mostly shouted) by John Goodman, turns to Digger to fix this crisis because it’s a lot of work and Compson has other things on his mind. Riz Ahmed plays Digger\u2019s environmental scientist Ganesh, who gradually goes bonkers in the billionaire\u2019s orbit, appalled by the staggering lack of humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\t'Coyote vs. Acme' Crosses $100 Million: Inside the Underdog's David vs. Goliath Marketing Campaign | Exclusive<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Everything in \u201cDigger<\/a>\u201d is over the top and two-dimensional except the production design, which is over the top but multifaceted and astounding. It reflects the film\u2019s only noteworthy storytelling decision (which I won\u2019t ruin the specifics of) and forces us to accept that the artificiality of \u201cDigger\u201d is I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s thesis. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that doesn’t mean his thesis is smart. \u201cDigger\u201d argues that what people really want is to watch billionaires lampooned with slightly less depth than a late-night talk show monologue. We are powerless to stop them, but we do get to point and giggle. And that\u2019s supposed to be enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDigger\u201d claims there are good billionaires. They\u2019re the ones who made \u201cDigger\u201d and they\u2019re willing to let us laugh so long as the commentary is impotent. The cynicism boggles the mind. Even after I\u00f1\u00e1rritu accepts their rubber stamp, and portrays the worst people in the world as meaningless cartoons, he finds a way to hold back. Wile E. Coyote got to blow up Foghorn Leghorn with a Rube Goldberg machine while a chorus sang \u201cbeep beep beep\u201d over the 1812 Overture. Here, when we finally learn what happens to Digger Rockwell, let\u2019s just say he gets off anticlimactically light, just as I\u00f1\u00e1rritu finally starts taking his story in ghoulish, potentially cathartic directions. The most unbelievable thing about \u201cDigger,\u201d sadly, is the idea that this production deserves applause. Except, again, for the production design. And maybe Tom Cruise.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\n\t\t\tRead Next<\/strong>
\n\t\t\tWhy GQ Didn't Ask Tom Cruise Anything About Scientology in His 'Digger' Cover Story<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Cruise hasn\u2019t done this much caps-locked \u201cACTING\u201d in many years. He certainly hasn\u2019t been this energized since his amusing cameo in \u201cTropic Thunder,\u201d where he played Digger Rockwell if Digger Rockwell was a Hollywood power player without a wacky accent. Nobody doubts Tom Cruise can captivate a crowd, and in “Digger” he certainly does, sometimes in long, show-off takes that serve no other function than to prove Tom Cruise can do it. As if performing what\u2019s essentially live theater is as impressive a stunt as jumping out of an airplane from the top of the atmosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tom Cruise gives I\u00f1\u00e1rritu precisely what the director demands. If only the filmmaker demanded something more, something which actually warrants this film\u2019s onanistic ovations. It\u2019s not enough to make fun of the people destroying the world. You also have to announce you\u2019re brilliant for doing it, that a billionaire approved your jokes and that the audience should thank you for giving them an opportunity to titter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDigger\u201d is what happens when you give the week\u2019s worst \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d sketch an inexplicably large budget and delusions of grandeur. It will probably win lots of awards. I\u2019d say it deserves the ones for production design; then again, \u201cBackrooms<\/a>\u201d came out this year. So never mind. I guess I wouldn’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Digger” opens exclusively in theaters on Oct. 2.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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Alejandro Gonz\u00e1lez I\u00f1\u00e1rritu\u2019s smug, self-aware social commentary plays like a bad \u2018SNL\u2019 sketch with delusions of grandeur<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9838,"featured_media":8086926,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"byline":{"profiles":[{"type":"byline_id","atts":{"term_id":504584,"post_id":7303054}}]},"_links_to":"","_links_to_type":0,"nb_breaking_email_type":"fbc26c31-0bb2-4ce8-84ce-d208e907571d","nb_breaking_template":"single-story.html","nb_breaking_from_name":"TheWrap","nb_breaking_subject":"","nb_breaking_preview":"","nb_breaking_list":[],"nb_breaking_header_img":7555403,"nb_breaking_should_send":false,"nb_breaking_content":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

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