Miss Flicks

Digger review: What the heck did I just watch?!

I fully support Tom Cruise ditching action man mode and playing a wacky character, a la Tropic Thunder and Magnolia, but I just wish the character wasn’t as unpleasant, gross and hard to watch as Digger Rockwell in Alejandro Gonzalez Iñárritu‘s Digger. 

This satirical black comedy tells the story of the titular Texas oil baron, who must face the music when one of his drilling operations causes a major environmental catastrophe. There’s a lot of other stuff going on too, but I will not be spoiling any of the secrets here.

I respect Iñárritu and Cruise for taking such a risky and ambitious swing. Sometimes a gamble pays off, sometimes it doesn’t, and unfortunately, Digger falls into the latter camp. It’s just too weird, crazy and baffling. Iñárritu’s ambitions were too big and he bit off more than he could chew. He has a lot to say about society, billionaires, capitalism, fossil fuels and climate change but he goes overboard and the message feels scatter shot and all over the place. It ultimately amounts to a whole load of nothing. I felt a mixture of amusement, frustration, revulsion and boredom and couldn’t help wondering “why?!”

The performances are big, loud and theatrical and most scenes involve people (mostly men) shouting in various rooms. This is deliberate and there is a reason for this (no spoilers!) but that doesn’t make them any less irritating. John Goodman particularly got under my skin as the U.S. President Compson. His character is so grotesque and foul and often shot at unforgiving angles (this low camera angle happens a lot). That’s what Iñárritu was going for, but it’s not for me! 

It brings me joy to see Cruise playing such an unexpected, unusual and risky character. I’m kind of amazed he agreed to this, particularly the unflattering fatsuit, prosthetics and wig! But I don’t see Oscar potential here – there is no depth to this performance, it’s all caricature and spectacle. The big monologue scene in the trailer is well staged and interesting to look at (although I disliked the washed-out colour grade) but Digger spouts BS for so long that I totally checked out and stopped listening to his grandstanding.

But there are some positives. Riz Ahmed has the best performance and character as a stuttering scientist named Ganesh who gets bolder over time. This sweet, likeable character is pretty funny and an antidote to the others. Sandra Huller and Jesse Plemons are good but they’re underused, and I always have time for Michael Stuhlbarg. Outside of the acting, I enjoyed the production design and found the framing device interesting, if poorly executed.

The basic premise of a billionaire facing the fallout of his decision to prioritise profits over people’s lives is really great. So it’s a shame this is the movie we get out of it. It’s bizarre, very surface level, not funny enough and feels much longer than two hours. A big swing and a miss!

In cinemas from Friday 2nd October