Digger (2026) Review!!

Synopsis – The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity’s savior before the disaster he’s unleashed destroys everything.

My Take – Having spent the last decade largely headlining action spectacles, including three Mission: Impossible films, Tom Cruise takes an unexpected turn with his latest project. Teaming up with two-time Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman, The Revenant), one of the world’s biggest movie star leads a $180 million production that also marks Warner Bros.’ final major release before its proposed merger with Paramount Skydance.

Before diving into what the film is and what it ultimately has to say, it’s worth addressing one thing straight away: forget the trailers. Whatever expectations they’ve created, set them aside. While many of the images and scenes featured in the marketing do appear in the film, they reveal only fragments of a much larger and far stranger picture. The campaign is deliberately misleading, and your reaction to that deception may well determine how much you connect with the film itself.

Because what unfolds is an audacious and deeply ambitious satire, one that takes aim at the global elite, interrogates humanity’s response to climate change, and, perhaps most provocatively, examines cinema itself as a tool of influence and manipulation. It is a film that is overflowing with ideas, contradictions, and provocations, often challenging its audience as much as it seeks to entertain them. The result is an experience likely to inspire wildly different reactions.

Some will reject it outright; others may find themselves fascinated by its boldness long after the credits roll. There’s a strong possibility that, years from now, it will be viewed far more favorably than it is today, perhaps even as a masterpiece. I’m not entirely ready to go that far yet, but I’m closer than I expected to be. Another viewing or two might push me over the edge. What I can say with certainty is that I admired its sheer nerve, its surreal sensibilities, and its willingness to be defiantly strange.

Like many of Iñárritu‘s films, it leaves itself open to accusations of pretension and artistic self-indulgence. Some viewers have already dismissed it as chaotic, arguing that its themes become lost beneath its high-concept narrative and deceptive marketing. Yet even those criticisms cannot diminish the fact that this is one of the year’s most original and unconventional studio releases.

It may swing so ambitiously that it loses parts of its audience along the way, but it is far too daring and distinctive to be casually dismissed. Whether or not it ultimately lands for every viewer, it remains a film that demands engagement and discussion, and one that could still find recognition when awards season arrives.

The story follows Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), an ageing, overweight, third-generation Texan oil magnate whose relentless optimism borders on delusion. Even as catastrophe looms, Digger remains convinced everything will somehow work itself out, clinging to familiar comforts, including a beloved cat that is quite literally hanging on by a thread.

His worldview is challenged when his chief scientist, Ganesh (Riz Ahmed), informs him that the company’s reckless drilling operations in Alaska have triggered a global crisis. For years, Ganesh has warned Digger about the consequences of their actions, but his concerns have been ignored. Now, a colossal Arctic ice mass, many times larger than Manhattan, has broken free and is hurtling toward the Norwegian coast, threatening devastation on a scale comparable to a nuclear strike.

Defiant and unapologetic to the bitter end, Digger secures an invitation to an emergency White House summit led by the frail and visibly unwell President Compson (John Goodman). Surrounded by military leaders and anxious politicians, including the timid Vice President Eddie (Michael Stuhlbarg), Digger quickly seizes control of the room. He openly ridicules the president’s reluctance to accept responsibility, arguing that the disaster is not solely the result of corporate greed but of a system sustained by public demand, political convenience, and collective complicity.

For a while, the film feels deliberately off. The absurdist tone is pushed to an uncomfortable extreme, with Digger Rockwell coming across as a broad caricature and the escalating stakes resembling an increasingly outrageous cartoon. Then, about half an hour in, the rug is pulled out: what we’ve been watching is revealed to be a rehearsal for a stage production based on events within the film’s world. Suddenly, the simplistic satire becomes the target of its own critique. From there, the film peels back its layers.

What begins as environmental satire evolves into a meditation on power, media narratives, mass manipulation, and humanity’s talent for ignoring catastrophe. If Digger feels shallow, that’s intentional. The actor playing him, Curtis Markson (Tom Cruise), shares those frustrations, leading to compelling clashes with director Hannah (Sophie Wilde). Curtis argues that a real tragedy has been reduced to easy mockery, while Hannah insists those who suffered deserve the right to laugh and reminds him that his generation helped create the crisis. Neither is entirely wrong, yet neither truly listens, trapping them in competing narratives that ultimately benefit the very elites they oppose.

Director Iñárritu seems less interested in picking sides than examining how modern discourse becomes noise. The film’s deeper layers explore the performative nature of politics, crisis management, and public response, suggesting that even disaster can become theater. A standout sequence sees Digger turn a furious town hall into pure spectacle.

The challenge is that some narrative turns are so abrupt that it’s hard to tell whether Iñárritu is crafting something profound or letting the film spin out of control. Reducing it to a film “about global warming” ignores the many ideas it juggles, yet its ambition can also be its weakness. Designed to unsettle rather than satisfy, it’s more intellectually stimulating than emotionally rewarding on first viewing. Whether brilliant or fascinatingly chaotic, it’s unlikely to be forgotten.

Performance wise, Tom Cruise delivers one of his finest turns in years, fully committing to Digger Rockwell. Beneath the wild gray hair, pale complexion, and eccentric mannerisms lies a carefully layered performance. What initially seems like Cruise disappearing into an outrageous caricature gradually reveals itself as Curtis’s discomfort with the role, a man forcing himself to embody a version of Digger he fundamentally disagrees with. Even without the transformative makeup, the familiar action star is nowhere to be found. This is arguably one of Cruise’s greatest roles.

John Goodman is reliably hilarious as Compson, while Riz Ahmed shines as the lone voice of reason amid the film’s chaos. Jesse Plemons once again proves his gift for delivering emotionally resonant dialogue with remarkable precision. In smaller roles, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Emma D’Arcy, and Sophie Wilde make strong impressions despite being largely underused. On the whole, ‘Digger‘ is a daring and deeply unconventional swing that may divide audiences today but could be celebrated for years to come.