CHRISTIAN TOTO: Digger Disaster: Climate Change Satire Scrapes Bottom of Barrel.
Be careful what you wish for.
Tom Cruise wants an Oscar very, very badly. He’s been terrific in serious dramas and blockbusters alike, and you can’t blame him for wanting that golden statuette.
Along comes “Digger,” which offers a one-two punch for Oscar consideration. The film casts Cruise in an over-the-top role that dramatically alters his appearance.
Check!
The narrative is all about Climate Change, a message that speaks to Hollywood’s progressive heart.
Double-check!
And it all backfires in spectacular fashion. Put this one in the Louvre, a portrait of ego and ambition in a death cage match against Storytelling 101.
Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an obscenely rich oil tycoon who cares for his ancient cat the moment he wakes up. The poor cat is all but dead, but Digger refuses to believe it.
It’s outrageous and funny, suggesting he cares more about a cat than actual humans. Get it? He’s a monster.
Attacking “Big Oil” after starring in films such as Top Gun and its recent sequel, Days of Thunder, and a host of Mission: Impossible movies filled with endless car chases seems hypocritical, but Cruise attempted basically the same strategy in the 1980s to return to the industry’s good graces, ping-ponging from the pro-American Top Gun (which much of Hollywood hated in the Reagan era) to Oliver Stone’s Born on the Fourth of July in less than three years, complete with makeup and a receding hairline to age him to appearing closer to the real-life disabled leftist activist Ron Kovic’s appearance in the 1970s.
Sonny Bunch has an equally damning take on Cruise’s new movie: Digger Review. No one can be told what Digger is. You have to experience it for yourself.
Ultimately, I don’t think Digger really works, albeit for reasons I’m dancing around so as not to spoil your chance to experience the film as freshly as your humble narrator here. It is, structurally, an insanely ambitious film, and Iñárritu’s reach exceeds his grasp. I can’t even really say it’s never boring, as there’s a very slow opening act before we get to the reveal of what game, precisely, Iñárritu is playing with this film. Despite all that, you can’t help but marvel at the work being done by Cruise in this picture. He’ll probably get a Best Actor nomination—and he deserves it, even if Digger winds up being a legendary flop.
Which, honestly, the film might deserve too.
Speaking of which:
Tom Cruise’s DIGGER is now expected to lose $100M for Warner Bros. in their worst non-pandemic year this century.
The final nail in the coffin is the 40% Rotten Tomatoes score, Iñárritu’s lowest ever.
It may not reach the $15M debut we projected days ago. pic.twitter.com/2VGeuuN7Ki
— Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) September 29, 2026
Earlier: Warner Bros. Is Having Its Worst Box Office Stretch in Nearly Three Decades.