DIGGER
(director/writer: Alejandro G. Iñárrritu; screenwriters: Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, Sabina Berman; cinematographer: Emmanuel Lubezki; editors: Conor O’Neill, Stephen Mirrone; music: Cosmo Sheldrake; cast: Tom Cruise (Digger Rockwell), Riz Ahmed (Dr. Ganesh), John Goodman (President Compson), Sandra Hüller (Emma Rockwell), Michael Stuhlbarg (VP), Jesse Plemons (Kenny), Robert John Burke (General Fitzgerald), Emma D’Arcy (Lina), Burn Gorman (Amos), Teddy Hawley (Kyle, Emma’s son); Runtime: 128; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Mary Parent, Tom Cruise; A Warner Bros. Picture; 2026)
“An ambitious black comedy arthouse movie.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
An ambitious black comedy arthouse movie that’s big-budgeted ($125 million), unsubtle, socially and politically motivated, and wildly satiric. It’s directed and written with unabashed fervor by the talented Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárrritu (“The Revenant”/”Babel”), and it’s co-written by Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone, and Sabina Berman.
It’s set in the near-future. The cartoonish, eccentric, over-the-top, imperious, extremely wealthy 70-something Texas oil tycoon Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), dressed as a cowboy, is faced with preventing a global disaster when his drilling company causes in the Arctic an iceberg (the size of a city) to head in Europe’s direction (with the possibility of killing millions). This gets the attention of his pal, the terminally ill and blustering right-wing American President Compson (John Goodman), the nerdy VP (Michael Stuhlbarg) and a war-mongering loudmouth cabinet member, General Fitzgerald (Robert John Burke). Dr. Ganeesh (Riz Ahmed) is the conflicted scientist advising the administration while working for Digger.
While the vulgarian tycoon prances around in his mansion shouting orders to his underlings to keep drilling he is also trying to find answers to save his beloved dying cat Maggie (a cat we learn later on is not like the one we think it is).
Digger’s 40-something half-sister Emma Rockwell (Sandra Hüller) is a single mom of an 8-year-old boy (Teddy Hawley) and a leader of an environmental group who oppose her brother’s exploitation of the natural resources.
A plot twist a third of the way into the film awkwardly changes the tone of the confrontational film, as it now seems more like an overlong SNL sketch than a Dr. Strangelove classic.
But it has much noise to make about what has to be said about these dark and greedy billionaires who care more about their profits than they do about people or their country.
It has good intentions, Cruise gives a marvelous star performance, and it leaves a needed message about the abuse of power in today’s world harming civilization. Too bad it was so confusing, as it swung for the fences but missed.
It was filmed in England at Pinewood Studios.
REVIEWED ON 9/30/2026 GRADE: B-
dennisschwartzreviews.com