It’s almost impossible to watch a movie blindly these days. Even when you try hard to avoid spoilers, you get hit with news stories everywhere, especially when a huge star like Tom Cruise is involved. I was lucky enough to go in without spoilers, since the main story from the press tour was how the star managed to reduce the prosthetic makeup process from 6 hours down to under an hour.
Cruise’s physical transformation to play the odd, overweight oil tycoon Digger Rockwell is striking. Although Digger is about the same age as Cruise (mid-60s), the makeup makes him look at least 10 years older with drooping cheeks, thinning gray hair, and a big belly. The novelty of his looks wears off quickly after a few minutes, however, since Digger is surrounded by even weirder things, both living and dead. Digger’s opulent but run-down mansion, meticulously designed by production designer Dennis Gassner, looks like a hunter and taxidermist’s dream, filled with antique guns and stuffed animal heads. The dying cat Maggie that Digger loves like his own child is grotesque. It looks like a furry animatronic, which is the first hint of the ‘smoke and mirrors’ aspect of the film.
This is Cruise’s first time working with Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Reportedly, the Mexican modern auteur spent nearly ten years developing Digger and seven years discussing it with Cruise. Iñárritu co-wrote the script with Sabina Berman, Alexander Dinelaris, and Jez Butterworth (who wrote Cruise’s sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow). There are plenty of things money can buy, and one of them is power and influence. While relaxing in bed, Digger can just speak into his hi-tech earpiece to reach one of the world’s most powerful figures, like US President Compson (John Goodman).
It appears to be an ordinary day for Digger until, after bathing Maggie, he receives troubling video footage of a catastrophic crisis at his oil facility in Greenland—a massive, spreading crack in the ice. The first act feels like a global disaster flick, except instead of an asteroid approaching Earth, it’s Greenland’s enormous ice sheet (seven times larger than Boston) posing a threat to mainland Europe. The ice sheet goes by the name Judy and naturally causes panic in everyone except Digger, who appears oblivious. Digger’s science expert Dr. Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) tries to explain the catastrophic scale of the disaster, only to be subjected to racism and xenophobia by the president’s crass, testosterone-filled advisors.
It’s very Dr. Strangelove-esque, a masterclass in absurdist political satire about the end of the world that I watched in a college film class. The War Room dynamics feel almost identical to Stanley Kubrick’s classic, especially with the aggressive buffoon Defense Secretary Fitzgerald (Robert John Burke), who wildly suggests they just ‘nuke the iceberg.’ Michael Stuhlbarg plays the VP in a constant state of panic and serves as comic relief, particularly in the coffee maker scene.
Iñárritu directs the entire cast to be as exaggerated and theatrical as possible. Things go off the rails during the cabinet meeting, as the group reacts violently while watching unseen footage of the catastrophe. The whole cast embraces the intentional overacting; even the usually composed German actress Sandra Hüller is constantly screaming as Digger’s half-sister and business partner. Ahmed and Jesse Plemons, playing a mysterious character that’s not revealed until the third act, are the only ones who blend the over-the-top style with something more grounded.
Cruise’s over-the-top, exaggerated performance is proven to be divisive. He’s channeling Les Grossman from Tropic Thunder but as an older character with a heavy, fake Southern drawl. Yes, it’s undoubtedly hammy and very much a caricature, but that’s likely how the character’s written and the direction he’s given. Digger has no room for depth or nuance; he’s supposed to be off-putting and in-your-face, which is what Cruise delivered.
SPOILER ALERT – at this point, I’m going to go into spoiler territory, so read at your own risk
Halfway through, Iñárritu reveals a major twist when a tree on Digger’s massive garden suddenly falls over, and a stagehand comes up from the ‘ground’ to fix it. As it turns out, the whole apocalyptic scenario is actually a tech rehearsal for a play called Fossil Fools, an environmental cautionary tale. It echoes Iñárritu’s 2014 Oscar-winning film Birdman with its play-within-a-play structure and the extended continuous shots.
Once I realized this, everything made sense—the strange acting, the fake-looking set, the broken and dripping walls, and the ridiculous characters all fit together. Like Birdman, Digger is also filmed by cinematographer Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki using wide lenses and vintage 35mm VistaVision. He frequently shot his subjects from a low angle using a wide lens, which makes everything look off-kilter. The unsettling, dissonant acoustic score by Cosmo Sheldrake, which sometimes mimics the sound of water dripping, makes viewers even more discombobulated.
I’m not in the camp that abhors Cruise’s over-the-top antics. That said, since Digger is such a big character, it probably would’ve landed better (and less grating) if Iñárritu had taken the less-is-more approach. Instead, Cruise appears in almost every scene and delivers a lengthy 10-minute speech in a European Parliament setting before a large assembly. For me, that’s hands down the most insufferable part of the whole movie. This highfalutin character gets all preachy and self-righteous, delivering a blunt lecture about how people who are upset about the environmental damage from his negligence still rely on fossil fuels in their daily lives anyway.
In contrast, Plemons delivers a long monologue in the third act that is much more restrained and far less explosive. His character speaks to his audience calmly without raising his voice, sharing something deeply meaningful to him. This moment gives viewers a chance to relax and settle their anxious nerves. It shows that connecting with people’s humanity in a cool-headed way will always be more effective than loud and aggressive tactics.
Though Iñárritu thought of this concept a decade ago, it feels especially relevant now as we see more and more natural disasters linked to climate change. Some scenes in the film are tough to watch, especially after we recently saw real devastating floods in the news, like the deadly glacier in Nepal in early September. It’s clear that climate change is real and that we need to do more to reduce global warming. But here’s the thing: nobody wants to sit through an environmental lecture at the movies even when they’re essentially ‘preaching to the choir.’
The marketing push has already capitalized on how divisive people find this film. Love it or hate it, one can’t deny the film’s indelible quality, especially with that ending. That moment where theatergoers put on their hi-tech breathing mask and step out of the building made me gasp. The long tracking shot from the darkened theater to the bleak outside world really drives home the irony of its central message. Fossil Fools is a historical play inspired by something that happened decades earlier. It’s crazy how even when people are stuck living through an actual crumbling, post-apocalyptic hellscape, they’d still shell out cash for tickets to watch a play that mocks their own impending doom.
Iñárritu’s bold vision may not appeal to everyone, but I found Digger to be such a cinematic experience I won’t soon forget. I did glance at my watch and zoned out once or twice, yet the heightened satirical tone made me laugh, and the set pieces are indeed marvelous. It’s unlike anything I’ve watched lately, and it’s so rare to find a film that isn’t adapted from existing material. If you’re on the fence, Digger is worth taking a chance on. I, for one, am glad I got to see this on IMAX.
