On Tuesday night, The Badger went to the Lewes Depot for its first cinema trip of the year. On the table that night? Digger, directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, starring Tom Cruise.
Every year, there is at least one film released that divides opinion, makes a bold statement, or that, as an audience member, you just know will be remembered as a cult classic. Last year, it was One Battle After Another with its on-the-nose political commentary of the United States. In 2023, Poor Things caused rifts in debates about feminism and prostitution in film. This year, Digger is poised to take the crown.
Following the manic and manipulative oil tycoon, Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise), as the consequences of his actions lead to global meltdown and flooding, Iñárritu is far from afraid to tell it how it is. Rockwell is evil: there is no debate about this throughout the film. However, Iñárritu uses this to his advantage, framing the film’s narrative around how Rockwell (simply referred to as Digger throughout the film) will reconstruct his abhorrent actions to frame his own. In the words of Rockwell, ‘Perception is reality’.
The techniques that Iñárritu uses to achieve this are, without giving away any major spoilers, beyond the ordinary. It is not as simple as Rockwell just lying to the world, and people eating it up. No, here the audience gets a look at how such a sick and twisted mind is capable of shifting blame, making someone reconsider their own role in a major disaster, and, importantly, attempting to profit from the end of days.
Here lies what makes Digger so interesting and nuanced. It would be fair to assume that this clear and obvious message of how the oil industry is funding and benefiting from the climate crisis is how Iñárritu tells us how it is, but there is so much more to it. The best moment in the film comes as Digger Rockwell delivers his speech to an angered crowd of politicians from countries affected by his actions. A beyond-brilliant performance and monologue from Cruise drives home what Iñárritu is really telling the audience: yes, Rockwell is evil, but he can be right.
He goes on many tangents, addressing the world’s dependency on oil and the greed people express in their wants and desires, desires that can only be achieved in a world fuelled by oil. The audience should not forget the selfish place that Rockwell is coming from when delivering his speech, but they should be left thinking about how far beyond their means they might be living.
The cherry on top of the cake of multi-layered messaging comes in the film’s final act. Again, without any significant spoilers, the film leaves audiences with one final truth: art cannot save the world. No matter how many warnings it gives us, like those made in this very picture, it is impossible to make everybody listen. Towards the end of the film, Jesse Plemons’ character tells two people mid-argument that they are both right, “You’re all right. Now what?”, and this ironically applies to the divisive criticisms of the film itself.
Yes, Digger does at times drift too far from its premise, go off the rails, and hold itself back with meaningless B-plots, but it is still incredibly relevant. A few shortcomings do not equal failure, and the film’s premise and messages are exactly what the world needs in this turbulent day and age. Digger is clever, both when it absolutely needs to be, and when it could have been done without. Some people will perceive Rockwell as the film’s hero, and that’s okay; maybe we are all right no matter what. However, this only bolsters my main takeaway from this film: the most important thing to do is to watch it.
It is not typical fashion to end a review by telling the reader to go and form their own opinion, but that is exactly what I am going to tell you to do. Digger is one of the most important pieces of media produced since the start of the decade, and could go down in history as one of the most significant over the next 15 or so years.
4/5 Stars
Another article you might like – https://thebadgeronline.com/2026/04/saving-grace-project-hail-mary-and-how-it-has-hit-the-box-office/