Best known for doing his own stunts in blockbuster franchises such as Mission: Impossible and Top Gun, it’s been a while since cinema-saving action man Tom Cruise has truly disappeared into a role. Hidden behind a guise of make-up and prosthetics, he stars in political comedy Digger, the latest effort from experimental director Alejandro González Iñárritu.
The plot centres around Texan oil tycoon Digger Rockwell (Cruise) who lives a lavish life in a gargantuan mansion with his decrepit cat, Maggie. After receiving threat of a potential gas leak at his rig near Greenland, he turns to his chief environmental scientist, Dr. Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) for advice. He foolishly ignores the warnings and when this leads to disaster, he and US President Compson (John Goodman) must hatch a plan to save the world.
Giving our powerful protagonist a white cat is the first blunt signal of satire in the busy script co-written by four screenwriters, a nod to Bond supervillain Blofeld that was famously parodied in Mike Myers’ Austin Powers comedies. Beyond this, it doesn’t get any sharper with its sledgehammer commentary on the climate crisis, developing through prolonged scenes of motormouthed white men in suits talking around tables. It is, in fairness, very self-aware in its visual approach, with Iñárritu’s lens pitched below bloated faces, looking up at but not flattering the obnoxious characters. Not too far into the story, there’s a narrative rug-pull that will no doubt divide audiences; it’s a bold structural swing that smartly recontextualises the film’s wildly offbeat style and also provides some compelling world-building background.
With no plains, trains, or automobiles to leap out of, Cruise, like in a piece of theatre, is confined to his character and the four walls around him. He portrays Rockwell like an obscene and outlandish caricature, chewing the scenery and spitting it out. It’s an entertaining performance that sheds a new skin with the film’s daring conceptual switch. John Goodman gives a Trumpian turn as a ridiculously incompetent leader and this over-the-top tone is adopted throughout a star-studded cast that includes Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Jesse Plemons in a sorely underused part. Riz Ahmed, deliberately sticking out as the only POC with a pivotal role, is excellent as the film’s increasingly drowned out voice of reason.
Subtle as a brick and not as funny as it ought to be, Digger plays like a two hour SNL sketch that delivers its best punchline in the first ten minutes. That being said, Iñárritu’s audacious decision to shift the storytelling perspective makes for a thought-provoking cinematic experience and gives Tom Cruise his most interesting performance in years.
