by Flagg Taylor ’27 on October 22, 2026
A&E - Film & TV
After a decade in the making, Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger was released in theatres on Oct. 2. With a large budget, estimated in different reports to be between $125 and $160 million at various points in the film’s production, Digger only managed to gross $8 million nationally and $20 million internationally during its opening weekend. The film has been met with extremely polarizing reactions and mixed reviews.
Currently, it sits at a 53 percent critic rating and 75 percent audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a 7.5/10 on IMDb. Both sides of its audience, the film’s critics and admirers, have called it Tom Cruise’s biggest flop at the box offices. My advice: ignore Rotten Tomatoes and the critics, ignore everybody, even the film’s quickly forming cult fanbase, and go see the film for yourself.
Iñárritu is the only reason one needs to see a movie in theatres with his name attached to it. Iñárritu is one of three directors in history to win back-to-back Best Director awards at the Oscars, in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, his film Birdman won four Oscars at the 87th Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Cinematography. Micheal Keaton was nominated for Best Actor, Ed Norton nominated for Best Supporting Actor, and Emma Stone nominated for Best Supporting Actress.
The following year, at the 88th Academy Awards in 2016, Iñárritu’s film The Revenant won three Oscars: Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Actor for Leonardo DiCaprio. The film was nominated for Best Picture, and Tom Hardy was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Another wildly successful film, this two-year span in Iñárritu’s career will go down in the cinema history books.
Another incentive to see Digger is Emanuel Lubezki, Iñárritu’s favorite cinematographer. Lubezki won back-to-back Oscars with Iñárritu as cinematographer for Birdman and The Revenant. His work shines wonderfully again in Digger, and his cinematography, paired with the set designs and color grading, makes for a truly unique visual experience. The years of dedication and mastery this duo has achieved throughout their careers together are easily grasped by anyone viewing Digger. The visual experience it provides feels like a culmination of their time together in the studio.
Another piece of Digger’s greatness comes from its cast. Cruise, also a producer of the film, is nothing short of outstanding. I would say it is his second-best performance to date, barely shy of his performance in Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia (1999). Cruise plays “Digger” Rockwell, an extremely wealthy oil tycoon who seems to be the most powerful man on earth. Cruise’s performance is hilarious and is an integral part of the film’s poignant messages.
Alongside a peaking Cruise, Riz Ahmed, who plays Dr. Ganesh, and John Goodman, who plays President Compson, form an impeccable trio with Cruise. At one point in the movie, Dr. Ganesh gets plastered while waiting to speak with Rockwell, despite not being a drinker in any sense. Ahmed’s acting is flawless; it was one of my favorite portrayals of someone wasted I’ve seen in film and made for a good laugh. Ahmed is one of the most underrated actors in the industry right now. I recently watched Sound of Metal (2019), a drama in which he stars as a heavy metal drummer going deaf. His performance was heartbreaking and inspiring.
Goodman as President Compson also delivered countless comical moments. His chemistry with Cruise is impeccable and he really rounds out the comedic trio with Rockwell and Ganesh excellently. The two are either at odds with each other or unified against him, and the conflicts between the three are hysterical. My theatre laughed a lot throughout the film.
Jesse Plemmons, another underrated actor, is amazing as usual in his role asKenny. After Bugonia last year, he is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. I think that Phillip Seymour Hoffman earlier in his career is a solid comparison for Plemmons. Both are chameleons that can morph into a wide variety of personalities and characters. In Digger, this trend continues as Plemmons turns in another exceptional performance.
Digger is the type of film that I cannot give a proper summary of without spoiling major aspects of its plot. You have to see it for yourself. It is a collection of genius minds in cinema contributing to make a masterpiece with one of the most impactful and important messages of the decade. My friends and I left the theatre in awe of what we had just watched.
Setting Cruise’s controversial personal life aside, one would be ignorant to describe him as anything less than a great mind in cinema. In an interview with Brandon Struessnig for the Letterboxd Journal, Iñárritu had high praise for Cruise’s enthusiasm and dedication to his craft and to Digger. Iñárritu described him saying, “He thinks as a filmmaker, not an actor.” Cruise brings his years of experience to Digger and is a big part of the film’s greatness.
Digger is a warning to us all; it is a reminder of our responsibility to be stewards of this planet. Many of Iñárritu’s films, including Digger, are meditations on the legacies of human beings, individually and collectively. Considering this, Struessnig asked Iñárritu about what his legacy means to him. His response was, “For me, the most important thing is to be alive, to be creating and to try to connect and express myself. I’m not worried about legacy at all.”
Iñárritu has created something beautiful and poignant. The film can connect us all as we answer the question of what we want our legacy to be as humans contemplating our stewardship of the earth. As you may have deduced by now, I am a member of the aforementioned cult fan base the movie is quickly forming. Who knows if Digger will resonate with you as it did with me, so go see it for yourself.