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Digger (2026)


Digger is directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu and stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell. Much like his name, there is a lot of symbolism and meaning packed into the film, along with plenty of references that brought a smile to my face. I went into this expecting it to be pretentious or outright bad because that was the prevailing opinion online before general audiences had even had a chance to see it. Anyone calling this movie pretentious clearly has not seen The Death of Robin Hood or Die My Love. Die My Love was so pretentious that my wife actually begged me to leave the theater, and I had to finish it another day. Digger, on the other hand, actually understands the difference between being ambitious and simply being self-important.

Tom Cruise is great as Digger Rockwell, giving the character exactly the kind of larger-than-life personality the movie needs. There is so much going on beneath the surface that I found myself constantly looking for the symbolism and references hidden throughout the film. It reminded me of Fight Club in the sense that I could see this being a movie that does poorly at the box office but eventually develops a passionate cult following. There is enough here to dissect that I suspect people will still be talking about it years from now.

Riz Ahmed is fantastic as Dr. Ganesh, essentially becoming the voice for many of the things the audience is thinking while watching Digger and President Compson. John Goodman plays Compson, and while the character clearly invites comparisons to Donald Trump, I do not think it is as simple as making him a Trump allegory, like Mickey 17 did. There are also elements that can be read as references to Joe Biden, which makes the political satire feel less like an attack on one specific person or party and more like a broader commentary on American politics.

Jesse Plemons gets a great monologue that really stands out, but the biggest surprise for me was Sophie Wilde, who I already knew could act after seeing her in Talk to Me. Here, she proves she deserves to be standing alongside Tom Cruise, arguing with him about theater and holding her own against one of the biggest movie stars alive. That meta quality works especially well because the movie is essentially having conversations about movies, theater, art, and the people who make them while simultaneously being one itself.

At times, Digger felt like I was watching a Wes Anderson movie, and I mean that as a compliment. The deliberately constructed visuals, absurdity, symbolism, and heightened performances all work together without completely tipping the movie into self-indulgence. Iñárritu walks a surprisingly fine line between pretentiousness and satire, and for me, he stays on the right side of it. This is the kind of movie that will probably be studied and picked apart for years. Like Fight Club, it may take time for audiences to fully appreciate what it is trying to do, but there is a lot here worth discussing. Result: A

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