By Charles Kirkland, Jr.
Tom Cruise Plays a Man Who Mistakes Power for Control
Faced with the likely end of the world as we know it, the President of the United States calls on Digger Rockwell to save us all. Of course, the President knows that Rockwell is also responsible for the catastrophe and figures he must have a solution.
He does not.
But Rockwell will fake it until he makes it. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, he takes action.
A Different Kind of Tom Cruise
Written by Sabina Berman, Jez Butterworth, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, and Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and directed by Iñárritu, Digger places Tom Cruise at the center of a story with enormous stakes. Yet the most compelling spectacle is Cruise himself. Rather than simply asking audiences to root for Rockwell, Cruise makes it nearly impossible to look away from him.
Tom Cruise has spent much of his career playing men who can outrun disaster. Here, he plays a man who helps cause it.
As Digger Rockwell, a narcissistic oil baron responsible for an apocalypse-level catastrophe, Cruise delivers one of the most complex and engaging performances of his career.
When Power Becomes Delusion
Rockwell’s wealth has taught him to treat consequences as problems someone else can manage. That makes him more unsettling than a straightforward villain. He is a man so accustomed to power that he cannot seem to comprehend its limits, even when the damage he has caused becomes impossible to ignore.
Cruise brings a compelling tension to the role. Rockwell’s confidence commands attention, while his refusal to reckon with himself makes that attention increasingly uncomfortable. Digger
In that sense, Digger plays like an updated Dr. Strangelove for this generation—a darkly absurd examination of powerful men confronting catastrophe with the same arrogance that helped create it. The comedy and madness exist alongside the possibility of annihilation, allowing Iñárritu to find absurdity in something genuinely terrifying.
The premise gives Digger its sharpest idea. This is not simply a story about one powerful man making a terrible mistake. It is about the arrogance required to believe that money and influence can insulate you from the world you have helped destroy.
Rockwell’s greatest obstacle—and perhaps his greatest strength—is his inability to change course. He plunges forward unapologetically into the abyss, seemingly holding an almost insane contempt for any reality that does not conform to his own. Digger
Caught in Digger’s Orbit
Despite their important contributions, the powerful supporting cast of Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller, and John Goodman are ultimately drawn into Cruise’s orbit.
They flutter around the flame of Rockwell’s presence and, fittingly, they all get burned by it. Digger
It is another indication of just how thoroughly Cruise dominates the film. Everyone around Digger may recognize the danger, but escaping his gravitational pull proves to be something else entirely.
Iñárritu Embraces the Unconventional
In Digger, Alejandro G. Iñárritu finds a provocative new use for Cruise’s star power, allowing him to embody a man who believes he can control everything only to confront a catastrophe of his own making.
Nearly everything about the film pushes against convention, from the direction and casting to the unconventional construction of the screenplay. Digger
That refusal to provide audiences with an easy way through the material becomes both part of the film’s ambition and part of its challenge. Like the best satire, Digger does not necessarily offer comfort or easy answers. Instead, it leaves us staring at the absurdity of people who possess extraordinary power yet remain convinced that admitting they have lost control would be worse than the catastrophe itself.
Digger Review: Final Verdict
Rated R for pervasive language, Digger combines wildly creative storytelling with a commanding central performance to create an experience that may leave audiences confused, numb, or both.
And those who think they have figured it out may still walk away confused and numb.
If that disorientation is indeed part of Iñárritu’s intention, then the film has accomplished exactly what it set out to do. Digger
As an updated Dr. Strangelove for this generation, Digger finds its most provocative idea in the frighteningly thin line separating power from delusion—and the absurdity that follows when the people responsible for disaster remain convinced they are the only ones capable of saving us.
Digger is in theaters starting October 2, 2026, from Warner Bros. Pictures.
Grade: B
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