Starring: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons Written by: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, Sabina Berman Directed by: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Tom Cruise didn’t have to do this. There’s a pretty clear path for a movie star to nab a late-in-career Oscar nomination: play a weathered, slightly nuanced version of your beloved screen persona. Think Paul Newman in The Color of Money. Or, even better, Newman in The Verdict (which he didn’t win for but should have).
Say what you will about Cruise, he’s never been interested in the easy layup. What Cruise does in Digger is wild and eccentric; real risk-taking. It’s as daring as any stunt he pulled off in the Mission Impossible series, and the most complex role he’s tackled since Vanilla Sky. And, as you’d expect, he goes all in.
While this movie is far more out there than the typical Oscar fare, Cruise more than earns his shot at the gold statue with this one—if only for the sheer boldness of his performance (and the material) alone.
As for the film itself, I don’t know if my opinion of a movie has ever shifted so much from start to finish. One moment I felt like I might be watching a trainwreck; the next a masterpiece. Part of that’s by design; part of it I’m not so sure. Each scene is like a teeter-totter where you don’t know which way it’s going to oscillate next.
But even when you’re not sure if it’s working (or if it’s a better collection of scenes than a complete movie), Digger never breaks the cardinal movie rule: Don’t be boring. The staging, the acting, the dialogue—there’s always something commanding your attention. There are so many movies that leave you thinking “why didn’t they just go for it a few times rather than be mediocre?” Well, ALL Digger does is go for it.
And somehow, almost against all odds (but also not, because it’s so intentional), it comes together in the end. And not only comes together, but slowly clicks into place, layer by layer, in a way that leaves you dizzy and elated.
While they marketed the movie as they should, it definitely turned a lot of people off—as did the movie’s overall aesthetic (which is best described as “Wes Anderson but kinda gross”). Just know that’s not really what this movie is (or not exactly what this is). And unraveling that is one of the best cinematic surprises of the year.
Your description of the film oscillating between train wreck and masterpiece is exactly the feeling I had during the film. You had one extra swing of positivity because the end of the Digger storyline completely lost me. I did enjoy all the (spoiler).
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And I’m 100% with you on Cruise never taking the easy roles, even with mission impossible he ends up putting his body on the line because of the stunts