Don’t let anyone spoil ‘Digger’ for you

Tom Cruise delivers the performance of his career in a movie whose real subject only comes into focus after it has already started playing with your head.

Near the beginning of Alejandro González Iñárritu’s “Digger,” oil baron Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) is briefing the president and his Cabinet.

Digger, preoccupied with his terminally ill cat, has just set off a calamitous global environmental disaster and is meeting with the president to mitigate the fallout.

None of us, not even the most rational people, is immune to the power of emotional messaging.

The president, played by a slimmed-down John Goodman, is an over-the-top blowhard. He’s an amalgam of Donald Trump, both Bushes, and every villainous conservative politician in the history of cinema. He is flanked by a comically weak vice president, a square-jawed racist general, and a sycophantic Bible-thumping preacher.

It was funny, and I was mesmerized by the production design and cinematography. But I thought, “Why the lazy stereotypes?”

I knew Iñárritu was smarter than this, and I knew Tom Cruise wouldn’t settle for anything less than excellence. So why was the story driven by the lead character’s stupidity? Why were the other characters such hackneyed tropes? It didn’t make sense.

Then the plot twisted. My jaw dropped, and I spent the next two hours on the edge of my seat, hypnotized by what might be the greatest film of a generation.

"Digger" is an incredible film for many reasons. First, the entire cast is brilliant, and this is the best performance of Tom Cruise’s career.

There’s more to admire in the writing, Richard Johnson and Dennis Gassner’s production design, Emmanuel “Chivo” Lubezki’s heroic cinematography, the sound design and editing, and Jacqueline West’s costumes. Every aspect of the movie serves to complete the gestalt.

But what makes this film truly great is that it is unlike anything that has come before it. People ask whether it is comparable to “Dr. Strangelove” or “Citizen Kane,” but those are the wrong analogies. The closest comparison might be the moment in “The Wizard of Oz” when Toto reveals that the Wizard is merely an ordinary man behind the curtain.

Another curious thing about “Digger” is that it is executed so masterfully that it strikes an implicit bargain with its audience: Don’t spoil it. So I’m not going to ruin it for you.

And no, it’s not a movie about climate change or the oil industry. The environmental catastrophe is merely a plot device, and the stated climate science “facts” are laughably absurd, which I suspect is by design.

“Digger” is a film about the power of storytelling, but not in the way you think. It is about the nature of performative political hate and how our elites shape the narrative to let us believe we’re winning even as the world around us falls apart.

The film is a devastating critique of politicized art, which has not only become normalized but has provided endless fodder for political commentators on both sides of the aisle.

But “Digger” can’t be easily categorized through an ideological lens. And since it is an indictment of the entire infotainment complex, small wonder critics gave it a lukewarm reception.

Warner Bros.’ marketing campaign didn’t do “Digger” any favors. Unable to reveal the real plot, the trailers were misleading. Tom Cruise’s promotional blitz could only concentrate on the film’s technical triumphs, of which there are many. It’s a shame more people didn’t turn out, but there is no way to explain the plot without revealing the twists, which don’t stop coming until the credits roll.

There’s a scene in the middle of the film where Digger offers the scientist Ganesh (played by the great Riz Ahmed) a piece of bluefin sashimi. Ganesh declines, citing moral concerns over declining bluefin tuna populations.

Digger tells Ganesh a story. It’s about the man who raised the tuna and how lovingly he cares for them. Among other things, the fish farmer gives the tuna daily massages and even sings to them.

Elated by the heartfelt story, Ganesh relents and eats the sashimi. But then we learn that the tale of the tuna farmer is a complete fabrication. Digger has no idea where the tuna came from. He just knows it’s delicious.

The point is that a good story, told artfully, can overcome rational resistance or moral objection.

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Plot sounds like complete shite:

Warning reveals whole plot of movie:

Digger (2026 film):

Digger Rockwell is an aging oil magnate who colludes with U.S. President Compson to allow Digger's company, Rockwell United, to extract oil in Alaska and Greenland. Despite repeated warnings about methane beneath the Greenland field, Digger learns that a pocket has exploded, dislodging a massive ice shelf and sending it toward Europe. Environmental Safety Chief Dr. Nirav Ganesh warns that its collision with Norway in three days will trigger devastating tidal waves across the North Sea. Rather than inform the public, Compson and Digger establish an information firewall, gambling that the shelf might drift into the Atlantic Ocean and melt. They also discuss Compson's deteriorating health due to rectal cancer.

A prop failure reveals that Digger is actually Curtis Markson, the lead actor in Fossil Fools, a satirical stage play about the tycoon. Everything so far has occurred during the play's dress rehearsal before its premiere. Between scenes, Curtis learns that a plane carrying his daughter has disappeared after encountering an extreme hurricane. Producer Kenny offers to locate her through his private intelligence network.

Continuing the play, the ice shelf strikes Europe, flooding major Northern European cities. The United States and Rockwell United are summoned before the European Parliament. Vice President Eddie represents Compson, who is undergoing cancer surgery, and promises American assistance. Digger accepts responsibility for the disaster but argues that neither he nor his company can be blamed for society's dependence on oil, since he has merely fulfilled global demand. His speech provokes the attendees into fighting among themselves rather than confronting him. Later, a drunken Ganesh warns Digger that an even larger ice shelf has broken away from a Russian glacier and is heading toward Alaska.

Digger and Ganesh inform the sickly Compson, who remains heavily drugged and deluded. Compson proposes launching nuclear weapons at China as a distraction, but Military Chief of Staff Fitzgerald recommends targeting the ice shelf instead. Ganesh warns that the strike will fragment the shelf without slowing it down. Nevertheless, Compson publicly authorizes the attack, and Ganesh's prediction proves correct.

Meanwhile, Curtis grows increasingly troubled by the play's excesses and eventually breaks down on stage. He accuses the production of distorting real events and trivializing the suffering of generations harmed by those responsible. Kenny reveals that he is the real Digger's nephew and has purchased the rights to Fossil Fools in the hopes the play will help him overcome his bitterness toward his uncle while giving the public a constructive way to process its collective grief. Understanding the significance of his performance, Curtis completes the rehearsal.

Following the ice shelf disaster, Digger and his family are exiled to a converted offshore platform. Five years later, Eddie has succeeded Compson as president after his death, withdrawing all funding and military protection from the platform, which prompts most of Digger's employees to abandon him and steal his food, gold, and boats. Increasingly delusional, Digger attempts to bully God into providing food for the remaining occupants. When this fails, he scatters the ashes of his cat, Maggie, shares a brief moment with Kenny, and commits suicide by jumping into the polluted ocean.

The audience watching the play cheers Digger's death and Curtis's performance. Curtis's wife arrives to congratulate him and reveals that their daughter has been found safe, thanks to Kenny. Theater management then announces a "Level 4" condition outside. Audience members put on manufactured breathing masks and leave the theater, emerging into a flooded, devastated city patrolled by soldiers, robots, and drones.

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