Digger Review: It subverts, and it sustains
After watching the Digger trailer and seeing the review scores, I was undeniably worried. However... the Rotten Tomatoes score? Right next to 50%? With a surprisingly high Letterboxd score? That usually means it has a lot of artistic merit—more of a love-it-or-hate-it film, not just a bad one. So, would I love it or hate it? That's what I was hyped to find out. Thanks for joining me here on The Reel Ranker today, and I hope you enjoy your time on the site!
Let's start with the negatives. This movie is, by all means, a love-it-or-hate-it film. It's bizarre, all up in your face, and indubitably bombastic. It won't be a film that clicks for everyone, and it's certainly not a crowdpleaser, but the people who like this film will be hailing it as one of the best of the year, and will likely be calling it a "forgotten masterpiece" until they draw their last breath on the deathbed. This is just one of those movies people will go to war over; I can just sense it.
This divisiveness is especially apparent after the first 30 minutes, where it takes a sharp turn. This plot twist will make or break the film for many. It's an odd one, and honestly it broke the film for me and put me off... until it kept finding ways to justify itself and, by the end, all came together in a bout of bizarre genius. It tore a hole in my heart at first, but by the end it got all patchworked up. Like a sore muscle, it hurt at first, but made it stronger. It's a twist and a deconstruction that can evoke a range of emotions: love, hate, apathy, and beyond. Yet, that's why I admire it so much—it's multidimensional.
Some will find the film overcooked, dislike the screenplay, or not resonate with how the messaging is carried across. They may not see its heightened nature as an addition to the film, but as a subtraction from it.
After all, this film is very theatrical, loud, and fast-paced. It's high-octane, yelling absurdities and obscenities for the majority of the film. This will drive many mad, especially those who wanted Iñárritu to take a more subtle, Oscar-prestige route.
While the satire it delivers isn't the most original or witty, the way it amalgamates style and substance into a Mobius-strip box makes it unforgettable. With more thematic floors than the Empire State Building and an unflappable riff on geriatric world powers in a wild environment, Digger proves you can have style and substance. I get why this film may revolt some, but these bold swings are exactly what made me love it.
The performances were supreme. Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell was so much fun, and easily one of my favorite performances of the year so far. As the film's meta-commentary mythologizes him, he is a scary and threatening man. Yet he also has a layer of zany goofiness. Cruise captures all this energy with terrific theatricality. As much as I enjoyed him in his decade-long filmography as Ethan Hunt, this role was as refreshing as I hoped (and a bag of chips... but not a freezer full of imagined foodstuffs).
But he's only one incredible performance among many: John Goodman, Jesse Plemons, and, most notably, Riz Ahmed also did phenomenal work here. John Goodman effortlessly plays up the generational, gener-iatric president persona we've seen non-stop in America since 2020, on both sides of the political coin. As someone who works somewhere surrounded by old people daily, this film captures the dementia-laden, abrasive behavior of some of our most confuddled elders—but with a heaping of weaponized incompetence instead of the usual, understandably uncontrollable ruckus caused by the plague of aging.
Jesse Plemons perhaps plays the film's most layered character, and does so with all the enigma and intrigue required for such a figure. On one hand, he lets Fossil Fools move forward; he is quiet and sincerely polite; he feels guilt for his relatives' actions; and he discusses his adoration for the play as a form of public ecological catharsis. While I do think he leans good, his ownership of the play and inherited power put him in an immense position where he could theoretically militarize his cloud and goodwill to maintain control over a fractured populace.
Yet, Riz Ahmed might be the biggest, most star-studded performance here. He plays a hired scientist who gets caught up in a series of increasingly obtuse decisions that clash with his moral code. Dr. Ganesh's contributions as the antagonistic presence toward Digger, who stays around to prevent further environmental safety concerns, make for the most relatable and lovable character throughout the whole film.
I adored the story's obscenity, tenacity, and audacity. With real relevance to modern-day society funneled through this sensational sieve, I resonated with the themes and the disdain for aggressively incompetent authority figures. In some ways, it's anti-establishment, but in others, it holds up a mirror to us and suggests that our clingy need for modern commodities fuels much of our world's downfall—not fuel itself.
I also loved the meta-commentary on why we are so invested in fictional satire and pompous productions in the first place. It's because we look for a place to purge our pain. The film shows this in a way that's not too complicated, but it's memorable, hysterical, and admirable.
The score was wonderfully absurd, lining up to a T with the film's nature. Like I Love Boosters earlier this year, it leans into the concept's ridiculousness musically. It amplifies the film's energy instead of trying to transform it. Many scores try to be the next Williams or Zimmer: too orchestrally melodic, or too nuanced and atmospheric. Composers like Cosmo Sheldrake here remind us what a score is really supposed to do.
While the budget ballooned to a stratosphere that damned the film to financial failure and a sad send-off as the final film before Warner Bros.'s merger, the budget shows in the wonderfully whimsical set design and the superb shots captured on cutting-edge cameras. This film had a fresh vibe throughout, with so much visual storytelling packed in. The iconic speech scene? Any little scuffle in the background reflects on humanity as much as Digger's grandiose gremlinism. Add in the meta elements and the fact it feels like the natural resting point between a blockbuster and Hitchcockian, and you've got a film that's elite in every echelon.
The Reel Ranker Verdict
Reel or Unreel? - Reel
The Reel Ranker Score: 95%
Letter Score: S+
Star Ranking: 5 out of 5
Digger is one of those films. Few films keep me on the edge of my seat and keep winning me over after bold swings. Few films are this bizarre, human, and electrically alive. And at times, it even shovels up meaningful questions, packaged in a way any pretentiously panache window display could only dream of. It's a masterpiece in a way any great film is: it subverts, but it sustains.
Interested in checking out some recent reviews for some other satire and comedy films? See them below!
Brighton Nelson
Brighton Nelson
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