Writer and Director Alejandro G. Inarritu’s Digger, starring Tom Cruise as billionaire oilman Digger Rockwell, is the satirical cautionary environmental parable that is self-conscious, when it needs to be more self-aware. Get out of its own way. There’s innate genius underneath Tom Cruise’s prosthetic fat suit and Jerry Jones like Texas swagger, Alejandro Inarritu’s provocative narrative, and Emmanuel Lubezki’s rich cinematography that somehow gets lost in the fray.
In Digger, like in Hamlet, “The play’s the thing.” No, that’s not an apples-to-apples comparison by any means. Although in many ways, Digger could have been great. Maybe, it tried too damn hard in its cautionary message that we must be responsible for the Earth or die.
All is not what it seems in Digger or in Tom Cruise’s fearless performance. Inarritu’s pocketed narrative hints at the deception amidst the seeming caricature which at least for me got wearisome. Still, his climactic punchline, which I won’t say, rescues the movie, at least for me. I was a little sad in that Digger could have been much more powerful. Digger could have been more present, instead of playing too clever for its own good. I’m not great filmmakers like Alejandro Inarritu and Tom Cruise. So, I’m just saying.
Digger opens with the surreal sunrise at the window in Digger’s bedroom. He shares his bed with his beloved 30-year-old cat Maggie, who means the most to him in his life. White cat Maggie is dying, virtually catatonic. Still, devoted Digger gently cares for her, bathing and feeding her.
Digger talks with his Site Manager at his oil rigs in Greenland, where he owns drilling rights. Something has gone horribly wrong. His Chief Scientist Ganesh, played by hysterically tense, smart Riz Amed, tells Digger that the greatest threat to the world isn’t the increasing carbon dioxide footprint. Rather, it’s the release of methane gas from the earth from his oil drilling.
A devastating explosion creates an iceberg 30 times the size of Manhattan heading to Northern Europe that will cause mass death and destruction. Ganesh yells at Digger, “You knew long before the rest of us. That is why it’s your problem!” Digger calls a meeting with President Compson, played by comically self-absorbed John Goodman, who has rectal cancer. Now, the President literally asks Digger to save his ass. Digger’s sister Emma, played by hilariously stoic Sandra Huller, who has a son, tells her brother, “You just drowned the whole damn continent. What the fuck are you gonna do? Double down?”
Meanwhile, Digger gets a call from his wife Agatha, played by beautiful caring Annabel Mullion, that their daughter’s plane went missing on her trip home from Europe. Mysterious Kenny, played by powerfully understated Jesse Plemons, tells Digger he has the resources to locate their daughter. WTF? Cracks in the illusion? Alehandro Inarritu’s unconcealed narrative is too telegraphed or maybe not?
Flowers to Tom Cruise. I’ve not seen him go so all in such an absurd character like Digger. His hyperbole makes sense at the end. But still. Tom goes full Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men, when Digger addresses the European Parliament copping to his oil drilling sins. He ridiculously maintains, “Because you don’t want me to (stop drilling for oil)!” Tom could have gotten an Oscar Nomination for his performance had Digger been nuanced. Just a little.
In the poignant narrative arc, Kenny says, “You all have it right. It’s funny, and it’s stupid, and it’s scary, and it makes no goddam sense. But it happened.” The prophetic paradox of Digger. And our world in the bigger picture.
In the most touching narrative arc, Digger scatters his beloved Maggie’s ashes at sea with his nephew by his side. Digger introspectively says, “Things can change forms as they go through life.” Although Digger didn’t really change as he went through life, at least Maggie made him aware of that.
Maybe, we can change as we go through life. Maybe, we save the world, too. Really, who knows? Maybe, lightning could strike. Or as least we get a clue. Ambitious Digger missed the mark, because it didn’t get one. That’s really too bad.
