DIGGER : Tuesday 6th October 2026.

I saw the MA15+ Rated 'DIGGER' earlier this week, and this US, UK and Mexican Co-Produced satirical black comedy film is Co-Written, Co-Produced and Directed by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, whose previous feature film making credits take in his 2000 debut with 'Amores perros' and which he would follow through with '21 Grams' in 2003, 'Babel' in 2006, 'Biutiful' in 2010, 'Birdman' in 2014, 'The Revenant' in 2015, and 'Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths' in 2022. This film came in at a production cost of somewhere between US$125 and US$180M, was released internationally last week, and has so far grossed just US$25M with critical opinion proving divisive.

The film follows Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise, who also Co-Produces here), an oil baron and 'the most powerful man in the world' who colludes with US President Compson (John Goodman) to allow Digger's company, Rockwell United, to extract oil in Alaska and Greenland. After repeatedly ignoring warnings of methane gas escaping beneath the Greenland oil field, Digger learns from Sandy Clarkson (Danny Kirrane) the safety officer on the ground at the Greenland site, that one such pocket has exploded, dislodging an ice shelf the size of Philadelphia and sending it across the North Sea headed toward Europe. 

Scientist and Head of Environmental Safety for Digger's company Dr. Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed) warns that its collision with Norway in the next three days or so (depending on sea conditions, the prevailing winds etc.) will cause massive tsunami waves across the North Sea and wipe out much of coastal Norway. Compson and Digger instead establish a media information firewall to buy them time gambling on the slight possibility that the shelf will drift into the Atlantic Ocean and melt. The pair discuss Compson's failing health due to rectal cancer. 

An interruption brought by a prop failure reveals that Digger is actually Curtis Markson, the lead Actor in 'Fossil Fools', a satirical stage play about the supposed tycoon. Everything seen to this point has been part of a dress rehearsal before the shows Premiere. During pauses between scenes, Curtis learns from his wife Agatha (Annabel Mullion) that a plane carrying his daughter has disappeared after encountering an extreme hurricane. One of the shows Producers, Kenny (Jesse Plemons), offers to locate her using his private intelligence network, and requests his daughter's mobile phone number from Digger in order to track her whereabouts.

Back in full dress rehearsal mode, the ice shelf strikes Europe, inundating major Northern European cities. The USA and Rockwell United are summoned before a meeting of the European Parliament. Vice President Eddie (Michael Stuhlbarg) stands in for Compson, who is undergoing surgery for his cancer, and promises American support for Europe, but is jeered out of the meeting. Dr. Ganesh follows him revealing a litany of uncomfortable truths about Digger's oil exploration methods, and is equally jeered out of the meeting. Digger then fronts up to the gathered throng of European Parliamentarians and claims complete responsibility for the disaster, but argues neither he nor his company can be blamed for the world's dependence on oil (which he describes as the Mother's Milk of the Earth) as he has only been fulfilling the world's insatiable demand. His speech incites the Parliament attendees to begin fighting with each other instead of attacking him. Afterward, a now-drunk Ganesh tells Digger that an even larger ice shelf has broken away from a Russian glacier and is heading toward Alaska across the Arctic Circle.

Digger and Ganesh inform the recovering Compson, who is still heavily drugged, of this second break away ice shelf. Compson proposes launching nuclear weapons at China as a distraction. Military Chief of Staff Fitzgerald (Robert John Burke) instead suggests using the weapons against the ice shelf. Ganesh objects that the attack will merely fragment it without slowing its progress, but Compson publicly sanctions the strike. Ganesh's prediction proves correct, with twenty or so smaller but still equally as dangerous chunks breaking off.

Meanwhile, Curtis becomes increasingly disturbed by the play's excesses and eventually has a melt down on stage in a heated argument with Hannah (Sophie Wilde) the Director of the stage play, and in front of the entire cast and crew, accusing it of misrepresenting real events and trivialising the suffering of generations impacted by those responsible. Kenny reveals that he is Digger's nephew and has bought the rights to Fossil Fools, believing that the play will both allow him to move past his bitterness toward his uncle and give the public a healthy, humorous and satirical way to process their collective grief. Now understanding what his performance means, Curtis finishes the rehearsal. 

After the ice shelf disaster, Digger and his family retreat to his converted offshore platform. Five years later, Eddie has succeeded Compson as President following the latter's death. He halts all funding and military protection for the platform, resulting in most of Digger's employees immediately deserting him, stealing his food, gold, and boats. Driven into severe delusion, Digger attempts to bully God into creating more food to sustain the remaining occupants. 

Unsuccessful, he scatters the ashes of his beloved cat of twenty plus years Maggie, before jumping into the ocean he helped to pollute, and sinking to the bottom. The audience viewing the play cheers Digger's death and Curtis's performance with a standing ovation. Curtis's wife arrives to congratulate him and reveals that their daughter is safe, thanks to Kenny's help. The theatre management then announces a 'Level 4' condition outside. The audience members put on manufactured breathing masks, exit the theatre, and enter a dystopian flooded and devastated city patrolled by armed soldiers, robots, and drones. 

The film also stars Sandra Huller as Emma Rockwell, Digger's half sister and business partner; Emma D'Arcy as Lina, Digger's trusted and seemingly indispensable assistant; Burn Gorman as the Defence Secretary of Staff; and Stephen Wright as Reverend Moore, the President's spiritual advisor. 

It's easy to see why and how 'Digger' has divided critics and audiences alike, and why it has thus far failed at the global Box Office. On the one hand it's a looking glass right into the current political administration's climate deniers, their stance on whole scale oil exploration, their ability to create fake news and palm it off to the masses as the truth, and a society that is in a state of rapid decline, and that is a sad indictment of the times we find ourselves in. On the other hand it's a film of big bold satirical ambition that is visually stunning, has some laugh out loud touches and at it's core offers us a standout performance from Tom Cruise playing totally against type in a role not seen since 2008's 'Tropic Thunder' as Les Grossman, and is worthy of an Academy Award nod next March. And Tom is ably supported by his fellow Actors also worthy of a mention, not least John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Sandra Huller and Jesse Plemons, who all have their moments to shine. 

'Digger' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-