Tom Cruise has never been shy of a challenge, but his latest gamble — abandoning the action-hero roles that made him a box office titan in favour of a paunchy, Stetson-wearing oil tycoon in Alejandro G. Iñárritu's eco-satire Digger — has landed with a deeply divided thud. The film opens in cinemas and IMAX on Friday 2nd October, but the buzz surrounding it is anything but straightforward.
The Most Polarising Campaign in Recent Memory
Warner Bros. has taken the unusual step of leaning directly into the film's mixed reception, releasing a new advertisement that throws contradictory reactions side by side on screen. "Masterpiece" sits next to "Unpleasant." "Brilliant" toggles against "Baffling." "Magnificent" is followed by "Insufferable." The tagline tying it all together? "Same film, different truth."
The ad draws on reactions from film influencers, whose social embargo lifted on 22nd September — a full week before professional critics were permitted to publish their reviews. The move to get the campaign out before critics weighed in now looks cannily prescient, because when the critical consensus arrived, it was considerably harsher than those early influencer posts had suggested.
"The movie cost north of $125 million to make, and that figure is not only too big to probably justify itself; it's a testament to the arrogance of the filmmakers." — Owen Gleiberman, Variety
What the Critics Actually Think
Variety's Owen Gleiberman described the film as "so full of itself," while Bilge Ebiri of Vulture called it "a torturous experience, sometimes purposefully so, often unintentionally so." David Ehrlich of IndieWire was marginally kinder, awarding it a C+ but still dubbing it "a surreal misfire." The film currently sits at a 52% score among critics on Rotten Tomatoes — hardly the prestige triumph that a $125 million Iñárritu picture would be hoping for.
The Guardian's review was no gentler, describing Digger as "the most disappointing film of the year" — an "exasperatingly shallow, laborious, self-congratulatory satire" that wastes a strong ensemble cast. Alongside Cruise, the film features Riz Ahmed as a terrified chief scientist, John Goodman as an ailing president, Sandra Hüller as Digger's largely sidelined half-sister, and Michael Stuhlbarg in a role the Guardian described as "very bland."
Cruise Goes Character Actor — With Prosthetics to Match
The film marks Cruise's first non-action hero role in nearly a decade, and by all accounts he has committed fully to the transformation. His "Digger" Rockwell is portrayed with prosthetics suggesting age and weight, a wispy thinning hairline, and a deep-fried Texan drawl — a characterisation the Guardian compared, in visual terms at least, to Slim Pickens' memorable bomb-riding major in Kubrick's Dr Strangelove.
"There are moments to enjoy in Tom Cruise's boisterous leading turn, yes, but the film's value resides chiefly in some dreamlike and disturbing images." — The Guardian
Digger himself is a man whose reckless Arctic drilling triggers a catastrophic climate crisis — a vast ice floe the size of many Manhattans breaking loose and hurtling toward the Norwegian coastline. The film's centrepiece is a barnstorming speech Cruise delivers to a stylised UN assembly, in which Digger tears into world leaders for their dependence on the very oil they publicly condemn. It is, most reviewers concede, a genuinely compelling scene in an otherwise frustrating film.
Does 'Decide for Yourself' Actually Work as a Strategy?
Warner Bros.' gambit is bold, and not without precedent. Studios have leaned on audience scores over critical reception before — most notably when critical and popular opinion diverge sharply. Whether Digger inspires that level of grassroots loyalty remains to be seen; Iñárritu's films tend to divide casual audiences as well as critics, and a $125 million price tag demands serious box office returns to avoid becoming a high-profile misfire.
What is certain is that Cruise's willingness to take the risk at all is genuinely interesting. Say what you like about Digger — and plenty already have — walking away from the comfort of Mission: Impossible sequels to swing for this kind of prestige satire takes a particular kind of nerve. Whether audiences will reward that nerve with their Friday evening is quite another matter.
Digger is in cinemas and IMAX from Friday 2nd October.
