Digger for the uninitiated...

For those of you simply looking for a verdict, I won’t keep you waiting. Yes, you should go watch Digger. I think it’s everything director Alejandro G. Iñárittu claims it is; and a little bit more. It’s a wacky satirical critique of the state of modern politics and climate discourse; the ‘little bit more’ being a commentary on how we, as the public, interact with (or trivialise) it all. It features more than enough interesting stylistic choices, a wonderfully quirky score by Cosmo Sheldrake, and a rock-solid cast – from Tom Cruise and Sandra Hüller to Riz Ahmed and Jesse Plemons. Not to mention that it features one of the more left-field narrative twists of late – but I won’t spoil that anywhere here, don’t worry. 

However… if you happened across other reviews (by professional critics, which I won’t claim for a second to be) of Digger, I’m willing to put decent money on the fact that you read something very similar to what I did. It’s a self-absorbed, unfunny, cringe, and directionless mess with mediocre acting from some, in theory, really good actors. And yet, audiences like it. I liked it quite a lot! Where is this discrepancy coming from? Am I just a Jesse Plemons fan? Do the critics have it right? Am I genuinely stupid? I don’t think so. So, are the negative reviews just pretentious as hell? Possibly. But I’m going to try to explain – without experience-ruining spoilers – why I think this film is completely undeserving of the current box office bomb its experiencing.  

Like many aspects of modern society, I think cinema has become really polarizing. Somehow, every movie that comes out these days is either the best thing to ever hit the screen [think One Battle After Another, Project Hail Mary, The Odyssey] or it’s the single worst use of storage space ever, and an affront to eyeballs worldwide. In such an environment, I’ve got a feeling that these professional critics fall into one of two brackets: those who choose to feed the polarization, and those who feel forced to lean into it. And I’ve got to add that Digger’s recent ad campaigns leaning into this polarization and telling you to watch the movie to find out for yourself is borderline genius. Because, as stated, Digger has tragically bad reviews, slandering everything from the writing and concept, to the colour grading and acting. But it also has, only slightly fewer in number, reviews lauding it as the greatest contemporary commentary on the current state of political and environmental affairs. But the truth is (well, my truth is) that it’s just… good. It’s a very solid, entertaining film to go watch with your friends when you have a free evening and fifteen quid each to spare on a ticket, some overpriced popcorn, and a coke.  

It would be ridiculous to call it Tom Cruise’s (or any other actor in this movie’s) best performance ever. But it’s different. He’s not just playing Ethan Hunt, or some copy paste action star again. He plays a bold new character and, once you understand the narrative structure and the direction the movie is taking you, everything he does just makes sense. Sandra Hüller does not simply play the Eva Stratt that so many people have loved her for recently. Jesse Plemons is not simply… well, he’s still playing a slightly quirked up white guy. But he, along with the rest of the cast, plays the characters that they need to very respectably. Ranging from just fine for performances like Sophie Wilde’s, to genuinely really good from those like Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed.  

Similarly, this is not the single funniest movie ever, nor is it the best piece of commentary ever. But it does have important messages, and it quite often shares a lot of them well. It’s got more to say than just the political and ecological warnings; the film invites you to question how you yourself interact with the associated messaging and media, questioning the place of entertainment in those discussions. While doing all this, the film remains genuinely funny. The humor is equal parts crude and witty, oftentimes striking uncomfortably close to home. Although, admittedly, the critics sometimes have a point – particularly in the case of calling the movie too loud or over the top at moments. Again, I will defend this film: some of those annoying or cringe moments make sense in the context and are conscious decisions (it is killing me to not be able to explain this), but a couple of them truly just are awkward. Uncomfortable in the way that you can’t tell whether it’s intentional, or if some poor writer’s joke fell so flat on its face that it’s now imbedded in the pavement itself. But again, most of the commentary and humour is genuine. It’s real, funny when it needs to be, uncomfortable when it wants to be, and deeply entertaining throughout. 

So, go watch Digger. It’s an enjoyable film in theatres right now; tickets are (tragically) easy to come by, and it’s just a good night out. Or an afternoon. Or a morning. I don’t know when you people watch films. It’s funny. It’s wonderfully fresh. It’s bold, in a wild and wacky way, with its narrative style, and playful with its score. It contains some genuinely attention-grabbing sequences along with messages that’ll stick with you for a while after you watch it. What? Did you expect me to say ‘for the rest of your life’? Like I said, it’s a good movie. Not the greatest ever. And I think that appreciation for good movies which you can watch once or twice is, now more than ever, slowly dying. So don’t let it. Ignore the critics. Hell, ignore me. Follow the advice of the renewed ad campaign, and Digger Rockwell himself, telling you to “decide for yourself”. Go watch it just because you can and want to. And, in the process, I sincerely hope you’ll enjoy it; but I’ll understand if you don’t. And in that case, I promise not to cry, despite really liking Jesse Plemons.