r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 15d ago
Official Discussion Official Discussion - Digger [SPOILERS] Spoiler
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Digger
Summary
The most powerful man in the world embarks on a frantic mission to prove he is humanity's savior before the disaster he's unleashed destroys everything.
Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Writer Sabina Berman Jez Butterworth Alexander Dinelaris Nicolás Giacobone Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Cast
- Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell
- Riz Ahmed as Ganesh
- John Goodman as President Compson
- Sandra Hüller as Emma Rockwell
- Michael Stuhlbarg as Vice President
- Jesse Plemons as Kenny
Rotten Tomatoes: 53%
Metacritic: 46
VOD / Release In theaters — October 2, 2026
Trailer Official Trailer
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u/SanderSo47 I'll see you in another life when we are both cats. 15d ago
That final shot might be my favorite of the year. Leaving you uneasy with a haunting feeling as you get a glimpse of how shitty things have become. "Look What They've Done to My Song" was the perfect needle drop. Can't say I heard it before, but it's been stuck in my mind.
And so that's WB's last image before things change. Burning down the house on its way out.
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u/MoonDaddy 15d ago
Did you stay in the theatre long enough for it to switch from the soundtrack to the house PA system saying LEVEL FOUR?
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u/jayeddy99 15d ago
I took that as a meta nod to say “ok you can actually leave now” for us as the audience, because the song cut off was so abrupt lol
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u/TheCookieButter 14d ago
It was to turn us into the audience that just watched Fossil Fools. Applauding the satire and comical downfall of a villain then going back to the miserable world without doing anything to change it.
The play was produced by Digger's nephew who still has unending generational money and Palantir powers despite his family's heavy involvement in the world's destruction. The world in ruins still wasn't enough to change the hands of power.
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u/manored78 13d ago
That was actually brilliant part of the satire because people wondered why is the nephew of the billionaire Digger’s fortune producing a play about him?
It’s because that’s what the powers that be do. They actually produce films that seem anti capitalist or anti system but they’re usually against a certain person, a corporation, a stock villain or a stock cause to spread awareness of even if it’s sometimes too late.
It’s like a steam valve release.
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u/thehemanchronicles 12d ago edited 11d ago
Insert Joyce Messier's quote in Disco Elysium about capital subsuming all critique into itself
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u/zudoplex 15d ago
It was kinda nice to sit there and listen to the birds.
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u/97GeoPrizm 14d ago
That’s made from the sounds from of endangered UK birds, so even that’s a downer. 😅
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u/G_MoneyF 15d ago
Also did you catch how Digger’s nephew “owned a security company” and only needed the phone number to track his daughter. As well as the “compliance is freedom”on the wall at the end. I took it that they live in a security state and somehow Digger’s family is still running it all.👌🏻ending
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u/MichaelRichardsAMA 15d ago
There was also the armed guard on the streetcorner and seemingly an autonomous robotic armed guard conversing with him. As well as the APC soldier who got some shit thrown at him
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u/TinyFugue 14d ago
was expecting gunfire
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u/quitpayload 13d ago
The militarised police officer not immediately fatally shooting the people throwing shit at him is by far the most unrealistic thing about this movie
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u/Mafia513 14d ago
Compliance is freedom while everyone wears a mask as they leave. Love it.
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u/Uncle_Freddy 14d ago
Seemed like a semi-deliberate callback to Rockwell’s parliament monologue saying that he sells us freedom.
The Rockwells are still providing us “freedom” in this new world order, it’s now just Kenny doing it (I took his “security company” to mean the drones and the forces patrolling the streets at the end of the movie).
The evil billionaire’s family still runs the world, they’re just giving the masses the old generation as scapegoats to channel their anger. In turn, the masses are distracted from the fact that the same family that ruined their world is still in charge and pulling the strings; on top of that, they’re telling the “story” of how it all went. There’s the truth, and there’s the story; the Rockwells still control the latter at the end of the movie.
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u/Awwkaw 14d ago
Also the company making the masks is called "lungz", that's exactly what a safety company billionaire would cal masks to make them sound cool.
Another cool fact was that some of the poor people we saw when they exited the theatre were not wearing masks. And some where wearing red masks (while their children had white masks).
So many class indicators, baked directly into the "security"
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u/Timely_Future4163 14d ago
I didn’t even think about the fact that the ending of the play could have been fabricated and Digger just went on being a billionaire and controlling everything
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u/BloodyRedBarbara 15d ago
It's the kind of film that really does work so much more if you watch it in the cinema and not just because bigger screen and better sound. If you stick around for a couple of minutes the music stops and the cinema gets a level 4 warning too just like the theater attendees.
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u/SpookingtonZ 15d ago
I’ve never seen a movie so on the nose.
Sometimes, a movie HAS to be on the nose.
It’s a movie made with so much rage, and it comes through beautifully. I can fully see why it’s divisive, but god damn, what a movie.
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u/fragileego3333 15d ago
Was it on the nose though? I think that was the point. The play itself is a cliche satire. But the underlying theme of the movie overall is less on the nose. It’s literally about how these types of movies are on the nose. And no I’ve said on the nose so much I feel it’s not even a real phrase anymore!
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u/SpookingtonZ 15d ago
Exactly! It’s PURPOSELY on the nose, and that’s why it works so well to me. There’s some really incredible stuff when you dive deep, but I just adore that it wasn’t afraid to just absolutely roar some of its themes straight to the audience, totally unafraid of holding back.
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 15d ago edited 15d ago
I get what they were going for but I don't think they really did enough with it to justify making this choice. They only really provide commentary on it in the scene with the big Plemmons monologue. Otherwise it just feels like they're just doing the same thing that they're critiquing except they've gone out of their way to highlight that they're doing it.
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u/AnAquaticOwl 15d ago
I actually thought Cruise's monologue right before Plemmons' provided more commentary. It's easy to look at the current administration and think of them all as clowns, but they're not - they're dangerous, calculating people who know exactly what they're doing.
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u/redbeard_av 15d ago
Exactly and I think that was a very important point that needed to be delivered directly.
It is one of the most scathing statement in this SNL sketch politics culture that we find ourselves in. And you can’t laugh your way out of this. You need sincerity to get out of this.
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u/bisonboy223 15d ago
I think a lot of people are missing the main point of this movie. The climate change satire isn't the point. It's used as a backdrop on which the point is made. I think a lot of the people who don't like this movie see it as a worse version of Don't Look Up. Which is understandable, since that's what it was marketed as. But the deceptive marketing is part of the point as well - the movie is an exploration of the parts of human nature that lead us to want to create and consume things like Don't Look Up.
It is, at its core, a semi-satirical look at the people who went to the theaters to see the movie the trailers promised.
I think it's brilliant and genuinely thought-provoking about the way we make art as a way to cope, as a way to cleanse, and as a way to remember. I also understand if, due to its very nature, someone doesn't enjoy watching it. It really doesn't put it all together until the very end. But I expected to not like this movie, and I think it's one of my favorite of the year so far.
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u/zelos22 15d ago
Don’t Look Up is probably my least favorite movie I’ve seen this decade, and this is probably going in my top 10. I’m as surprised as anyone!
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u/BelonyInMyLeftPocket 15d ago
The parts of this movie that felt very Dont Look Up to me were all the governmental scenes with Goodman. Felt very Mickey 17 as well.
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u/eiddieeid 15d ago
I agree with the Mickey 17 comparison. I said that as I was walking out
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u/DrNSQTR 15d ago
I resonate with this comment a lot. After watching the film I went to look for any review that would make the argument that at it's heart not a story about climate change or politics, but a story about stories.
Unfortunately all I found were a lot of reviews lambasting the film for undermining its mission to skewer power and politics with it's 'twist'. Or that the film was up its own arse and needlessly indulgent because it was being meta for meta's sake.
I think more than anything the scene about two thirds in with Jesse Plemon's character delivering his monologue is the whole crux of the film. But I disagree with your diagnosing of the film as a satirizing of the people who go to theaters. I think the movie is actually not so much cynical as it is sincere. It's not a critique of the audience. It's just commentary on the nature of stories and how we use stories to cope in a fucked up world.
- Ganesh eats the tuna after swallowing a made up story about the tuna being hand-raised and living a great life.
- Curtis's wife tells herself the story that her daughter is okay to keep herself from losing it.
- Kenny Rockwell serves the story of how the world broke to the huddled masses as penance/absolution for the sins of his father.
- Digger's story about his grandfather and how raping the earth is his birthright / divine mandate.
- The president's story about how the leader of the free world is in fact still in control and can turn it all around despite a terminal diagnosis and cascading global catastrophes.
And of course, the most poignant example of how the remnants of humanity in the film use the story of Fossil Fools as a reminder of who we are and how we got here in order to make sense of and keep surviving in a cruel world that often doesn't make much sense at all.
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u/Uncle_Freddy 14d ago
Literally, one of Cruise’s lines as Rockwell was something to the effect of “There’s the truth and there’s the story. The public’s already been given the truth; we’ll give them the story.”
I’ve been stuck thinking about Cruise’s big monologue, and how it resonated with a half truth/devil’s advocate position I’ve felt for a while; that while conscious consumers don’t really change much on their own and that corporations are responsible for far more, it’s also the demand of consumers that keep corporations operating as they are.
That’s a half-truth that is super convenient to the corporations. And when stories are told from half-truths, it’s easy to get engrossed in them as whole truths. Something like that serves as a kind of self-disqualification “well I can’t really criticize the system because I participate in the system” if you take it at face value.
It’s convenient truth to the Rockwells of the world because, in the movie, it’s literally the Rockwells still selling you the line. Kenny very well may have taken the play on as a way to divest himself from his family’s legacy and put it on as his penance to society/allow himself to laugh with others at his family’s expense. But, he also owns a security tech company, in a world being patrolled by drone swarms and robot peacekeepers. It’s in his best interest too that people remain mad at his ancestors, and not at him and his modern peers.
All because this is the story that he’s now telling. Honestly, I have to tip my cap; it’s superb storytelling in the movie, seeing those dots connect now.
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u/gameboykid93 14d ago
Of note as well, you see Kenny and his mother portrayed in a relatively positive light at least compared to the other "Fossil Fools". She was trying to set up renewable energy companies and constantly argued with Digger about them. And Kenny's just an innocent little kid, who (according to the play) had little to do with Uncle Digger save for some mildly inspiring moment about his dead cat.
Very convenient that the man telling the story in the time of the play is the one benefiting from it the most. A lesson that Digger knew all too well.
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u/theoneandonlyamateur 15d ago
I think a lot of people are missing the main point of this movie.
Eh, I don't think so. The "it's cause you didn't understand it" line sounds just like Wes Anderson fans when someone says they didn't like one of his films.
I think the actual problem some of us had with the film is that the twist is revealed a bit too early, because from there it jumps back and forth from Digger's story, one that we were actually invested in, and thus it feels a bit jarring. For example, the whole subplot of Cruise's daughter on the plane felt entirely unnecessary. I found myself bored and just wanting to go back to Digger's play.
I'd argue that the twist would've have been better to save for the end of the 2nd act or even the beginning of the 3rd.
Second, I think people were expecting a funnier film, though I think that could be blamed on marketing. Overall I liked it, though. Even if it wasn't particularly funny, I agree with you that it had some really brilliant moments.
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u/feed-me-seymour 14d ago
But I think "the twist" of it being a stage production, revealed at the time it was, worked for me because I was still baffled why this story was being told in the manner it was - ridiculous, overblown, outrageous... But then Kenny's monologue and that second twist/layer grounded the play and reframed the entire first two thirds of the movie for me. I've never so quickly gone from "I'm laughing but this movie is dumb and I don't care" to "holy shit this is a masterpiece" so quickly. Masterpiece is a stretch, but I spent two thirds of this movie fully prepared to write it off, and the last third hooked and eager to discuss this with my wife, reddit, and anyone else who is willing to talk about it.
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u/SB858 15d ago
It really feels like a companion piece to Birdman, only this time with satires instead of superheroes
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u/Vadermaulkylo 15d ago
I also viewed it as saying that it really doesn’t matter if it makes you laugh or not. It doesn’t change shit. The broader message there being that people on the left who agree with each other in broad terms sit there and argue about dumb moral purity bullshit while the right and rich just keep fucking up the world.
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u/PMmeSpreadEaglePics 15d ago
I unexpectedly loved this movie.
My favorite part was actually the credits. The loud as fuck "Level 4" caught me off guard and then the music cut out and I was so confused.
Then I realized that they were saying that we were the same as the audience of the play. Sitting through an on-the-nose satirical take on the greedy men who are destroying our planet. And, just like the audience of the play, the show ends and we have to silently shuffle out of the theater and back out into that fucked up world.
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u/AltL155 15d ago
I don't know if every theater did it the same way but my theater only turned on the house lights until after the "Level 4" announcement was made. It was an instant parallel to the same moment happening just moments ago to the play-within-the-movie audience. And it sold the idea the entirety of Digger is itself an artifice and the nature sounds were inviting me back into the real world.
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u/Just-The-Facts-411 15d ago
Ours (Alamo Drafthouse) only turned on the first set of lights (guidance) after Level 4. They didn't turn all the house lights on until the WB end screen.
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u/CassiopeiaStillLife 15d ago
I respect its intentions, and I’m glad to have Cruise swinging for the fences, but I just wish everyone in this movie would shut the fuck up for five fucking seconds. It’s David O. Russell levels of big, antic, capital-A Acting, and I know it’s purposeful but that doesn’t make it less exhausting.
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 15d ago
I think that feeling could have been avoided if a single joke landed in this movie. It might be the least funny satire I've ever seen and that left me feeling like this movie was a lot more self-serious and preachy than it really intended to be.
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u/InfernoBA 15d ago edited 15d ago
Most of the humor landed for me ngl
I thought the president character was hilarious and the throwaway Al Gore mention had me dying
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u/Fearsthelittledeath 15d ago edited 13d ago
The whole bombing Kimberly had me dying and the wife of the president with the medicine scene. Also the president briefing scene about Judy and then the whole "prayer" thing that Trump's insane cabinet and preacher Trump likes.
Edit:
Done twice that I know of for the insane cultists praying over Trump.
https://www.realitytea.com/2026/03/06/donald-trump-us-pastors-prayer-oval-office-reaction/
https://www.kansascity.com/news/nation-world/article160904779.html
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u/_Elduder 15d ago
Also when digger have his mom medicine that was just straight vodka was funny as hell
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u/garfcarmpbll 15d ago
I felt that way too much of it was just surface level hur dur humor.
Like the whole "there are women present" and it's a room full of men because of course women wouldn't be in a position of power.
Nothing interesting was done with it. It was like community college improv level humor.
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u/Trick0823 15d ago
I was also kind of thinking the humor was sort of surface level and dumb, but then its revealed that this is the production of the billionaire nepo baby dude and i was like oh yea this is the kind of thing he would produce
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u/Fuzzy_Battle1771 14d ago
same… I was also like… really? we needed another movie about a bunch of old white men being egotistical and incompetent? this is the whole movie? lol. it was not, in fact, the whole movie.
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u/FloatingWalls1 14d ago
The joke is that the room would never be that self aware in real life. The actors are playing the joke on their characters.
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u/cosmogatsby 14d ago
To me that joke isn’t for the movie going audience, it’s for the theatre going audience in the movie. It’s a bad joke on purpose. Cruise’s character even states later he’s struggling with the humour in the play. Nothing about this film is really suppose to be funny.
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u/soonerfreak 15d ago
That throwaway mention got one of the best laughs I've had in awhile. Definitely my favorite joke in the movie.
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u/MrBrightside618 15d ago
That’s the problem with the movie being an on-the-nose story within a story. If the majority of the screentime is (intentionally) hokey satire, you’ve just kinda made a hokey satire
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u/psycho_alpaca 15d ago
If the majority of the screentime is (intentionally) hokey satire, you’ve just kinda made a hokey satire
Which I think is what they should have done. Commit to the satire and just make it a modern day version of Strangelove. Instead they went for this weird meta angle that just felt like taking a wild creative swing for the sake of a wild creative swing and sucked the fun out of the movie completely.
I've never seen a single story decision deflate the entirety of the rest of a movie as fast as the reveal at the end of act 1 did in this movie. Everything that came after the reveal instantly felt weightless, and yet took up 90% of the screen time.
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u/MikeArrow 15d ago
Yeah it felt like they didn't want to commit, so they tried to have it both ways. But the meta narrative of the play gets so little screen time and all of it is just Cruise arguing with the director or talking on the phone, that we never get to actually just exist and breathe. Those segments should have been the main narrative if they wanted the audience to actually care about this guy and his daughter.
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u/Disastrous-Beat-9830 15d ago
Yeah it felt like they didn't want to commit, so they tried to have it both ways.
I do not think they were trying to do this at all. As weird as this may sound, I think they were trying to satirise contemporary satire.
Satire has always had a political edge to it, going as far back as Juvenal and his proclamation of "bread and circuses". I think Digger is trying to make the case that we might revel in the humour of satire, but it ultimately achieves nothing. By the end of the film, the lesson presented by the satire is meaningless because it has no relevance to the situation we find ourselves in. Thus, the satire only serves to mock the people in charge rather than actually bring about the meaningful change that is so desperately needed.
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u/Jx____ 14d ago edited 14d ago
i like this - and we the movie goers are simply the audience of the play, wanting to watch an analogous satire - ironically probably why its such a divisive film—appreciated the air quality alert that played over the credits
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u/GoldandBlue 15d ago
I am with you. I was on board until that tree fell. At first I laughed. And then you realize it is all a play and its a hat on a hat. It becomes a distraction. And as much as there is to like. It gorgeous, the production is incredible. The cast delivers. That big monologue from Cruise is an Oscar reel. But the whole time I am just asking myself "what is the point of this play?". And everyone going SO big becomes a deliberate choice of The Play.
Instead of just enjoying Digger, I am trying to sort what the meaning of Fossil Fools is.
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u/gooddaleinthelodge 15d ago
The play aspect is crucial to the message though. We discuss and make art about climate change and global destruction with more care than we tackle the actual climate change that is destroying the world around us. We helplessly critique and satirize the delusional psychopaths in charge as the future gets bleaker and bleaker.
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u/Stryk-Man 15d ago
The person next to me was laughing throughout. I didn’t even smile once. Mind you, I’m still forming my opinion - but the one thing I know is that I didn’t think it was funny.
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u/BelonyInMyLeftPocket 15d ago
I agree completely. It really did feel like watching uncut gems as a play at times
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u/Sheepies123 15d ago
I thought that people who found the climate change message dated missed the entire point. The reveal of the Kenny’s involvement is much more interesting. Digger controlled oil, land, and energy. His nephew appears to belong to a world where information and technology give him that same enormous private power. The audience can applaud a play about the terrible old oil baron while living under the next version of him.
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u/Aussierobinparis 15d ago
Bingo. Astonished by how many people’s heads this went over.
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u/10dollarbagel 12d ago
The brilliant part of this movie is said in a whisper after most of the film is over and, in my screening room, after 6 people walked out. Absolute respect to Iñárritu for having the balls to do this in a world where people can't handle the nuance that Chris Hansen is maybe not a good guy even if he performatively went pedophile hunting.
It's so good that they trot out the easily digestible narratives about climate change - that it's the fault of boomers or consumerism or some notion of "corporate greed" that's totally not the inherent nature of capitalism - just to have Jesse Plemons say to camera I'm doing the same trick Digger did with Ganesh telling the truth.
And it still worked. Seemingly on everyone in this thread. It's insane.
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u/Direct_Resource_6152 14d ago
That is a great point about the nephew being the next version of digger! I think you are onto something here.
In hindsight I think Plemons’ character mirrored Digger. His scene where he opines “it doesn’t matter” seems like it’s making a point about validating the role of art in society… but I think it has a more insidious undertone. It reminded me a lot of how Digger would monologue about his grandfather to make a point. Except instead of playing with a shovel, Plemons just hired actors to tell the story for him. Plemons also makes similar threats that Digger did—in the scene at the start where the scientists ask Digger to stop he threatens them with firing and says that he pays for everything. In Plemons’ speech, while he isn’t so direct… he still manages to slip in a comment about how he put the money into the play and he hired everyone. It’s framed as if Plemons is resolving a bunch of petty artist squabbling, but the reality is that he is just telling them to shut up and work; no different from Digger telling the same to the scientists. Also note that right after this scene we see Plemons brush the ginger kid’s hair, followed by Curtis (acting as Digger) doing the exact same thing. Plemons is just another Digger, who is just as insidious and just as good at spinning a narrative as his uncle was.
With these parallels in mind, I think Plemon’s speech becomes even more insidious. After all what was Curtis taking issue with? His issue was that the satirical and over the top play took away from the real danger of Digger and people like him. It distracted from the reality. And what does Plemons say to that? “It doesn’t matter.”
It makes the ending more scary as well and deeply ironic. The whole cast is celebrating putting on a show that mocks and belittles the death of this horrible selfish person… all while that same self person is lurking in the background. Curtis even introduced his wife to Plemons. Curtis thanked him for saving his daughter from a storm—a storm caused by the things his uncle did. Curtis’ daughter wouldn’t be in that predicament if the Rockwell family didn’t destroy everything.
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u/Ttmode 14d ago
I really like this line of thinking. I think it ties into the reality vs the satire of who Digger was. We see him in the play as this wild and over the top character but with all the liberties and over the top nature of the play we can assume the real Digger was probably more like Kenny.
I found Kenny on the surface to be really likable and charming but when you include those parallels you can see why Digger was able to do what he did, and probably why Kenny can continue doing the same. Hope that makes sense
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u/G1ygas 13d ago
I also like the detail that this is a 25th anniversary revival of this play, not its initial run. The original play was written and performed almost immediately after the disasters (or at least implied to be based on the age of the nephew). It was a small production, with three actors playing all the parts and minimal sets, if they even had a real set.
The nephew wants to revive this play with a huge budget, and I completely agree with your comments about how this controls the narrative. He wants to take the voice away from people who were pissed off at his family and sanitize their work into something that turns some of the most evil men in their world’s history into clowns to be laughed at. This ties in with the desire to control the narrative that’s brought up so often, you see that they’re changing lines from the original, he’s giving directions on how to portray the characters, and he gets people to separate him from his family’s past.
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u/bob888w 14d ago
I don't think enough people are seeing the mirrored parallels of Riz Ahmed's character and Curtis in the current day. In both cases you have people that dislike the person they are working under, but in the end both also end up working to further the goals of their boss, and giving into the 'temptation' provided by the wealthy and powerful. Riz with the tuna, and Curtis with his daughter.
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u/SanderSo47 I'll see you in another life when we are both cats. 15d ago edited 13d ago
"The Bible was written by Jews, not Americans. Somebody get that clown out of here!"
John Goodman has always been a fantastic star. But I can't remember the last time he was this good in Digger. He fucking kills it in every scene. A little over-the-top, but what gives? His breakdown at his bedroom was my favorite part, like how he complains that he has to read before activating the nuclear football.
EDIT: My memory failed me here. He said Hebrews. But my point stands!
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u/GodKamnitDenny 15d ago
He said Hebrews, but agree on everything. Killed every scene he had! Never thought I’d get so much laughter out of seeing John Goodman vape lmao
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u/ScornfulOrc 15d ago
In that same scene I was wondering how many way can one man manipulate his face, he was like a cartoon
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u/FRSTNME-BNCHANMBZ 15d ago
There’s moments in Righteous Gemstones
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u/StuMacherGhostface 15d ago
And before that, and I know it's kind of a Reddit cliche, but he was sooo good in 10 Cloverfield Lane
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u/Giff95 15d ago
I get the divisive reactions, but these days, too many movies play it safe or don't take many swings.
We need more movies like "Digger" to challenge people, for better or worse. I commend Cruise and Inarritu!
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u/UnitedStateOfDenmark 15d ago
I hated it and completely agree with you. I rather watch 100 Diggers than most of the predictable crap I see each week.
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u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? 15d ago edited 14d ago
Damn I actually fuck with this movie kinda heavy. Digger just has so much going on, so much intention and so many concepts and ideas, I had to see it twice and both times I came away surprised that this movie is so polarizing. Sure, it’s weird and obvious, but we live in such dangerously weird and obvious times it just felt right to me. I keep seeing people call this pretentious, but this is the opposite of pretension because it continuously calls itself out for being a ridiculous and useless piece of art that will change nothing. But it also shows how people will continue to make and support art even when the world is at its worst. It's hopeful without being self-important.
There’s obviously so much more going on than just the story of Digger. The first time the movie zooms out it kinda blew my top off, but I loved the Birdman-esque going between the show and the reality and it wasn’t difficult to follow. It adds so much, it’s fascinating to think that even after the world has become the unfriendly environment tainted by fascism that so many people see happening that we would want a work of art that mocks and belittles someone we pin as responsible. And I love the idea that despite that, Cruise’s actor character still seeks to humanize such a cartoon villain and that he actually does it. Like Plemons says, Digger is a bad man but he’s a man that existed and these things happened, and you can receive the depiction however you want but the urge to create it simply exists in us. And I think the crowd at the end all love it because it can be whatever they need to deal with what happened, some are crying and some are yelling expletives at the character, but they all felt it.
Even getting away from the concepts, though, this movie is kind of a technical marvel. All of the ways that they show the play being put on, the technology behind it that isn’t even so far removed from what we have now. The way this story plays out like a movie to us but we also believe the stage production is possible because every time we zoom out we see all these people working on it and all the sets and how they move and the projections. Like the first time it happens when the tree falls over, and a giant man just comes out of the ground the look at the tree and you realize the background is a projection of a real miniature set that’s blown up. That’s so cool! This was a real geekfest for me.
All of this makes for some truly incredible sequences. I think the “That’s the price of business” speech scene is up there in my top scenes of the year with Iron Maiden in Bone Temple. It’s just this incredible scene with only a few cuts where Digger drops some massive uncomfortable truths on this council of European leaders and he’s climbing and crawling all over this set and at 100 the entire time. He’s walking on narrow elevated slabs, kicking people in the chest, and delivering this massive monologue, it’s an insanely impressive performance and I’d imagine the shit Tom lives for. All while almost making sense of what goes on in a truly fucked up capitalist mind, and you see his charisma and his power over a room that Stuhlbarg and Ahmed didn’t have that allows his speech to actually be applauded. Insane filmmaking.
Speaking of Riz Ahmed, he’s probably my standout other than Cruise. His drunk scenes were amazing and I loved what his character was going through, almost coming to like the man that he knows for a fact single handedly destroyed the world. I think that’s why he gets so drunk, because he realizes during that speech why Digger gets away with all this and why it’s going to keep happening. And the awesome thing about the dual realities of this movie is he’s right. Plemons is part of the family and is clearly extremely rich and powerful, so for all intents and purposes Digger was right. We would survive the calamity and come out the other side to rebuild and his legacy would continue.I found that so interesting, how this art that people need in this time of hardship was being funded by the same money that caused the catastrophe that ruined them all. But that's how making art is, there is no clean money in this world and making art is expensive. It’s always been true but this year specifically I think we see it more clearly than ever.
I know, I’m rambling. But this movie activated my brain so much more than most other movies this year. Yes, it’s blunt and obvious and pointing out what’s so obvious about it seems trite, but there’s so much more being said than just the obvious. This movie laughs at itself and declares itself pointless before the audience gets the chance to and I think that confuses some critics. Like Plemons’ speech, it doesn’t matter if this is satire or a character piece or dramatic retelling of historical events. Art is whatever the audience needs from it and a great piece of art can be many things to many people, and I think this movie succeeds at that. 9/10 for me.
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u/swashario 15d ago
"I keep seeing people call this pretentious, but this is the opposite of pretension because it continuously calls itself out for being a ridiculous and useless piece of art that will change nothing. But it also shows how people will continue to make and support art even when the world is at its worst. It's hopeful without being self-important."
Banger line. Cuts right to the heart of protest art. Why does anything matter? Reminds me of my conflicting feelings walking out of a movie like One Battle After Another, or after reading a book about climate change. It's not like I've solved anything by engaging in such art. Yet, for some inexplicable reason, it's important all the same.
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u/SufficientRespect542 15d ago
I think it's genuinely one of the best films of the year, and weirdly uplifting by the end.
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u/violetflamingo 15d ago
Cruise will get a lot of the love (as he should) but I found Riz Ahmed phenomenal in this too.
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u/PWN3R_RANGER 15d ago
Cruise is at his most unleashed in the speech scene. Worth it for that alone, but the play reveal stuff and Plemon’s big scene really worked on me.
Big, weird, insane movie that looked gorgeous, idk how you can hate on this.
Gimme the 4K Steelbook asap.
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u/fragileego3333 15d ago
I’ve seen a lot of the same comments so I have some insight. This is absolutely a postmodernist take on entertainment, and I think it acts beyond the movie itself.
Remember all the ads and trailers hyping the movie up to be some “shocking” and “disturbing” film? All the Tom Cruise hype? And how one of the trailers portrays Digger as an already existing and well loved character (at least that’s how I saw them; eg everyone saying “Digger!” and just the way the character is portrayed in posters and what not).
The whole idea of creating entertainment that is funny and exciting about things that are actually quite catastrophic and horrible is literally done in the trailers and the marketing surrounding the movie. All this fanfare about America’s newest favorite, Digger! Come see him at the theaters! He’ll make you laugh!
Much like the play itself, and the actor playing Digger’s issues with the play, it’s a take on how we eat up these “crazy” films about bad people (I’m thinking The Social Network, for example) and will continue to be enamored with the stories of horrible events.
This isn’t a fully worked out thought but I hope some of you understand what I’m saying.
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u/CincyGamer 15d ago
Not only that, but the source of funding for the production is the wealthy lineage of the person that had a huge hand in the predicament the audience in that theater is now dealing with.
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u/Nole1998 15d ago
Parallels to the concept of people trying to whitewash the sins of their fathers, though specific examples are failing to come to mind
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u/Skabonious 15d ago
it’s a take on how we eat up these “crazy” films about bad people (I’m thinking The Social Network, for example) and will continue to be enamored with the stories of horrible events.
How true this is. We've now got a second zuckerberg biopic coming, and a Serial-Killer-Cinematic-Universe. Not to get political but, there's kinda a reason we decided to re-elect a president that we already knew was going to be horrible. We wanted to see the train wreck
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u/My_Favourite_Pen 15d ago
John Goodman instantly hitting his vape when "cut" was called had me in stitches every time.
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u/Langstarr 13d ago
It has the same punch as the cardinal hitting the vape in Conclave. A snap to remembering the world were in
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u/ChavaF1 15d ago
The meta layers are needed to explain why the satire is less exaggerated than appears - when taken as a whole, it’s one of the more subtle pieces of satire in movies.
The actual satire isn’t on the political and economic systems or the oil industry or any of the lampooned targets.
It’s on the public that is happy to watch the system abuse them. It’s on us watching a movie about watching a play about the completely avoidable end of the earth.
The final credits having the song drop out and the level 4 warning come on followed by crickets should be your clue that YOU are the target of satire.
I hope you all wore your masks when leaving the theater. I know I did!
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u/theoneandonlyamateur 15d ago
The actual satire isn’t on the political and economic systems or the oil industry or any of the lampooned targets.
No, the film definitely satirises and criticises right-wing politicians and oil industry tycoons. It's just that we expected that already because that's how the film was sold in the trailers.
The difference is that the other targets were unexpected and thus more uncomfortable, but I'd argue it was more than just us the audience, it was also :
The hypocritical politicians who are rightfully angry at Digger only to be hit back in his monologue with the reality that they're to blame too - they enabled Digger by investing in his company stocks and consuming his oil, refusing to make the difficult sacrifices to move to alternative energy.
Pretentious Hollywood / theatre artists thinking they're clever by making an on-the-nose play Fossil Fools, but do little to actually stop Digger in the real world, and even worse - they're financed by the Digger family ! It reminded me of Eric Kripke's The Boys bashing capitalism, mega-corporations, and billionaires...on a show funded by fucking Amazon lol.
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u/ChavaF1 15d ago
You’re right, I missed calling out the satire of Hollywood.
And to your point, yes, there is the satire of oil tycoons and politicians - but not just the right wing ones. You will note in the parliament scene they are all equally performative and innefectual. It also satirizes progressives, with Digger’s sister. And intellectuals, with scientists bending to business.
So the first level satirizes the system, the second the entertainment industry and the final level of satire is direct at the audience.
And people call this movie clumsy.
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u/BonjaminClay 15d ago
It's a satire on both. The cheap shitting on the worst people on earth is genuinely funny and cathartic, but the impacts of their actions are truly tragic. IMO the point wasn't to say cathartic satire is meaningless, it was to say if that's all then it's just playing fiddle while the ship sinks.
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u/fragileego3333 15d ago
Ding ding ding! Thanks for putting this into words for me. It’s been a few hours and I’m still thinking about how I got played. Like the movie just attacked me. And leaving the theater into the real world as the dystopian world stayed on the screen was surreal.
I’m not sure about the movie overall the more I think about it. A lot of criticisms of Digger seem to be exactly the point. They intentionally made a kind of goofy and unserious satire, and we as moviegoers fell for it.
I think that’s amazing, personally.
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u/GhibPonyoLi 15d ago edited 15d ago
It kinda felt boring and weird that I actually found myself wondering why Tom Cruise even chose to do something like this. Until the reveal.
Those few seconds before you make sense of the reveal are so trippy. And then when it clicks, it makes sense why he was acting the way he was, and I appreciate him so much more as an actor for taking such a big risk with this film.
The movie is an experience. Until the very end, you’re left with something to discover along the way. It’s not an everyday movie. It takes a lot of guts to make something this creative on such a large scale, and not as an indie film.
If you’re someone who wants actors and directors to be creative beyond the ordinary bounds, Digger is not to be missed on the big screen.
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u/Steamedcarpet 14d ago
When the tree falls and the (what i first thought) giant man appeared I was so confused. Once it pulled out into the set my body perked up and was awake for the rest of the movie.
Also I love how the movie doesn’t tell you its the future at first, slowly showing stuff like the interactive mirror.
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u/seannyd1 15d ago
I wonder if I give this another shot sometime if it will hit differently because I did not connect with this at all. I think with as on the nose as the allegory was it mostly just bummed me out. Like Riz Ahmed’s speech on the plane. Yeah, man. I agree with you. Is there anything I can do about this? Because it’s hitting a little too close to home for me.
I’m glad people are enjoying it though. I really want more wild swings like this and there’s no question this was an incredible technical achievement. And hopefully this likely financial and critical failure won’t put off Cruise from doing more roles like this.
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 15d ago
And hopefully this likely financial and critical failure won’t put off Cruise from doing more roles like this.
I think it's entirely possible and maybe even likely that Cruise still gets an Oscar nomination for this despite the critical and commercial reception. Even the negative reviews on this are generally pretty high on his performance
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u/MikeArrow 15d ago
If he doesn't, he'll be playing Maverick and Ethan Hunt for the rest of his life.
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u/edamamespirit 15d ago
I was watching YouTube reviews, and there was one critic who said he ended up really loving it on his second watch. He even went as far as suggesting that everyone should watch it twice before reviewing it! So I think there’s a chance you might have a different experience when you watch it a second time (not necessarily a better one, though).
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u/ICUMF1962 15d ago
I think without its big twist, it would have been another half-baked political satire. With it, it did leave me thinking a lot, especially after the whole scene with Plemons explaining his family history. I see it as a fitting parallel to today and possibly for future generations. Someday, the horrible events of the present will be dramatized as is the case with many horrible events from long ago or pretty recently. And, like Wilde’s character says, maybe some people just wanna laugh about it. It’s too soon for me to say I loved it or whatever, but I would very much like to revisit it.
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u/MiketheIKE0 15d ago
I thought back to the 22.3 year rule from South Park of when 9/11 officially could be funny.
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u/JurassicBasset 15d ago
The parliament speech was incredible.
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u/97GeoPrizm 14d ago
What makes it better is how Digger uses hard truth to shift some of his responsibility and make clear that oil companies are providing a service to meet our demands. It’s almost certainly completely cynical but it hammers home that almost no one’s hands are clean when comes to climate change.
It feels like Digger almost got away with it. He would have been a pariah but still avoided consequences. Then things got worse.
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u/mar88vdv 13d ago edited 13d ago
The speech contained all the false narratives oil companies have been using for decades to shift the blame away from them. I would not call that a "harsh truth". That includes Digger's claim that transitioning away from fossil fuel would be too costly which also is not completely accurate. Especially right now with current gas and oil prices and renewable becoming cheaper and cheaper. The fact that everything is becoming more and more expensive right now and that is because of the oil and gas companies.
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u/Accomplished_Hawk185 15d ago
Absolutely loved the movie and I firmly believe this will stand the test of time regardless of how it performs at the box office or in the awards season.
This movie is a commentary on storytelling - on how digestible satire and symbolic catharsis act as pacifiers to protect those in power rather than challenge them. Powerful people unleash horrors upon the world and then control the narrative to protect their reputations. Kenny Rockwell fabricates his own family history, offering a digestible downfall-of-villain narrative arc to an audience that laps it up but ultimately walks out into the gloom created by the same villain. All pent-up frustration of the people is released in consuming art leaving no energy to be spent in holding the perpetrtors accountable. There is a reason why all jokes did not land in the movie that we watch: they were meant to keep us from falling into sumg comfortable amusement that the audience in the movie falls into.
This movie is deeply layered and frighteningly original. Some pieces of art change the way we percieve art. Digger is one of them.
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u/No_Key_805 15d ago
I LOVED Digger, but...
...it's not really about climate change. Well, it is, but climate disaster feels more like the SETTING of the film, rather than the subject. And I think the film is aware of this; the end of the first act shows you that all the climate related imagery was LITERALLY set dressing and props. To me, this film is about "Eat the rich" films, which I define as any films that are critical of how the wealthy negatively impact human society and the world at large.
Mark Fisher comments on Wall-E: “The film performs our anti-capitalism for us, allowing us to continue to consume with impunity”. There is, in my opinion, a contradiction inherent to most "Eat the rich" films. Wall-E is a Disney production. The Boys is an Amazon property. I Love Boosters literally has an Ellison as an executive producer.
Digger understood that there is no such thing as a big-budget "Eat the rich" film that isn't ideologically compromised, so they decided to make a film about our fascination with and the inherent hypocrisy of a shit ton of "Eat the rich films". Jesse Plemon's character, the nephew of Digger, literally owns the rights to the play and acts as producer. He also casually is the CEO of an international intelligence and security corpo. The film draws attention multiple times to how the production of the play literally depletes from the ever dwindling energy pool, they are in a very real and tangible way hurting society around them. The audience of the play laugh their asses off, then put on their advanced masks because of methane "Warning, Stage 4".
What I realized at the end though, is that even a big-budget film about the hypocrisy of "Eat the rich" films is also inevitably compromised. We spend the vast majority of the runtime dicking around in fantasy play land, instead of actually exploring the real world of the film, and the real chracters. Jesse Plemons' character is portrayed, at least in the strict text of the film, as a positive force for the production. His ingenuity and perspective helps save the play from creative differences between the director and the lead actor. He seemingly indirectly exercises complete creative control over the play, but none of the characters question it. It's debatable whether all that is intentional or not.
I believe it is intentional, or at least that the film is somewhat self aware of this, because at the very end of the film, after the title card but before the extended credits, you hear "Warning, Stage 4", but this time there is no echo, and the sound design doesn't really give the impression that it came from a physical place within the film. This is a non-diagetic sound, aimed directly at the audience of the film, to view the events of it with skepticism. After you hear this sound, you should snap back to the real world.
This is a 125 million dollar production. This is the last film to be released by Warner bros before the merger goes through next week. Tom Cruise is "a long time Ellison friend and ally", and he wholehearetedly supports this merger. A lot of diggers had their hand in the production of this film.
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u/falafelthe3 Ask me about TLJ 15d ago
If I had a nickel for every time Iñárritu made a movie about a theater production with the casting of its lead actor being a metatextual choice, I would have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.
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u/pablxo 14d ago
I couldn't stop thinking how much Birdman / Birdman influence was in this movie
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u/SufficientRespect542 15d ago
I thought the fact that Jesse Plemons was the nephew who had bought the play was a subtle satire on how the rich will always want to shape their own narrative and buy anything that might satirize or even insult them. Like he was better then most and recognized the clear harm his father did, but I feel like him buying the play was a proactive measure to control something he knew could be used as a weapon against him and his family and not as altruistic as he presents it.
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u/princessSunsetGiggle 15d ago edited 14d ago
Especially since he's implied or not-so-much implied to be the owner of a global surveillance company
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u/quaranTV 15d ago
I am probably one of the few people who loved the trailer but HATED the film. I actually really liked the wacky over the top comedic/satirical vibe in the trailer.
The twist of the entire plot being a play and it being revealed so early on made me totally disinterested in everything going forward. It made what would have been some fun comedic scenes/characters feel pointless and not funny.
I at least wish the reveal that the play wasn’t entirely made up but about real events in universe happened much earlier because then I would have still felt somewhat engaged in the play scenes.
The daughter subplot was not well flushed out at all. And finally the posters lied. Tom Cruise is in fact not Digger.
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u/Kherma9 15d ago
The events of the play did happen- it was just a dramatic retelling. When he’s complaining about the air force scene at the end, he’s upset because the play is taking too many creative liberties with the truth. But the overall narrative is the reality
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u/AltL155 15d ago edited 15d ago
Yeah that reveal about the play actually being real is easily one of the most frustrating things about a movie that is trying to be knowing and clever. As soon as the play framing device was revealed I was instantly pulled out since the satirical tone was already overplayed and me as the viewer is supposed to just deal with it because the meta-story knows it's a satire. "Fossil Fools" is not an enjoyable story to watch on its own and I spent most of the runtime annoyed at how grating the movie's attempts at humor were. Plus the "it's not real" twist made me believe the play was being produced in a world closer to our own and not the dystopia the meta-setting of the movie is revealed to be, so I spent most of the movie feeling like everything happening in the play was of no consequence.
A lot of that back third of the movie after Jesse Plemon's character reveals who he is really helps unpack the movie and actually make it enjoyable. But for most of the movie to be an unfunny satire really just lead to me grumbling and feeling grated which isn't an enjoyable movie experience at all.
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u/snugthepig 15d ago
i mean. the whole thing is a film with actors, yet we still care about them. what difference does another layer make? it's still real to the characters in the play.
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u/AltL155 15d ago
To me it felt like the movie was pulling a "it's all a dream" twist 30 minutes into the movie. It makes you feel like everything happening in the play is of no consequence until it's revealed near the end of the movie that the play actually is a retelling of events that happened in-universe. The movie spends too much of its runtime being a knowing, unfunny satire that even if all of that pays off in the movie's ending it just makes the movie extremely uncomfortable and unenjoyable to watch for most of its runtime.
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u/CincyGamer 15d ago
I feel like the payoff at the end of the movie was more of a confirmation of what I could see coming tbh. There were so many clues to what was happening in the real world that I didn't feel the "no consequence" of the play as it was progressing, but I guess I can understand why others felt this way.
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u/leak22 15d ago
Yep I really liked the clues. The “New York Level 3” sign behind Cruise in the dressing room.
Category 6 Hurricane. Abandoned Theater. The reveal it’s all based on true events was so satisfying for me.45
u/EmperorSwole 15d ago
I thought the ceiling leaking water was part of the set design too.
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u/BelonyInMyLeftPocket 15d ago
Im not sure what to think of this movie, but Riz Ahmed acted his ass off.
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u/Shauncore 15d ago
Anyone else notice some of the audience members at the European conference were mannequins? Thought that was a nice touch when it comes to how Plemons character spent a gazillion on the play and that he didn't even know there are no extras in a play so at one point they just switched to dummies
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u/eiddieeid 15d ago
I also thought that was a play on how mannequin like some of those people are in those kinds things
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u/neal1701 15d ago
Digger is a very ambitious, albeit a polarizing movie!
- The miniature tree falling 30 minutes into the movie falling followed by the twist that it's a theater production was so jarring and crazy!
- I have to admit that in when watching the movie, in real time, I hated the initial twist. However, as the movie went on and the reveal in the third that the play was based on events that happened recontextualizes everything, I was on board with it.
- Because of the initial twist, the tone of the movie shifts dramatically, very different from the very first teaser for this movie. It goes from a chaotic comedy to a very sobering drama.
- Tom Cruise gives one of his performances! His monologue in the 'courtroom' is incredible and playing an actor playing a theatre character while distracted by his daughter's situation was a very layered performance. Also, his British accent when arguing with the theater director was kinda great.
- The direction is excellent! I am pretty sure that the 'courtroom' scene was one take but they had to edit it in a way to incorporate others' reactions to him.
- Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, and Jesse Plemons were very good. I think the funniest character was the colonel by John Robert Burke.
- I think my opinion of the set design and cinematography changed greatly once the inital twist was revealed. The lighting and colour palette of the cinematography felt very intentional because it is a theater production.
- The whole storyline with the daughter felt like it needed to add stakes after the initial twist. But the reveal that Kenny Rockwell was funding the whole theater production and helped to find his daughter was good writing. It also implied that he took Verdant and went into security and tech, especially with the robot police at the end.
- The warning to wear mask immediately after the curtain call followed by the first time we see the actual world from the destruction to the reveal that it's New York was a great ending.
Overall, I think it's a very interesting movie with really good performances and I think the movie would be better on a second watch but I can understand why audience would not even like it on the first watch.
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u/MrBrightside618 15d ago
Perfect movie if you’re sick of modern media’s habit of portraying the rich and evil as buffoons without actually taking the steps to mitigate any harm they’re doing
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u/SufficientRespect542 15d ago
A bit that I thought was genius was how Digger tells his nephew to put on his gasmask, and how due to the play being shown to take liberties I thought "oh, thats a fun way to show just how much the world has changed through such an absurd detail, surely things are bad but not that bad" only for the audience to put on their own gasmasks and leave the theater to show, oh, it is that bad!
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u/Blaze_2002 15d ago
This movie is like somebody sincerely tried to make Abed’s pretentious Jesus movie from Community (complementary… I think)
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u/teachbirds2fly 15d ago
Just saw it...
Critics are idiots, it's brilliant. Very Terry Gillian, a bit dr strange love.
It's weird, wild and strange.
It might be a masterpiece
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u/BensunCFong 15d ago edited 15d ago
I enjoyed it, but it truly embodied the idea of "he’s a little confused, but he’s got the spirit." You can't deny that Iñárritu and Cruise both went for it, and there are definitely some dark and interesting messages about the uber-wealthy causing, and capitalizing on, the climate disaster. But after the great scene in (presumably) the European Parliament, the rest of the movie's energy just slips away.
Given the polarized ratings, I wondered whether some of the messaging would hit people too hard over the head. But the guy sitting next to me (obviously the third wheel of a date) literally pulled out his phone and played a mobile game during the pivotal reveal sequence of "this all happened and the nephew is bankrolling the production", then put it away when the final Digger scene came back on. I guess that helped sell the "bread and circuses" of it all to me.
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u/Deep_Turn_6263 15d ago
This has to be one of the most original, innentive, and brilliant movies I've seen in the last decade. I was a little worried with the way some of the humor was missing in the first half hour, but by the first reveal I was invested to the very end.
Also I have seen some people complaning that it's a heavy message about climate change. I felt like the climate change aspect was more of a backdrop for any social or political issue instead of a heavy handed message about climate change. Just my opinion.
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u/greatbrownbear 15d ago
SPOILER ALERT:
This movie is brilliant in the sense that all the critics actually hate the theater production within the movie… which itself is just a “cult classic”.
Every critic that says it’s satire totally missed the plot. THE PLAY WITHIN THE MOVIE IS SATIRE. the other part that’s left out of the trailers, is the actor in the play (tom cruise) questioning how ridiculous, crude and inaccurate the satire in the play is since everything is based on real horrific events. The nephew of a trillionaire oil tycoon, who basically destroyed the world, is bankrolling a big budget off broadway, tacky, satirical theater production in a dystopian NYC set in the future, that roasts his uncle but also makes him a legend.
It’s actually a pretty bleak sci fi film critiquing satire, and it’s almost too self aware and meta for its own good. i think inarritu’s wild directing blends the movie with the play in such a strange way that people are totally missing the point
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u/rollanother1 15d ago
Did anyone else catch the twist pretty much immediately? In the first scene with Digger’s bedroom window, and then I noticed that the doors in the living room that they were entering and exiting from clearly had no hallways behind them.
Still a good movie, and some incredible acting from Cruise. Just weird all around though.
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u/coldliketherockies 15d ago
At first I just thought it was a Wes Anderson type thing. Like it was in the real world but to make it look kooky some things were off
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u/97GeoPrizm 14d ago
I was aware something was wrong but I didn’t guess play. I was guessing that the outside was faked but maybe Digger wanted a different view from reality, the house was actually underground, or some sci-fi stuff was going on. It took a few minutes for me to comprehend the twist it was so out of the blue to me.
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u/JailTheFrogs 15d ago
'wahhhh why doesn't hollywood make original movies'
ambitious swing for the fences by accomplished director and actors
'ew why was this so weird. 1 star.'
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u/astig_my_tism 15d ago
I'm just psyched that Tom Cruise did this. Misfire or not, I hope he never stops taking more wild swings. I mean what has he got to lose? A few years ago he single-handedly saved the movie theater industry with Maverick. It would take a lot more than one divisive movie for people to forget that
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u/jjjshepard 15d ago
Giving the over the top reaction of some angry american critics, I'd say the movie has something to say about liberal elites and satires. Inarritu is a certified misanthrope.
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u/mikeyfreshh r/Movies Veteran 15d ago
I don't like the implication that the movie is only getting negative reviews because of its message. I agree with the economic and climate commentary on the movie. Still didn't like the movie very much.
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u/AnselLovesNuts 15d ago
The final act really saved the movie, especially Plemmons. Also, Emma D’Arcy is beautiful
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u/Antique-Dentist-2404 15d ago
I really liked it, but I also can't really blame anyone for not liking it considering how misleading the marketing was. It is messy for sure, but goddamn by the third act I was really loving it and found it pretty brilliant although not without it's flaws.
At the end of the day, it really comes down to a movie about how we use satire and dark humor to laugh at our fucked up world and situations and there is something really beautiful about that.
Really need to see it again to fully absorb it. Will go see again this week to see it in IMAX again while I can.
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u/ColdHotChocolate 14d ago
Digger swings for the fences, but it doesn't want to be a home run. It wants to be a triple: because triples are harder to make, but it shows that it has some heart and fuckin' hustle (idk if this analogy makes sense, but it felt so fitting for the film).
There are so many meta-textual layers to this film, but perhaps my favourite is this:
The final Warner Bros. release before its mega-merger with Paramount is a film about taking risks with a piece of art that aims to make fun of the rich and powerful. Ironically, they are the same ones funding said piece of art.
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u/AnakinAni 14d ago edited 14d ago
Digger was a breath of fresh air. If this is Warner Bros.’ swan song, what a way to bow out. An absolute masterpiece in my eyes.
I loved how the story revealed its layers, deepening what we thought we understood. The movie is not what the trailers made us presume.
Tom Cruise was masterful, as was the rest of the cast. The cinematography was memorable. The movie is quite clever.
It’s a film that stays with you long after the credits roll. It’s deep, haunting and so much more than the trailers suggested. I’m definitely watching it again.
One of the best films of the year. Its closeness to reality may make some people uncomfortable, but that’s part of its power. I wouldn’t be surprised if it becomes a cult classic.
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u/NothingButLs 15d ago
Gonna be a hard movie to discuss because most criticisms can be defended by the meta element/framing device.
There’s obviously a lot interesting about it. Cruise acting again. Outstanding craft. Visually stunning. Some pretty interesting ideas posed (not really answered tho) about satirizing bad people. Jesse Plemmons has a pretty great scene.
But it’s simply not very funny or clever. I honestly didn’t laugh once, and my pretty crowded imax audience was mostly silent. It’s just kinda loud and obvious and sweary. Scenes go on for way too long without much structure or purpose. A 5 minute SNL cold open typically has wittier clearer political satire. And the movie acknowledges that the entire production isn’t really that funny or good. So idk am I supposed to find this funny and entertaining or not?
Most of the cast is also completely wasted. Honestly thought Goodman and Huller were pretty bad and cringe in their small roles. Cruise is good, but he’s not winning the Oscar. Maybe if his actor role was fleshed out more and he actually had a character? The missing daughter/fighting with director stuff just wasn’t really compelling enough.
And when this bombs horribly, I hope it is not blamed on “poor marketing”. It’s a poor concept lolll. You can’t successfully market a movie that’s intentionally unfunny and incoherent.
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u/SufficientRespect542 15d ago
You know, they play it off as a joke within the play, but Digger killing himself after realizing they were out of food is a pretty fascinating and disturbing concept. Like he was clearly a bad person but that is an awful way for anyone to go.
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u/Rickys_Pot_Addiction 15d ago
This is a boooooold movie. But I think my favorite part of the movie is the ending. The reveal of the security company and Plemmons tracking down the daughter being that it was a Palantir-type company and the world outside had become a fascist hellscape was bleak. Plemmons rant about his uncle being a bad person to then reveal he is an equally terrible nepo-baby was chefs kiss.
This is a movie that isn’t even a rallying cry for us to change and that there is some hope to stop what’s coming. It holds up a mirror and says, “this is what you are going to get. Hope you are ready.”
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u/Littlemissposts 15d ago
I am glad to some people who really dug this. I can totally understand why people don't. But I fucked with this hard.
This is probably my favorite Cruise performance. He absolutely rips in this!
It's hard not to compare this to "Don't Look Up". Another climate disaster movie in where it's subtle as a brick to the face. I enjoyed this a lot more than that movie. Don't Look Up got too silly. Digger is silly but the message hits hard. 4.5/5!
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u/DeadlyDY 14d ago
Man, fuck the reviews. This shit was incredible. To think they made me almost skip this
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u/Roadschooling 14d ago edited 14d ago
Fossil Fools is over-the-top, cartoonish, exaggerated.
Criticize that all you want, but maybe do a Sixth-Sense type rewatch when you consider that Kenny has managed and designed this production. You can take the view that he's doing so for the purposes he states - for the good of the people, etc, to compensate for his family's sins - or you can take the view that he's lying, that he's another Digger, and there's a purpose in him promoting a production that gives people a scapegoat for their troubles - but one that's safely on a stage, and which all the rage in the world cannot really touch, or change a thing.
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u/GodKamnitDenny 15d ago
I loved it. I had no idea what I was getting into, but I loved it. Hot take apparently, but I found it effortlessly funny. Seeing Riz Ahmed steal scenes from Tom Cruise was incredible. I think it could have worked just as well without the meta story, though. Incredible set design and color work too.
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u/pgherg1 15d ago
Cult classic in the making.
People will hate this movie, BUT…. there will be a loud minority that absolutely loves this. I am the loud minority.
Tom Cruise is in his element in this and he’s unbelievable. It’s so easy to get immersed in his performance.
This movie knows exactly what it is and it doesn’t shy away from it. Iñárritu takes a huge swing, and he hits a triple to the gap in right field.