One surefire way to make sure your movie will be a success is to cast Tom Cruise. He almost never fails.
When you look at the most recent work of Alejandro Iñárritu – “Birdman,” “The Revenant” and “Bardo” – you know you are in the hands of an auteur. This is an artist who takes big swings, is willing to miss occasionally and does not apologize to anyone. Iñárritu makes bold choices in his films and, if you can ignore the commonality of a few indulgent habits, no two of them are alike. This is why I have been so confused by the trailers for “Digger,” out now in theaters.
“Digger” is an Iñárritu film, yes, but it is also a Tom Cruise film. And if I’m honest, it seems on the surface to be an odd swerve for both of them. Cruise plays the title character, an aging robber baron whose every word, deed and stitch of clothing is an extreme exaggeration of the American oligarch stereotype. It’s so cartoonish, in fact, so far beyond the already lenient rules of black comedy, I spent the first part of the movie wondering what I wasn’t getting. A lot, it turned out.
And that is the sum total of what I am willing to say about the complexities of “Digger’s” plot. This movie is not what it appears, and I spent the second part of the experience wondering why the team chose to be so careful with the trailers. I mean, I get it objectively, but anyone who watched it and decided they could do without another slapstick send-up of powerful men could be forgiven for thinking that is all “Digger” is. But that discerning consumer, whoever they are, will be missing out on so much if they stay away. I feel like some acknowledgment in the trailer that there is more than meets the eye here is necessary. It’s not enough to say, “here’s Tom Cruise going way out of his comfort zone to play a crazy old oil magnate.” Not these days.
Without breaking my promise to stay spoiler-free, I can say that “Digger” looks incredible, is amazingly well paced and has some very fine performances. Tom Cruise is asked to do a lot and he’s totally up to the challenge. Sandra Hüller, Jesse Plemons, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed and a host of others provide him excellent support as he stretches himself into areas very remote from “Mission Impossible.” I can only imagine how excited he and Iñárritu were to bring this strange project to life.
Some will say that this is not as complicated as I am making it. People are not seeing “Digger,” they say, because it’s bad. They are wrong on both counts. This movie is very good, maybe even genius. And I think people are not seeing it because they don’t understand what it is. Yes, it’s weird and the climate change subject matter is potentially divisive. The surprises make it all worth it.
