Digger
Black comedy by Alejandro González Iñárritu (The Revenant, Birdman) in which the most powerful man in the world (an unrecognisable Tom Cruise) makes one last attempt to save the world from the disaster he himself has unleashed.
The unhinged Texas oil billionaire Digger Rockwell accidentally causes a catastrophic environmental disaster. He must then prove that he can save the world before it is completely destroyed.
For Digger, director Alejandro González Iñárritu and actor Tom Cruise – who had wanted to work together for years – are joining forces for the first time. Iñárritu describes the film as a comedy of ‘catastrophic proportions’. This is a remarkable choice for the Mexican filmmaker, who is best known for his intense dramas, in which humour generally has a pitch-black undertone.
Cruise, too, shows a different side of himself. He is best known for his heroic roles in action films and dramas, although he has previously proved that he also has a flair for comedy. Especially when he is allowed to go completely over the top, as in his memorable role as film producer Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder. In Digger, he takes it a step further. The combination of Iñárritu’s distinctive cinematic style and Cruise’s comic freedom makes Digger a satire that brings together themes such as power, the environment and human arrogance. In doing so, the film follows in the tradition of socially critical comedies such as Stanley Kubrick’s Dr. Strangelove Or: How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb.
Written by EK