Digger

Digger, 2026, 4 ¾ stars

Deep Digger

Satire is year’s most profound film

Exclusive to MeierMovies, October 7, 2026

“I thought you died alone
a long, long time ago.

Oh no, not me.
We never lost control.
You’re face to face
with the man who sold the world.”

I can’t quite put my finger on the connection between that cryptic David Bowie song and the new metatheatrical social satire Digger. But that’s alright, ma, as I can’t put a finger on Digger at all.

But I can point a finger. And it’s pointed squarely at director and co-writer Alejandro González Iñárritu – that is, when my hands aren’t clapping. For as difficult as it is to believe, I watched Digger in the balcony of a large cinema by myself, and when the film ended, I stood and applauded. I wish Alejandro could have heard, because he deserves it. After all, he has just bested titans Steven Spielberg (Disclosure Day) and Christopher Nolan (The Odyssey) for the best film of 2026.

Tom Cruise, in the performance of his life, plays Digger Rockwell, a billionaire oil magnate who has transformed the world’s energy while simultaneously putting it on the brink of environmental catastrophe. Complicit is the cartoonish president of the United States, played with abandon by John Goodman, and the vice president, portrayed with reserved comedic brilliance by Michael Stuhlbarg. Voices of reason in this faux farce are few, but you will find them in a scientist (Riz Ahmed) and Digger’s sister (Sandra Hüller), who is, ironically, an environmentalist. And then there’s Jesse Plemons, who stalks the scenes mysteriously and anonymously until a shocking reveal near the end.

The Odyssey is the year’s best film technically, but Digger is close. Shot by three-time Oscar winning cinematographer and frequent Iñárritu collaborator Emmanuel Lubezki on 35mm and in VistaVision with changing aspect ratios, it’s a treat for the eyes. Credit is also due composer Cosmo Sheldrake and the entire army of imaginative art directors, disciplined editors and talented makeup artists, who transformed Cruise into what a real 64-year-old man should actually look like. They are all cinematic superheroes.

Digger shares a lot with Iñárritu’s Oscar-winning Birdman: its Surrealism, long takes, dark comedy and theatricality. And it does for Cruise what Birdman did for Michael Keaton, rescuing him from the serious-cinema wilderness. (Like Keaton, Cruise deserves an Oscar nomination.) But unlike Birdman, there is no unexpected virtue in Digger Rockwell’s ignorance. Or ours.

Digger is also the grandson of Dr. Strangelove, sharing not just its themes of global cataclysm but also its exaggerated acting, Absurdism and clear contention that the world is even more ridiculous than we had feared. (But in 2026, as opposed to 1964, it’s not the bomb we must learn to love.)

The last comparison I’ll offer is the greatest film you’ve probably never heard of: Joe Wright’s Anna Karenina, from 2012. Like that masterpiece, this one does spectacular things with the Fourth Wall.

So despite its sporadic unpleasantness and occasional emotional brutality, see Digger now – in a cinema. That’s the only way to fully appreciate it. And if you stay for the credits, you’ll get the most cerebral and chilling William Castleesque gimmick of all time.

Ultimately, what sets Digger apart is its ferocity. It is the fiercest and most challenging satire in recent years, and it’s powered by relentless energy, unique sound design and bold performances designed to screw with your senses, your social conscience and your mind. It burrows into your head like few movies in the last decade.

“Look what they’ve done to my brain, ma.”

For more information on the movie, visit IMDB and Wikipedia. The film is currently playing in cinemas. It is rated R. Also see my reviews of Iñárritu’s Birdman, Bardo and The Revenant.