Digger - Review: Burning Down the House

 

It’s hard to know where to even begin with a film like “Digger.” The decade long passion project of co-writer/director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (“Birdman,” “The Revenant”), the return to more “serious” dramatic acting for Tom Cruise (“Top Gun,” “Mission: Impossible (1996)”) after decades of blockbuster action work, the last film developed by executives Michael De Luca and Pamela Abdy’s auteur driven push at Warner Bros., and the last film ever release by Warner Bros. Before they got gobbled up by Paramount and Skydance. Suffice it to say, “Digger” is unlike any other big-budget blockbuster film you’ve seen in recent years, if ever. And that’s not just because of the production behind it. The real question remains: that’s a fun list of facts behind its making, but is the film any good?

The film follows Digger Rockwell, played by Cruise, an aged oil magnate whose latest drilling operation off the coast of Greenland sets off an explosion that causes an ice shelf the size of Maryland to break off and head directly for coastal Europe. The disaster means that Digger must enlist in the help of his head of environmental safety and security Dr. Nirav Ganesh, played by Riz Ahmed (“Sound of Metal,” “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”) and the United States President Compson, played by John Goodman (“The Big Lebowski,” “Roseanne”), to tackles the fallout head on. And things only get weirder from there.

“Digger” is a film virtually impossible to discuss without spoiling major elements, something seemingly bizarre given its relatively straightforward nature. While this will be a spoiler-free review, suffice it to say that there’s a lot going on here and one development in particular that will divide audiences almost immediately. It’ll work for some people, it won’t for others. It’s a daring twist that makes the film’s satirical edge much sharper than it otherwise would be and results in a type of story that hasn’t really been attempted on this scale before.

Cruise absolutely runs away with the movie, turning in a truly fantastic and audacious kind of performance. It’s the best he’s been since at least “Collateral” if not “Magnolia.” If Cruise has been said to embrace every stunt like it's the last thing he’ll ever do, then he takes the same approach with the character of Digger. Ahmed is also excellent, embracing the larger-than-life material and turning in a performance opposite Cruise that’s unlike anything the actor has tackled before. He’s just a lot of fun to watch navigate this material, and any scene with him and Cruise is feels like a kind of maddening magic. Goodman is good, but he’s chewing so much scenery he threatens to derail the entire production. It’s an understandable interpretation given the material, but whereas Cruise and Ahmed manage to be real people despite the extravagance, Goodman is a cartoon even as much as he is entertaining.

The supporting cast all vary in different ways and for vastly different reasons too. Sandra Hüller (“Anatomy of a Fall,” “Project Hail Mary”) plays Digger’s sister Emma and while she is great when she appears, she’s also vastly underutilized. Most of the other supporting actors also fall into a trap of cartoonish bumbling, without any real substance to their performances. The exception is Jesse Plemmons (“Game Night,” “Bugonia”), who makes a brief appearance as Kenny. He injects a different kind of seriousness into the events that not only helps to set up the actual central idea of the film, but is a breath of fresh air in the surrounding madness of the rest of the film and characters.

There’s a lot to like with the film’s production as well. The sets and overall look are daunting and surreal, bending slightly to the reality of the story in interesting ways. Everything feels heightened at all times, as if the idea of even one moment being grounded would result in the cameras exploding. It's a deliberate choice that further enhances the maddening cartoonish tone the runs throughout most of the film, shot with a keen and fantastic eye by Emmanuel Lubezki (“Birdman,” “Children of Men”). Virtually every element of the physical production is astonishing and near perfect. The musical score that backs things up is certainly unique as well, with Cosmo Sheldrake composing his first film score that alternates between actual music and rhythmic background sounds, like water droplets and machinery.

Now, a film like this is clearly trying to say something. That much is obvious from the subject matter, marketing, people involved, etc. What it's trying to say seems a bit confused, both from the film itself and the results of said message. There’s a lot here about the nature of satire, of pointing and laughing at something in lieu of actually doing anything about it. There’s also a lot being said about if that is beneficial just by the collective exhale that can be had by doing such. There’s a lot said and yet Iñárritu and his co-writers Alexander Dinelaris Jr. (“Birdman,” “The Revenant”), Nicolás Giacobone (“Birdman,” “Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths”), and Sabina Berman (“Gloria,” “Backyard”) seem to not know where they want to land. That’s not necessarily an issue, but for a film making this kind of a statement, landing in the middle can’t help but feel deflating.

The script and dialogue itself ping pongs back and forth between being cartoonishly overdone and remarkably insightful. Given that it seems to mirror the performances in that way, one might even wonder if that was intentional. Is it supposed to be both blithering overblown and introspective to the nanometer at the same time? This sense of tonal whiplash creates a work where you really don’t know what to expect from moment to moment. This, combined with Cruise’s energy and the look of the film, makes for a movie that, for all its faults, manages to be just relentlessly entertaining. Whether it’s pure bewilderment or genuine enjoyment, it’s a film that’s hard to look away from, and Cruise seems determined to make you have a good time through his sheer movie star willpower. Then the ending hits and it's as if the entire film’s undecided ice cream sundae of ideas gets a big old rotten cherry on top in the form of a, pardon my French, fucking bleak ending that leaves you sitting with a blank stare, mouth agape.

“Digger” will likely appeal to many based purely on its nature of being a completely different film that what anyone has made recently. Led by a commanding and fantastic lead performance from Cruise, a great supporting role from Ahmed, and a gorgeous physical production, this is a film that leaves you flabbergasted. It’s certainly something new, something entertaining, and something with... something to say. How well that will all go over with you is a person by person matter though. Alejandro G. Iñárritu has certainly dug himself quite the hole here. Whether or not you want to see it through and help him out of it is your decision. 3.5/5