Tom Cruise has been dividing audiences with his latest movie Digger, landing his first rotten score on Rotten Tomatoes since The Mummy in 2017. Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu, the satire sees Cruise transform with prosthetics into an oil tycoon called Digger Rockwell, known as the most powerful man in the world.
He becomes humanity’s only hope after a disaster he unleashes nearly destroys everything. Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, and Emma D’Arcy all also star in the new movie, which has been dividing critics right down the middle. Currently, it’s got a 52% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with plenty giving Cruise props for his performance but arguing that the movie doesn’t quite work.
“Big swings can win you games, make balls sail out of parks, get folks standing and cheering at witnessing someone going for it with all they’ve got,” writes Rolling Stones’ David Fear. “They can also result in the deafening whoosh of a massive swing-and-a-miss.”
Olly Richards at Empire Magazine called it “visually impressive” and said that “Cruise gives his all.” However, he continued in his two-star review: “Digger doesn’t have much going on beneath the surface. A disappointing waste of a superb team.”
The Independent’s Clarisse Loughrey gave it two stars as well, adding: “When you’re watching a film that doesn’t really seem to work, which then voluntarily indulges the suggestion that its very existence might be completely pointless – well, then, why did any of us, filmmaker or audience, bother in the first place?”
“The most disappointing film of the year: an exasperatingly shallow, laborious, self-congratulatory satire with a trick up its sleeve, featuring very good actors giving not very good performances,” was the verdict of The Guardian’s Peter Bradshaw.
Not all the reviews were bad though. Time Out’s Philip De Semlyen was more positive, writing: “Subtle? Nope. Mordantly funny and wildly surprising? Definitely. Some will find its ‘I’m a bit mad, me’ energy exhausting. I lapped up every bonkers moment.”
The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin was also a fan, giving it four stars in The Telegraph and calling it the most “bonkers film of the year”. He wrote: “What a thrill to watch Iñárritu and Cruise hash it out with so much beauty, daring and extravagance.”
Cruise is still in the Oscar conversation for some critics too, with Collider’s Victoria Luxford calling out his monologue in the movie. “Without special effects or stunts, the veteran star holds your attention throughout, grandstanding in a way that feels like an Oscar moment both in its intention and its impact,” she wrote.
Digger is out now. For more upcoming movies, check out our guides to upcoming horror movies and upcoming superhero movies.