Digger Review: Tom Cruise Plays Oil Tycoon in Inarritu Dark Satire Alejandro G. Inarritu's Digger stars Tom Cruise as an oil tycoon who treats a global catastrophe as a branding problem. The dark satire earns 3 stars out of 5. A study in justification of one's actions, Digger is a dark satire, touched by farce, of narrative control in the face of crisis. The film was published on September 30, 2026 at 5:00 a.m. EDT. Tom Cruise Plays Oil Tycoon DiggerIt stars Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, the world's most powerful oil tycoon. The film earns 3 stars out of 5. Cruise is disguised by an inch of aging make-up, fake teeth and an elaborate comb-over. Digger is eccentric, greedy and immoral.Scientist Ganesh, played by Riz Ahmed, says Mr. Rockwell is a man who would roast our children alive if he thought he could sell them for a dime. Digger does not like bad news. When he gets bad news about the stability of one of his oil platforms, he ignores it. The resulting explosion causes havoc.It creates an ice shelf the size of Washington, D.C. , on a collision course with western Europe. The president of the United States, played by John Goodman, says Digger here got us into this mess and Digger's gonna dig us out again. Rather than accept blame for the worldwide chaos, Digger treats the situation not as a catastrophe but as a branding problem.Panic is a resource, he says. When you're running away from a house fire, no one cares who left the toaster on. With the fate of the world hanging in the balance, Digger tries to save his company and himself by controlling the narrative. They know the facts, he says.Digger Echoes Dr. StrangeloveThe story is yet to be told. The film also features Sandra Huller in a scene released by Warner Bros. Pictures. Echoes of Dr. Strangelove reverberate throughout Digger.Both are absurdist nightmare comedies that skewer the egos and ideologies of powerful men. Both focus on managing the narrative of a crisis rather than dealing with it. But the cool, deadpan vibe of Stanley Kubrick's film is replaced by a passionate, outlandish feel that will certainly divide audiences. It is a big movie filled with big ideas, even if they sometimes get lost in the sheer grandiosity of the filmmaking.Director Alejandro G. Inarritu co-wrote the script with Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolas Giacobone and Sabina Berman. The film presents a riff on the old saying that power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. But in Digger Rockwell's world, corruption goes hand in hand with control, because that is where the power is. Controlling the narrative is more important than solving the problem.Digger is a bad guy, ignorant, tacky and narcissistic. But he is the hero of his own invented narrative. In an era of fake news and misinformation, it is a timely and scary reality check. The absurd and often jaundiced take on the machinery of power from Digger's house to the White House and beyond is not subtle.Performances Shine Despite Narrative ProblemsInarritu takes big swings here narratively and stylistically, and his ambition pays off in fits and starts. Some scenes, like a sequence of Digger, the U.S. president and various generals watching the iceberg collide with land, are darkly hilarious. Cruise's 10-minute amphitheatre monologue fires on all cylinders. But overall, Digger values audacity, ambition and theatrics over narrative clarity.Not funny enough to be a satire, too outrageous to be straight drama, it lands in a tonal wasteland. It wavers between silly and sincerity. The parts of Digger that work, however, work very well. Goodman lets his freak flag fly as the beleaguered POTUS.Ahmed, as the pushed-to-the-brink climate scientist, hands in a career-best performance. Cruise nails the farcical elements of the character. He also lets the more intimate, realistic moments breathe in a performance that will likely draw attention from the Academy at Oscar time. The titular character brags that the world is powered by his fossil fuels, but his movie is fuelled by something else: audacity.It is a truly unique film, the kind that does not usually feature such high-priced talent. But this audacious environmental drama is bordered by self-indulgence, and at times is a chore to sit through. 3 stars out of 5.