Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Digger review says the film is either brilliantly outrageous or outrageously brilliant. Canine Critic Rocky agrees.

This is the controversial film you’ve been hearing so much about, in which Tom Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an all-powerful, all-insane oil baron whose drilling has threatened the lives of millions of Europeans and then some.

Alongside an equally unhinged president (John Goodman) and against the best advice of his own top scientist (Riz Ahmed), he schemes to save his reputation no matter what happens to the rest of the planet. All three performances are award-worthy, without a doubt.

We’ve watched Tom Cruise hang off airplanes and ride motorcycles off cliffs. This time the daredevil act is daring to be smothered in artificial skin, and burning up the screen from the inside out. Digger’s transformation is a feat of cosmetic engineering. The first complete application was an approximately six-hour job involving extensive facial prosthetics, gray hair and a full, pudgy body-suit, of which we see a squirmy excess.  The makeup was designed by two Oscar winners, makeup and hair designer Alessandro Bertolazzi and prosthetic makeup designer Kazu Hiro. Could there be more Oscars in their future?

Six hour application periods weren”t sustainable alongside twelve-hour shooting days, do Cruise did what Cruise does and turned it into a super efficiency project. He used a stopwatch and a chalkboard to time and drill each step until the application dropped to under an hour. The stakes were momentous — he had to deliver a manic ten-minute monologue in one breathless take, in a fat suit, without sweating the makeup off. Now that’s movie magic.

And yet… with that much latex between you and the lens, the only part of Cruise I could still identify was his eyes, and they are gloriously unhinged from the first frame to the last. He expresses outrage, delusion and a surprising degree of charisma through a mask. I’d call that more impressive than any death-defying stunt on his résumé. Hanging from a plane takes nerve. Making an audience believe in a monstrous, magnetic man through five pounds of prosthetics takes artistry.

Digger Review — the mind behind the madness

Director and co-writer Alejandro Iñárritu is a fearless Mexico City native who has never made a tame movie. He burst onto the world stage with Amores Perros in 2000, followed by 21 Grams and Babel, the latter a Best Picture nominee. Then came the stretch that made him a giant: Birdman swept the Oscars, and The Revenant brought him a second consecutive Best Director win.

But he’s not perfect. No one bats 1000. Bardo, his sprawling, self-reflective 2022 passion project, left even devoted fans divided, and Babel has its share of detractors. Iñárritu swings big, and sometimes the swing lands in the cheap seats. But I’ll take a filmmaker who risks falling flat on his face over a dozen who strike out looking. Digger is indisputably Iñárritu’s biggest swing yet, and in my opinion, it’s a home run.

His vision is monumental, as reflected in the extraordinarily remarkable sets created by production designers are Dennis Gassner and Richard L. Johnson. Gassner is a legend, an Oscar winner for Bugsy, whose career includes Blade Runner 2049, 1917 and Into the Woods. Gassner and Johnson’s efforts were accentuated by the set decoration of and Anna Pinnock.

The world they’ve built is seems deliberately, yet hauntingly artificial. This is an important feature of the storytelling. It brings Yorgos Lanthimos to mind. It’s a twisted, decaying, glittering playground of power, and that, and the sluggishly arresting score, are why you’ll feel that something is off from the very beginning.

But it’s hard to pin point what’s of exactly off kilter and why, even as revelations are made. My advice is if you can’t quite work out how it all fits together, just go with it and enjoy the otherworldly occurrences. All will be clearly and concisely revealed, and you will be left in awe of the ingenuity.

I can safely say that Digger is unlike any movie you’ve ever seen, a credit to Iñárritu’s off-the-charts imagination. Cruise is fearless, the ensemble is a wonder, and the design is jaw-dropping. In my book, Digger is a must-see.

Canine Critic Rocky’s Reviews: Digger

Canine critic Rocky here, and I’m happy to report that Digger is the best thing I’ve sunk my teeth into since the last time dad dropped a Costco rotisserie chicken on the floor. I agree with Mom completely. Tom Cruise is unrecognizable and unleashed, John Goodman and Riz Ahmed are top dog in every scene, and the sets had me sniffing around every corner of the frame.

As for the four footed performance, I have to be honest — Digger’s weird, ill-fated animatronic cat looked very wrong moved robotically and it gave me serious paws. I’ve met plenty of cats, and that one was not the real deal. But this critic had to eat his words when he realized the cat’s strange inauthenticity was intentional, and in fact a vital clue to the whole plot. I howled with laughter!

Fetch yourself a ticket and keep a sharp eye on that cat, because Iñárritu has buried a clue in plain sight. I’m giving Digger four paws up, and if I had a fifth, I’d stick that up too. Good boy, Iñárritu!

Rated R

2 Hours 8 minutes

If this Digger review inspires you to trot on storm the cineplex, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Lisa Johnson Mandell’s Digger review says the film is either brilliantly outrageous or outrageously brilliant. Canine Critic Rocky agrees.