Why Digger Is Worth Your Watch

Going to the Movies in 2026

I saw the film Digger (2026) at the local theater over the weekend. I walked into the lobby motioned by a human to an oversized iPad to buy my ticket. I say ticket, but it was really just a paper receipt—no more ticket stubs as a keepsake (bummer).

The whole process felt hollow, like walking into home full of memories but no furniture.

I skipped the concession stand and future landfill novelty popcorn buckets. Walked past the wall of fountain drink machines, which are always (for reasons I cannot fathom) placed next to the restrooms, so you get a nice whiff of what someone just drank. One machine was out of diet coke, and diet Dr. Pepper.

Finally making it to my seat, which reclines but has a small table and a cup holder that makes me feel like a toddler in a high chair.

But beyond the private equity-funded dilution of quality, I was finally ready to see the film Digger (2026).

Curious to See the Lack of Hype

Considering this was Tom Cruise, playing a crazed oil tycoon alongside a stacked cast, under the direction of Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, a film director known for producing quality work (Birdman, The Revenant, Babel). The fact that Digger only made single-digit millions on opening weekend and got bipolar reviews at its premiere made me curious to see what the non-hype was about.

Was this a case of a movie being buried by certain higher ups? If so, why? Or was it just a bad movie, one of dozens that came and went this year without so much as a popcorn fart in the wind.

The marketing was confusing, and after seeing the movie, I understand why. This isn’t a movie you can sum up in a trailer or a 30-second reel on social media. It’s an onion that peels back layers as the movie progresses, letting you believe one thing and then switching it up to reveal another layer, and then another.

But what I really enjoyed about Digger is that no matter where it takes you, you’re hooked the entire time. You want to know what comes next. You want to see how it ends, while laughing – nervously.

Why Digger is Worth More than 8 Million

I thought it was a great movie! It made me laugh, feel nervous, righteous, disheartened, scared, surprised, and impressed. There’s a lot of detail in this film. Tom Cruise deserves his roses for playing a character that’s playing a character based on a character.

This is also the first Tom Cruise movie where I didn’t see him run. Although that didn’t prevent him from showcasing some impressive core strength and balance for a man his age.

The standout monologue in the movie may seem too “on the nose” to some critics, but isn’t that the point? It’s as direct and in your face as Ned Beatty’s “The World is a Corporation” monologue in The Network (1976).

This is a political satire done right. You never hear the word “democrat” or “republican” mentioned once in this film. You never hear them play sides because, at this level, there are no sides. It’s just a group of arrogant egos trying to corral a catastrophic disaster that is too late to offer any positive outcome.

Those narrow minded enough to call Digger propaganda for climate change are missing the point. The disaster could be anything, but the people in charge will always be fools. That’s the joke.

There’s also a sci-fi element that leaves its place in the timeline unknown and vague. You never know what year this film is set in, and that’s a good thing for us.

We’re already seeing too many modern references to the film Idiocracy (2006). I definitely don’t want to see Digger in the same light in 20 years.

If you have the time and means, check it out! It’s worth the watch.

Digger is Our Generation’s Dr. Strangelove

In 1964, Stanley Kubrick gave us Dr. Strangelove, a dark political satire comedy that made fun of the least funny thing at the time, total nuclear war. Fast forward a few decades, Sidney Lumet directed The Network (1976), another dark, politically inspired comedy poking fun at mass media sensationalism, the erosion of ethics in journalism, and corporate control.

Now, we have Digger, a film that takes everything those films warn us about, stacks it like a tower of Jenga blocks, and lets Tom Cruise kick it over with a pair of snakeskin cowboy boots.

In the same spirit as those films, Digger is meant to hit close to home. It makes fun of those colorful characters steering the ship of our reality with genuine humor, while also holding a mirror back at us for giving them the keys in the first place.