One critic says Digger makes Inarritu's Bardo look like The Golden Girls — others just call it a mess

Right, so we're finally on the cusp of seeing Digger, the much-murmured film from Alejandro González Iñárritu with Tom Cruise leading the charge. If you thought you knew what to expect, the early chatter suggests you might want to brace yourself. The first public screening has just gone down, and already, the film's managed to thoroughly split the critics. Not mildly either—proper divide, as in, some are shouting ‘masterpiece’, and others are just as convinced it’s a total shambles. Welcome to film Twitter’s favourite mood: chaos.

Digger opens in cinemas 2 October.

So, what’s on the table? Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, supposedly the most powerful bloke on the planet, desperately trying to save humanity from a catastrophe of his own making. It’s not a musical, and frankly, it doesn’t sound like there are any tunes cheery enough to paper over this particular collapse.

Wild First Impressions

The critics who’ve weighed in so far aren’t singing from the same hymn sheet in the slightest. Here’s how Jeff Ewing summed it up after the recent screening:

In Ewing’s words, "#DiggerMovie is an ambitious, often surreal tour de force. The script is often funny but there’s a timely, rare undercurrent of anger in its satire. Tom Cruise is excellent and complex, and it will continually surprise you. It doesn’t always land, but when it hits, it’s brilliant."

Meanwhile, Courtney Howard came out raving, calling it blistering, dazzling, and a 'tour de force performance' from Cruise, with Riz Ahmed standing out as well. Simon Thompson was a bit more measured—admiring the big vision and the cast’s commitment, but suggesting the film’s so-called ‘pertinent sociopolitical satire’ doesn’t quite stick the landing (though he would like a word about the set and sound design, which are apparently showstoppers).

Read more: Critics who have seen Tom Cruise's Digger are calling it both a Best Picture contender and a hollow misfire

Jim Hemphill threw down the ‘best since Magnolia’ gauntlet for Cruise (never a lazy compliment), and said the visual ambition here makes Iñárritu’s last film, Bardo—which itself had people reaching for dramatic metaphors—look like, of all things, The Golden Girls. Take that as you will.

Not everybody’s clapping. Joey Magidson found it a 'mess' in polite terms—big swings, nice production values, but ultimately, he didn’t have a great time. Clayton Davis respected the ambition, liked Cruise, John Goodman, and thought Sophie Wilde might be the secret weapon, but was left wanting more actual absurdity and satire rather than a lot of effort that didn’t quite connect. He warned the split in reactions is only going to get wider from here.

Matt Neglia was, if anything, even colder—he unpicks the film as starting like a brash comedy, then tilting into bleak, almost self-parodic global commentary. Cruise, he reckons, gets the flashiest scenes but never quite manages the nuance required by Iñárritu’s sprawling script, while the rest of the cast barely get a look in. It’s all technically impressive, just not much to sink your teeth into. In his words, 'Less of a bang and more of a hollow misfire.'

Cast & What to Expect

• Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell, world’s most powerful man with a saviour complex
• Sandra Hüller (Project Hail Mary)
• Jesse Plemons (Bugonia)
• John Goodman (The Connors)
• Riz Ahmed (The Phoenician Scheme)
• Michael Stuhlbarg (After the Hunt)
• Sophie Wilde (Babygirl)
• Emma D'Arcy (House of the Dragon)
• Robert John Burke (Robocop 3)
• Burn Gorman (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice)
• Pip Torrens (Preacher)

If you’re hoping for something straightforward, probably don’t. This one’s shaping up to be Iñárritu at his most unabashedly weird, swinging from satire to self-flagellation in the space of a single act, and not worried about leaving half the audience scratching their heads—or just hurling their popcorn at the screen.

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