Go see Digger in the Theaters. Now.

DIGGER: 4.5 out of 5 stars

I know that this film has people very split on the internet. Almost no one has a “meh” opinion of it. It’s either love it or hate it. Well, I love big swings and A-list actors doing weird-ass-shit, so put me in the love it camp.

I walked into the film having read nearly nothing about it - only having seen the trailer and a couple of non-spoilery reviews on tiktok. And OH BOY am I glad I did. There aren’t any huge Sixth Sense style surprises but there are quite a few moments that shocked me that the plot went the way it did. So - if you haven’t seen this film but are interested - don’t read anymore and buy your ticket now for the biggest screen you can find in your area. And I do mean the biggest/best theater you can find. I wish I had. I saw it in a small 60 seat Regal and between the 1.85:1 aspect ratio and the small screen I feel as though I missed out on at least some of what Alejandro G. Iñárritu and Emmanuel Lubezki was trying to do. That said, the camera work, set design, editing are all wild. Do I love every choice? No. Do I love that they are trying wild shit? YES.

The films big swings remind me of Terry Gilliam’s Brazil. It’s weird, it makes you uncomfortable, maybe even confused for a moment but gahdamnit it’s trying something. We’ve been so coddled by safe big budget auteur films for a while now. Scorcese as great as he still is, hasn’t tried anything weird in years now. Same with Spielberg and Tarantino, neither has Anderson - as incredible as One Battle After Another was.

Bong Joon Ho is doing weird shit with big budgets and big stars with one of my favorite films of last year, Mickey 17. Lance Oppenheim just did some weird shit with Primetime - which I thought was uncomfortable and fantastic. (Wait. Maybe it’s just Robert Pattinson?)

For me Iñárritu pulled a lot of ideas from his previous film Birdman. Digger had a similar idea of a big Hollywood actor doing a play and that film is inside that play and there’s some real life going on during the play and the movie… it’s all confusing. But it’s supposed to be confusing.

Like Michael Keaton in Birdman - Tom Cruise pulls it all off. John Goodman plays an, I don’t want to say Trump-like President because there’s more to it than that and he’s fantastic as always. I really loved Cruise and Goodman playing off of each other and sharing so much screentime, it’s truly a joy to see two greats together like this.

Riz Ahmed, plays a terrified scientist employee of Cruise’s Digger and once again shows that he doesn’t get enough big movie work. The man should be leading films several times a year but well, we know why. Check out RELAY, it’s very good.

Sandra Hüller (Project Hail Mary) was loads of fun to watch as the sister to Digger. She was a little bit wasted as most of her role was cut-a-way scenes of her reacting to things that Cruise did on screen. Sophie Wilde (Talk to Me) as the extremely-done-with-TomCruise’s-shit play director really knocked it out of the park. Jesse Plemons (Civil War) the perfect man for any film that has a little bit of weird was incredible in his role as the plays producer.

This is film that I will be pre-ordering the 4k physical release the moment it is announced. I want to see it in my home, analyze it and delve into all the extras. Iñárritu deserved a better movie going public than the release of this film got. I truly hope that it will have a second life once it’s released to streaming and physical media.

That all said, go check it out now. In theaters.