(MA15+) ★★★★
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu.
Cast: Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons, Robert John Burke, Sophie Wilde.
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| "Now, in most of my movies, I'd be either hanging off the side of or flying this here plane." |
I can appreciate why people hate this movie. It seems like an utterly reasonable response. I wasn't sure if I liked it for the majority of its run time.
It wasn't until a moment three-quarters of the way through Digger where a character basically explains what's going on that I decided I loved it. This scene still won't change a lot of people's minds - after all, if you have to have a scene that explains the movie for you, then maybe it's not a great movie. And maybe having a scene that also gives you an out for everything that's just happened isn't ideal either.
But for me, that scene just made everything click into place. It made all the odd choices in the preceding 1h40m of proceedings wonderful choices. I immediately wanted to rewatch the whole thing through this new lens. The niggling concerns and disconcerting elements were washed away. Clarity was reached.
What exactly that moment was, I cannot say. It's a spoiler of the highest magnitude, and is completely absent from the trailers. When we get the first hint of it, about 15 minutes in, it's a giant WTF moment that might have you throwing your popcorn at the screen. But it's worth it. You'll just have to trust me on that.
Digger is the tale of Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon whose drilling in Greenland triggers a massive environmental disaster - a massive iceberg, heading for northern Europe that will bring tsunamis and untold destruction with it, killing tens of thousands of people.
Digger and the US government are left in a sticky situation - what, if anything, should they do about it?
On the surface, Digger feels like a misjudged unsubtle satire in the vein of Dr Strangelove. Instead, shorn of its genius conceit, it's an over-acted farce, with everything dialled up to 11 and continually interrupted by some weird, pointless diversions.
Then everything swims into focus. The lightbulb goes on. The door is opened. Everything makes sense. And even better than that, the film's central conceit illuminates so many more themes and shows off so much more depth to the story and its ramifications. Digger's flaws become strengths, and its morality play about climate change becomes something incredibly potent.
It's far from perfect, don't get me wrong. Not all of the flaws miraculously disappear. The character of Digger is widely uneven (which may also be part of the point), it's too long, and some issues are handwaved by the big twist at the three-quarter mark. But enough of it works to make this revelatory.
And then there's Tom Cruise. Love him or hate him, this is a bold choice of film for him. But full credit to him - he delivers a performance that calls its shot then proceeds to hit it out of the park. He packs on the prosthetics, leans into the weirdness, and eats the scenery, just like everyone else in this film. Digger is an unhinged caricature in a world full of demented caricatures, but it makes sense. It's a magnetic, engrossing performance, even when you're in the middle of hating the film.
Goodman is similary insane as crazed US president, while Ahmed is perfect as a scientist who brings some much-needed sanity and incredulity to the story.
Digger is essentially a bold climate change satire - bolder than I can truly explain here without spoiling. It's wild over-acting, insane characters, and faux-retro create something fantastically ugly. This level of ambition should be commended.
But if you don't like it, I totally understand.
