The Daily Mail, Brian Viner
Rating: Four stars
Brian Viner found that Digger improved on a second viewing, when the film’s twists were already known.
On his first encounter with it, however, he felt the film became caught up in its own elaborate concept and theatricality, making it confusing and overly self-indulgent.
Even so, Viner described Digger as bold and frequently brilliant filmmaking. He said Alejandro González Iñárritu, Tom Cruise and John Goodman had earned Oscar buzz, while praising supporting performances from Riz Ahmed, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons — as well as the film’s animatronic cat.
BBC, Nicholas Barber
Rating: Four stars
Nicholas Barber said he personally loved Digger, although he acknowledged that some of its excesses go too far and that many viewers will likely wish it were shorter.
He added that, after roughly 90 minutes, the repeated close-ups of John Goodman shouting — complete with bulging, snake-like veins on his forehead — begin to test the audience’s patience.
Yet Barber enjoyed the film’s grandest moments, particularly when Cruise moves around the set delivering forceful speeches about the oil industry. He praised the scale of Cruise’s performance, the script’s stark environmental argument and Iñárritu’s exuberant visual style.
The Telegraph, Robbie Collin
Rating: Four stars
Robbie Collin wrote that Digger occupies a state of constant uncertainty. He was unsure whether the film’s internal argument about art’s inability to confront catastrophe is meant to be resolved — or whether the film even wants to settle the question.
Nevertheless, he found it thrilling to watch Iñárritu and Cruise explore that conflict with such visual beauty, ambition and extravagance.
The Los Angeles Times, Amy Nicholson
Amy Nicholson argued that, although Tom Cruise has previously dangled from cliffs, skyscrapers and aircraft, playing oil tycoon Digger Rockwell may be his most dangerous role in years.
‘Without special effects or stunts, the veteran star [Tom Cruise] holds your attention throughout, grandstanding in a way that feels like an Oscar moment both in its intention and its impact.’
The Guardian, Peter Bradshaw
Rating: Two stars
‘As with Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up, there may be a tacit consensus, understandable at some level, that at least we have a big mainstream movie which is talking about the biggest issue of our time, and we have a duty to suspend critical objection.
‘Digger certainly resonates with Donald Trump’s greedy urge to despoil the Arctic and everywhere else. Yet there is something glib and overblown here. This film finds itself in a postmodern hole. And what do you do when you’re in a hole?’
The Times, Kevin Maher
Rating: One star
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‘There surely exists an alternate movie universe where Digger is played by an actual ”older” actor, say Dustin Hoffman or Ben Kingsley, and in that universe that film is certainly more effective than this one.
‘Cruise, instead, is in the unenviable position of being Digger’s sole selling point and its fatal flaw.’
Empire, Olly Richards
Rating: Two stars
‘Digger is a bumptious blowhard… Cruise emerges with a win, reminding us how riveting he can be as an actor, not just as a movie star.
‘A role so oversized and absurd demands fearless commitment, which he certainly gives. The big swing is laudable. If only the film were more rewarding.’
Variety, Owen Gleiberman
‘I’m not sure that ‘Digger’ is going to connect, because it’s so full of itself — so top-heavy with importance.
‘The movie cost north of $125 million to make, and that figure is not only too big to probably justify itself; it’s a testament to the arrogance of the filmmakers – to the assumption that we’ll turn out in droves for this ponderous absurdist lecture.’
The Hollywood Reporter, David Rooney
‘I was reminded of colossal misfires like Damien Chazelle’s Babylon and David O. Russell’s Amsterdam, bloated movies by directors so drunk on their exalted reputations they forgot there was an audience to consider.’
Digger is a ‘turgid, unfunny, and borderline unwatchable 128 minute mess’.
‘[Digger] forgets the statement must still work as anything more than a self-flagellating valediction from a movie star.’
The Wrap, William Bibianni
‘Digger is what happens when you give the week’s worst Saturday Night Live sketch an inexplicably large budget and delusions of grandeur.’
The New York Post, Johnny Oleksinski
‘The trouble with Iñárritu’s pretentious frame story (sorry to be so vague) is that it causes us to not take about 90% of the movie seriously and to zone out for long stretches.
‘There are no stakes to be found and no laughs to be had. There’s certainly no point.’
The Independent, Clarisse Loughrey
Rating: Two stars
‘As much as Digger has been sold on the promise that Cruise here is a revelation, there’s no real inversion to speak of, merely a return to the kind of work he did (over two decades ago!) before his blockbuster action streak.
‘Even his latex makeover seems reminiscent of his paunchy, balding Les Grossman in Tropic Thunder.’
Indiewire, David Ehrlic
‘The reason why Digger is a nobler and more rewarding failure than Birdman or Bardo is because it doesn’t have to pretend that Digger Rockwell is a real person.
‘He’s a living cartoon who’s exempted from the human foundation that was missing from those earlier films, and — for all of this movie’s psych-outs and detours — that allows Iñárritu to address his existential crises with a greater directness and degree of relatability.’