It is a pleasure to report that the film with which Warner Bros. will say goodbye as the classic Hollywood studio, in the face of its imminent acquisition by Paramount Skydance, is an absolute joy. Although we already warn: it will not be to everyone's taste.
The most purist critics will not agree, the box office is going to destroy it and it will become a commercial failure that will cost the studio millions, however, Digger from the Mexican director Alejandro G. Iñárritu (The Revenant) and the protagonist Tom Cruiseyou will have justice in time.
We have to talk about Digger…
In this satire, promoted by WB as “A comedy of catastrophic proportions”we see Cruise completely transform into a character totally removed from his reality: His name is Digger Rockwell.a wealthy older oil magnate, with southern manners, a prominent belly and a strange cat, whose drilling business in Greenland causes the calving of a huge glacier that will trigger a global ecological disaster destined for Europe. After this event, Digger undertakes a mission to remedy his mistake and try to save the world.
During a career spanning more than four decades, Cruise has played a versatile number of characters; He has been a secret agent on an impossible mission, a first-class fighter pilot, a vampire, a lawyer in search of the truth, a soldier who fights against aliens and time loops, a rock star, a military advisor who embraces Samurai culture, an action specialist in his own right, among many other roles. But it is perhaps his role as Digger, the strangest and most outlandish character in the actor's filmography, as well as his best and most thoughtful performance, probably since Magnolia (1999).
The plot focuses on control of the narrative; first, exposing world leaders doing the unthinkable to hide the existential climate crisis, and then, inviting us to control the narrative of our own lives regardless of the doom lurking around the corner. The story is also covered by many layers that the audience will discover one after another, if you go with the presence that the film demands of you.
The story includes a big plot twist that will NOT be talked about in this textsince it would ruin the experience for those who have not seen the film. We will stay here FREE OF SPOILERS.
When Cruise plays Digger, his screen presence is explosive. He brings a ruthless, over-the-top energy, making him an almost sure bet for an Oscar nomination, which would become his fourth Academy Award nomination as an actor (Cruise also has a Best Picture nomination as a producer of Top Gun: Maverick).
And what should be the scene shown at the ceremony when the Best Actor category is announced? A sequence in which Cruise's Digger addresses European nations going around the room demanding everyone's responsibilities. His magnetism here is absolute. The way he takes over the scene is electric, frenetic, intense, hilarious.
The rest of the cast that accompanies Cruise is first class. John Goodman He is an inept president of the United States, Rice Ahmed as a scientist and right-hand man of the president, Jesse Plemons He maintains a low profile during all his interventions, except for a wonderful scene in the third act that is another of the great surprises of the story. Finally, it is a shame that so much Sandra Huller as Emma D’Arcy are so wasted; Between them they have a couple of scenes that only leave us wanting to see more of their characters and their irrefutable talent.
And then there is the man behind the project: Iñárritu.
The man leads like a genius. In Digger It is handled with authority, with the use of wide spaces and precise camera movements, an astonishing fluidity between spaces, times and realities.
And what can we say about his new collaboration with the director of photography Emmanuel Lubezki? If we didn't think it was possible for “Chivo” to surpass itself, it has. The color, texture and style of Iñárritu and Lubezki paint a world that we never tire of exploring and admiring. By the way, Digger was filmed in VistaVision with a camera designed in 1954.
Special mention also goes to the production design of Dennis Gassner (Skyfall, Blade Runner 2049, 1917) y Richard Johnson (Hateful Eight, Bird Box), and the great soundtrack of Cosmo Sheldrake.
Who then controls the narrative of how we face reality? Iñárritu has dared to take big risks and created an irritating film; Some of it is deliberate, in order to provoke an emotional reactionwhile at other times he points out social issues that, in his opinion, it is ridiculous to fight about when we have much more serious problems. Digger It denounces the hypocrisy of an industry that thrives on tragedies and uses them as a means of catharsis, while exposing how the great powers and capitalist institutions will end up profiting from the climate crisis while we sink to the depths of the ocean.
Digger will generate division and will end up in the headlines due to the commercial failure that its run in theaters will entail.but I think that time will prove him right, like so many other gems of cinema that were misunderstood upon their release, which later end up becoming cult classics.
Iñárritu's proposal is ambitious and bold, and if you as an audience are patient and curious enough to discover each layer, you will leave that movie theater feeling satisfied with having seen one of the finest films of the year.
See you in the theaters.
QUALIFICATION:
TECHNICAL SHEET:
Original title: Digger
Title in our region: Digger
Director: Alejandro G. Iñárritu
Screenwriter: Nicolás Giacobone, Alexander Dinelaris, Sabrina Berman
List: Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Riz Ahmed, Jesse Plemons, Sandra Hüller, Emma D’Arcy, Michael Stuhlbarg, Sophie Wilde
Producers: Alejandro G. Iñárritu, Tom Cruise, Mary Parent, Michael Sharp
Executive producers: Sabina Berman, Jez Butterworth, Pete Chiappetta, Alexander Dinelaris, Nicolás Giacobone, Joshua Grode, Andrew Lary, Emmanuel Lubezki, Anthony Tittanegro
Soundtrack: Cosmo Sheldrake
Director of photography: Emmanuel Lubezki
Edition: Stephen Mirrione, Conor O’Neill
Classification: B15
Duration: 2h 9min
Distributor: Warner Bros.
Cinema release: October 1
Trailer:
Source: https://cine3.com/critica-de-digger-alejandro-g-inarritu-tom-cruise-wb/
