If you’re even a little bit into the movie business, you’ve probably seen the discourse: Digger starring Tom Cruise is a huge box‑office bomb, is reportedly losing Warner Bros. somewhere between $220 and $245 million, and has critics split down the middle between “bold masterpiece” and “aggressively unfunny.” In fact, Digger's marketing team took this opportunity to promote the movie by showcasing these bad reviews and low ratings and asking audiences to see the film and decide for themselves.
But if you’re in my corner of the internet, yes, a little echo‑chambery I know, there’s a growing tide of us who are enamoured by this movie. The Letterboxd (social film cataloguing platform) page is slowly climbing toward 4 stars (currently sitting at a solid 3.9), and Anne Hathaway herself made her Letterboxd debut by giving it 5 stars.
So what’s actually going on here? Why is a film that’s flopping commercially also becoming a cult favourite among people who care about cinema? Let’s dig in.
We Keep Asking for New Movies and Then Punishing Them
For the past few years, cinephiles and even the “four movies a year” audience have been bitching and moaning about how there’s no originality left at the cinemas. You’re picking between a sequel, a spin‑off, an adaptation or a remake. Every week it’s another IP, another franchise, another “you’ll love this if you liked that.”
This is exactly why earlier this year people flocked to theatres for the likes of Obsession and Backrooms, because they felt different, even if only just different enough to feel like an event. Digger is that same impulse taken to its logical extreme: an original, auteur‑driven, wildly ambitious film that refuses to play it safe.
And yet, apparently, we can’t handle it.
The Burden of Being Asked to Think
It’s human nature to seek comfort and avoid the unknown and uncomfortable; it’s literally a survival instinct. But we’re supposed to be able to explore art, right? Try a new movie, a new kind of storytelling, something that challenges us?
Apparently not, not when it holds up a mirror to the parts of ourselves we don’t like.
I’ll admit it: Digger is A LOT. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has given a lot of material to the movie’s, or rather, the modern audience’s, tiny shoulders (and attention spans) to bear. As my own Letterboxd review reads (follow me!), it questions every form of authority, governance, oligarchic figures, academics, creatives; anyone it can find. There’s a twist in the first third that adds another dimension to this endless critique.
As soon as it starts to make you think and reflect, it feels too big a burden to hold, and the cynicism starts to feel moot.
The Misreading
But don’t give up on it.
A lot of people are misinterpreting the ending as the movie being anti‑art, criticising the medium itself for having no impact on the real world. That’s not what it’s saying.
It takes the long‑winded route to drive home an excellent point: art laced with social commentary is just fan service for your moral high ground when met with inactivity. Art itself is important. Movies with messages are powerful, but it’s on the audience to recognise what comes after that. Movies will only make money and entertain if that’s what you, the audience, take away from it. And usually, that’s exactly what we do.
You can’t just make/watch/consume art with social or political commentary and pat yourself on the back for being on the “right side,” for being the “us” against the “them.”
Twenty Years Later, Still Protesting
I remember once in high school, a friend, me and a teacher were discussing a Hindi film, Pink, that had just come out (there’s nothing quite like distracting a teacher with random topics to get out of studying). It’s a film about a sexual assault case, tackling rape culture in India. My friend and teacher were both singing its praises: “such films are the need of the hour,” “important,” “they raise awareness and change mindsets.”
I was like, sure, but at the end of the day it’s just a form of entertainment. People will see it, appreciate it, and then forget it. They vehemently disagreed, arguing that such movies have the power to change statistics.
I didn’t have the vocabulary for it then, but what I was getting at was that it’s just self‑service for those who place themselves on a moral high ground. Who is actually making the real change in the material world? Exactly 20 years later, women are still protesting against rape culture on the streets of Delhi and around India. What did that movie change?
I doubt either party I debated with then remembers that conversation now. I am just burdened with great memory of random, inconsequential days of my life. But hey, I could add a little anecdote to add to my point here. A win is a win.
Our Next Round of Self‑Flagellation
Right now, a movie like Digger and its message is even more important for audiences to watch, take in, reflect on and understand, especially with upcoming releases like The Social Reckoning (a follow‑up to The Social Network, about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook) and Artificial (a biographical dramedy on Sam Altman and OpenAI).
Once again, as we’ve already started to see, reviews and audiences will talk about how these movies are an EXPOSÉ, a horror we need to accept about being digital natives and living with AI, how bad and evil the people behind it are, how we are doomed.
And then the next morning, we’ll wake up and ask ChatGPT how many grams of protein is in our breakfast and Claude to make a presentation deck for work.
And I am by no means excluding myself from the narrative or acting all preachy and holier‑than‑thou. I was given a free one‑year access to Perplexity AI and I took it, and I use it. I’m currently looking for jobs in London; if any of the AI companies I’ve applied to accept my application, I will be a sell‑out. Long live AI (and my hypothetical job security)!!!
The Verdict
All in all, I don’t get the hate Digger is getting. It’s a great watch. Call it absurd, call it too much, call it boring. But it’s not unnecessary, especially when the credits roll and you start questioning yourself as a certain announcement is made.
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And hey, if nothing else convinced you: it’s Tom Cruise. That man always gives it his 101%.
What did you make of Digger? A masterpiece, misfire, or something in between? Hit reply and tell me; I want to know if you’re in the “it’s brilliant” or the “it’s too much” camp.