Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s Digger might be the mostself-serious unserious film I’ve seen in recent memory. Ostentatious sets,unsubtle acting punctuated by facial tics, and a score (by Cosmo Sheldrake)that underlines nearly every emotion: the film rarely looks like the finesthour of its star-studded team. Then, about a third into the 129-minute film,Inarritu reveals his conceit: what we’ve been watching is a rehearsal of a playcalled Fossil Fools, supposed to premiere later in the day.

Built around greedy fossil fuel baron Digger Rockwell (TomCruise), who [in the film’s world] triggered an apocalypse with his recklessextraction rigs in Greenland and Alaska, Inarritu’s film admits to be aimingfor a deliberately underwhelming play. Its lead, Curtis Markson (Cruise, theactor playing Digger) says he feels “disconnected” with the play. However,Digger also commits the cardinal sin of supplementing the play with a film thathas frustratingly little to add to modern discourse. As a result, theover-the-top play begins to look like an excuse for a shoddy film.

Reminiscent of Inarritu’s Birdman (2014), which is also setin the backstage of a theatre crew in the days leading up to its premiere,Digger is a bit more ambitious in what it’s trying to achieve. Despiterevealing the film is a theatre rehearsal (as a result pulling its audience outof the film), Digger trusts its audience to immerse itself in the tale again,when the next scene starts. Like a play, where audience members can see theartifice and choose to ignore it. It’s an idea that outruns its novelty, as thesocial commentary in Fossil Fools starts to feel gratingly obvious.

A white trillionaire realising he’s set off an explosion inthe Arctic circle, triggering a block of ice the size of Maryland towardsEurope, is not nearly as bizarre compared to what appears in the news cycle.Adam McKay’s Don’t Look Up did a better job of setting off an asteroid inEarth’s path. As the filthy, xenophobic, bible-hugging US President Compson –John Goodman brings little flavour or eccentricity to his part, compared to hisreal-life counterpart. Dr Nirav Ganesh (Riz Ahmed), playing Digger’s head ofenvironmental safety, is engaging in the double-handers with Cruise, but it hasthe abrupt squeaks of a theatre performance – a mousy subordinate in one, anindignant civilian shocked at the tycoon’s callousness in another.

Inarritu might argue it’s the design of the performance,where it has to look like a theatre role, but it’s a tight-rope he’s chosen towalk, where Ahmed’s performance ultimately needs to work for the film (which iswhat Digger is). Curtis acknowledging the play’s shortcomings doesn’t make theexperience any less egregious. The first time I really believed Cruise in thefilm, is when Curtis yells at the theatre director, when he gets an importantphone call right before a scene. His wife is calling him to tell him abouttheir daughter, who has boarded a plane to see him on his play’s opening night,but hasn’t landed yet. Bad weather has diverted some planes, forcing Curtis tohold his breath till he hears about his daughter’s safety. It’s a rare momentin the film, where the dystopia isn’t so front-and-centre, and I preferred itthat way. I enjoyed Cruise more as the dissatisfied, shy, awkward Curtis, thanas the rollicking, narcissistic cowboy honcho.

The thesis of Inarritu’s film that narratives outlive facts,is an urgent, pressing one – but one that isn’t adequately explored. Theproducer of the play, Kenny (Jesse Plemons), a tech billionaire dabbling insecurity intelligence, is possibly a stand-in for the Silicon Valley moguls andtheir increased proximity with Washington DC and their own myth-making. Kenny,it’s revealed, was related to Digger Rockwell, which propelled him to optionthe rights of the play, and revive the absurd myth of arguably the worst manwho ever lived.

Inarritu’s films have often been described as pretentiousand awards-baiting, but never have I found any of his earlier works thisunpleasant. Not even Bardo: False Chronicle of a handful of truths (2022),which I thought was extremely indulgent in parts. In Digger, I was gobsmackedat the crew’s insistence to put together all this sound fury to say nothingmore alarming than what one might glean through an Instagram reel. Made on areported $125 million budget, I think I might go so far as to call Inarritu’sfilm a blockbuster-sized waste of a carbon footprint.

Despite his preceding off-screen reputation, Cruise is anextremely convincing actor when he’s being sincere. I hope the reception tothis doesn’t discourage him from taking bold swings in the future. In what ishis first non-action hero role since Rock of Ages (2012), Cruise’s performancecan’t be faulted here. I just wish it was in service of a satire less satisfiedwith its intentions.

This article was originally published in The Wire and is republished here with permission, under a special arrangement with The Wire.