Tom Cruise's Digger earns mixed reviews

moviesOct 3, 2026701,599

Tom Cruise’s new film Digger opened to split critical notices and earned a C+ CinemaScore from opening-day audiences. Critics and commentators called the movie divisive, with some reviewers panning its tone and others praising performances; one early positive cited strong turns from Tom Cruise and Riz Ahmed. Loudersound recalled Cruise’s 2012 misfire Rock Of Ages when noting how Digger has become a target for critical pile-on. Prominent filmmakers weighed in on the conversation: Alfonso Cuarón defended the film’s reception by disputing the premises of the negative coverage while Guillermo del Toro said he was not impressed with some of the reviews. Social-media posts range from calls to see the film despite poor reviews to outright rejections of Cruise on personal grounds, underscoring polarized audience response. Box-office placement and longer-term awards prospects remain unresolved as studios and critics continue to debate the film’s intentions and execution.

jae holzman

@jael.bsky.social

i hate digger and i love how much i hate digger. i am going to see the movie again in two days with more friends. it is climate change freddy got fingered

'Digger' review
The first 20 minutes of the film set up a brilliant comedy that skewers our modern lives today. And then it spends about 2 hours making us feel awful for thinking the first 20 minutes were good, on purpose, over and over again. It is a joyless, colorless film that poorly parodies Citizen Kane and Dr.
Strangelove intentionally, making a mockery of essentially all modern American liberal political commentary and comedy. And a parody of a parody is interesting but uncomfortable and challenging to watch.

19915h ago

SpacePrez24

This is a fantastic review and actually has me intrigued

Nick5

“it is climate change freddy got fingered” Of all the brand new sentences the universe can conjure up, that one may be the most

Demon Copperhead4

Thank you for articulating the vague unease I felt watching the trailer. I don't *want* to watch it... but I DO... but I hate myself for wanting to...

tammysall.bsky.social3

I Can Only Hope Some Of This Is Being Culled For Song Material

kateewok.bsky.social3

I am more determined than ever to get my hands on a print of the Ed Ruscha poster

Circle of Love2

I loved the movie, strikingly imaginative and original. Tom Cruise stepped entirely out of his action-hero persona, a performance worthy of an Oscar. It is art, fun to watch, and stunning. A highlight includes a blistering 10-minute sequence where Cruise delivers a rant to EU delegates—A must-see!

Quoting this

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick113

I kind of really want to see this because it seems so aggressively unpleasant on purpose?

Mitch Wolfe13

So... the movie should have been called 'Freddy Got Fracked,' instead?

AmyAlexCA10

This review got me: I’m IN. #Digger (More TK, after I’ve watched it😂)

Hugh Osborne8

Literally, a rave review of Digger

The Red Terra3

This is the best review of DIGGER because this is exactly how you're meant to experience it. Two thirds of the way through the film two characters get into a screaming match about the differences between satire and farce, cementing that it's all on purpose. I don't know how reviewers are missing it.

Moondoggie (Rick)2

There is something attractive about the idea of hating a movie so much that you'll take friends to see it again so you can hate watch it and share that hatred with friends. I'm also enjoying how divisive this film is among critics and audiences. Kind of a harmless microcosm of politics in 2026.

Chris Kluwe

@chriswarcraft.bsky.social

studio execs: “Tom Cruise is even weirder than normal! Digger!” NORMAL PEOPLE: “Well that’s disconcerting, I wonder if there’s a football game on.”

2138h ago

burn it all down5

feel like this is actually tom cruise's first role *without* makeup and prosthetics

R.H.Slansky2

Digger yoinked my local true IMAX screen away from The Odyssey, which was still selling out all but the first two rows, before I could see it, so I am extra salty about this movie

John Pontoon, dissident revenant2

Tim has been trying to build a movie around his Topic Thunder character for decades.

Meredith 🇨🇦 🇺🇦2

Other Normal People: "Tom Cruise is in it? Hard pass."

Kakistocracy of TERROR! 💀1

But also, fuck Tom Cruise.

Graham Shaw1

I almost went when I read the spoilers, but I feel they missed a level of crazy from them so stayed away.

✨ Hamish Steele ✨ Go-Man Vs. the Star Dragon OUT NOW!

@hamishsteele.bsky.social

I genuinely think Digger would look more interesting if Tom Cruise was doing the same performance but with no prosthetics at all. He's already a 64 year old multi-millionare. He's what they look like.

18822h ago

CacoQueen21

that would require self-reflection, the one stunt he seems incapable of doing

Ivan Nemet6

I'm interested in the film, but Tom Cruise being the lead (what with the scientology and all) is the least engaging part for me, prosthetics or no. If it was someone like Steve Buscemi I'd be all over it. Hell, maybe even Michael Keaton since they didn't give him the Oscar for Birdman.

Comedy Club 4 Kids5

It IS mad Cruise will have spent so much money on not looking his age, then needing all that covered up with prosthetics. Less preposterous than someone who is secretly balding and wearing a toupee to cover it, being given a bald cap for a part OVER THE TOP..?

Jason K Pargin, author

@jasonkpargin.bsky.social

Digger spoiler: I know people are being weird and cryptic about the plot but what they’re talking around is SPOILER The film ends with Tom Cruise addressing the audience, asking them to not reveal that it is a musical

738h ago

Are You Being Detained2

This is not true. SPOILER The entire movie was just a dream that Cruise's character from Tropic Thunder, Les Grossman, had.

Jesse Hawken

@jessehawken.bsky.social

Over at X The Everything App Alfonso Cuaron is defending the bad reviews Digger is getting by citing some ChatGPT summary that said Under The Skin got bad reviews on first release and is now considered a modern masterpiece and I'm like "That's not true Ellen"

6616h ago

Jesse Hawken26

I understand coming to the defense of your bud’s new movie but a Dr Strangelove pastiche isn’t an example of “The Shock of the New”, we just had a Strangelove pastiche a couple of years ago with Don’t Look Up

Revolutionary_Jack 🕷🕸!4

1) It’s cool that Under the Skin is taking that stature previously extended to Kubrick or Welles. 2) Under the Skin had shooters from Cahiers du Cinema and other high level cinephiles. This one maybe doesn’t. 3) Glazer isn’t a showboat who loves the sound of his voice. Nor someone who whines.

What good are notebooks?1

Oddly enough... I did think of Gravity.

missingjigsaw.bsky.social1

One day we will look back on Digger as the L'Avventura of today.

Ketan Joshi

@ketanjoshi.co

I am so excited to go watch Digger. I keep seeing intensely negative reviews and they're all probably pretty correct but I am still excited because it's such a rare treat to get a specifically fossil fuel themed movie and they're not all going to be Daniel Day Lewis with his milky shakes

6914h ago

Dr. Genevieve Guenther (she/they)6

I actually kind of loved it. It’s not even about climate — it’s about the culture of liberal hypocrisy and disavowal.

Susan Kaye Quinn is Writing Solarpunk 🌞🌱1

Is it out?? I have it on my list but I'm very behind

Soylent Queen, Nuclear Sub-Basement Kid ☢️💣☣️🍄☁️1

I think this is a very artistic film, whether it’s flawed or not.

🩸💀 The Horror Guru 💀🩸

@thehorrorguru.bsky.social

Where were all these "we need more movies like this" arguments when Mickey 17 or Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die bombed? Why does Digger and that piece of shit Tom Cruise get all the "THIS MOVIE IS SINGLE HANDEDLY SAVING CINEMA EVEN THOUGH NO ONE LIKES IT" defenses? 😂

4913h ago

🩸💀 The Horror Guru 💀🩸25

I don't know. I haven't seen Digger, maybe I'd like it. But this reeks to me of the same shit that happens every time Tom Cruise makes a movie. Suddenly everyone acts like the dude is saving cinema even if his movie is bombing. 😂

Daniel O'Connell3

I feel like people who glaze up and worship Tom Cruise as the savior of movies are the same types that loudly bitch about franchise movies like the MCU and also don’t watch many movies. The last Tom Cruise movie I saw was MI Dead Reckoning and I had an absolutely miserable time at it.

Gonza González (0/200)1

Man, i love being on BlueSky where i can ignore all that propaganda. Didn't hear anything. So far everyone i met said: A) i'm not gonna watch it B) i watched it's terrible C) i watch it, it's terrible, please watch to testify how awful it is

Danielle Ryan (Lestat Era)1

because we weren't quite at merger monopoly like this yet

Good Boy

@goodboy.bsky.social

There's an after credits scene in Digger where Curtis Markson goes to sleep and we wake up in a third, "meta-meta" level of the movie with a long shot of the real Tom Cruise wide awake in bed and Cruise just peels his face off in silence until we see he's the Smile demon

47Yesterday

jillnaustin 🔥🔥🔥2

that sounds like tom cruise.

Rarian Rakista1

So the whole film it seems we as viewers are being pissed on‽ Normal day, why watch?

Ben Kuchera

@benkuchera.bsky.social

This movie was always commercial suicide because for it to work they have to avoid so much in the trailer. But like. Maybe just go see it. I'm writing this about the Tom Cruise film Digger. Life is amazing.

47Yesterday

scott dagostino

@scottdagostino.ca

When the “chick flick” makes 5x as much as the Tom Cruise movie 🔥❤️ Nature is healing 😃

4014h ago

The-Autistic-Artist 🥥 🎃 🍉 🏳️‍🌈 Halloween Era

@theautisticart.bsky.social

Yeah, I'm NOT bothering to see this for three reasons: 1. Tom Cruise and his Scientology ties. 2. The minimal marketing I saw leaving me more confused than anything. 3. I just don't have the time to go to the movies this weekend (even IF I wanted to see this).

31Yesterday

Tame2

The marketing is so weird I literally dont know what its about at all and ive seen like 20 ads of it

Exhululath2

#1 is all I've needed to not watch any movie starring Tom Cruise in several past years.

Brian "Kult of Thorn" Myers2

Well once one knows the twist it becomes even more befuddling how it got marketed the way it was. It feels like another Joker: Folie à Deux situation where Warner Bros. is marketing a very different movie than it is.

Gabu1

From the 3 ads that I saw it's about a billionare digging to the center of the earth to stop climate change? I guess?

Kylie Eleison

@gonebabygone.bsky.social

Cruise is bankable playing Tom Cruise, people saw Digger advertised as "Tom Cruise nothing like you're used to seeing him" and got the message

4213h ago

FormerGregSamsa

@formergregsamsa.bsky.social

I only hate Digger because Tom Cruise is a sociopath according to Lawerence Wright, and no studio should be working with him after Katie Holmes had to literally plan a year to escape him.

4113h ago

film-authority.com

@film-authority.bsky.social

With David Ellison's Skydance taking control of Warner Bros, Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s's Digger may be the last gasp of free speech in cinema. With a stunning Tom Cruise performance, this satirises oil oligarchs and liberal arts in equal measures; a 5/5 masterpiece. film-authority.com/2026/10/03/d...

33Yesterday

Jez 🤍💛💙3

Might go today or tomorrow, or save it for the peace and quiet of a midweek, mid afternoon, near empty cinema.

Adam B 3

Absolute Marmite this one, it seems: five stars or zero stars all around. On your recommendation I’ll give it a go.

Nymeria1

Scientology, ha my brain does still work.

Nymeria1

I don't watch movies with Tom Cruise. He is a member of this cult (the name escapes me at the moment, damn)

The Giant Aquatic Centipede1

I expected this would catch some heat for a variety of reasons. Iñárritu’s a good director and Cruise's creative instincts are usually pretty reliable. I'll let the furor die down before dipping my toes in.