Last week, the first reactions to Tom Cruise’s Digger hit the web, and they were quite varied. What seemed apparent was that the highly anticipated movie was proving to be divisive. Now, the reviews are here, and they mark an unfortunate milestone for the leading man. Cruise has officially notched his worst Rotten Tomatoes score for a film in nearly a decade.
After years of sticking to massive action movies, Tom Cruise opts for a dark comedy satire with Digger. Based on 99 reviews (as of this writing), the movie has received a 53 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes. The reviews that have been shared thus far convey a lot of thoughts on Cruise's new movie. Check out what The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney has to say about this new 2026 movie release:
It’s a movie that sets out to be divisive, and no doubt many will applaud its extravagant display of what passes for audaciousness and originality. But put me in the camp of those who most definitely did not dig it.
The last time a Tom Cruise movie received a “Rotten” score on the review aggregation site was in 2017, and that came by way of his failed reimagining of The Mummy. From a numerical standpoint, that was a lot worse, though, given that movie was given a 15 percent from critics and a 35 percent from audiences.
Since that horror-action flick, however, all of Cruise's films have been given high marks among critics and general moviegoers alike. The most favorable of that group is 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, which holds a 96 percent from critics and a 99 percent from audiences. David Ehrlich of IndieWire is mostly mixed on the film, which he compares to a particularly wild film from the '60s:
Digger is a mega-budget Dr. Strangelove riff so detached from human truth that its most believable character is a one-eyed animatronic cat named Maggie — a VistaVision satire so high-concept that it would be more accurate to measure its running time in altitude than minutes.
The film sees Tom Cruise play a fictional wealthy oil tycoon named Digger Rockwell, who must prevent a global catastrophe that he caused. The movie comes from Oscar-winning writer/director Alejandro G. Iñárritu, who’s best known for helming acclaimed movies like Birdman and The Revenant. However, his latest only seems to be charming about half of critics. In his review for TheWrap, William Bibbiani makes note of the film's over-the-top nature, and shares some thoughts on Cruise's grandiose performance:
Tom Cruise gives Iñárritu precisely what the director demands. If only the filmmaker demanded something more, something which actually warrants this film’s onanistic ovations. It’s not enough to make fun of the people destroying the world. You also have to announce you’re brilliant for doing it, that a billionaire approved your jokes and that the audience should thank you for giving them an opportunity to titter.
In the movie, Tom Cruise is barely recognizable as he wears a bodysuit and prosthetics and doesn’t participate in massive Mission: Impossible-esque stunts. The biggest set piece is perhaps a 10-minute monologue Cruise's character gives about climate change, which just about every review mentions. The Digger trailer suggested this would be a wild film, but it seems to have worked for some people. For instance, BBC's Nicholas Barber had some kind words to share:
Rather than being a crowd-pleasing prestige picture, it's a love-it-or-hate-it folly – and there probably will be more people in the "hate it" camp than the "love it" one. Personally, I loved it. Some of its excesses are, well, a bit too excessive, and most viewers will wish it was shorter.
Nevertheless, it seems like a number of pundits are left disillusioned with the film as well. After discussing the grim reality the film depicts, Los Angeles Times critic Amy Nicholson writes:
There’s no hope in 'Digger,' only a seductive, mischievous malevolence that, by design, feels empty as soon as the end credits roll.
It’ll certainly be interesting to see how theater-goers react to the movie when it hits theaters this weekend. Per Box Office Theory, the movie is expected to open to $23 million domestically against a reported production budget of $130 million. It's also speculated that it may not open at No. 1 (with sultry thriller Verity potentially taking the top spot). Given the early responses to the film, we'll have to see if general audiences latch onto Tom Cruise's latest big-screen offering in the long run.
You can see Digger for yourself and make up your own mind, though, when it hits theaters this Friday, October 2.
