Digger   3 ½ stars

Have you been wondering what Tom Cruise has been up to since his last two installments of Mission: Impossible? It’s not another stunt-filled action movie like we have been used to. We found out this past weekend with the release of Digger, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu (Birdman and Biutiful), a political satire about a southern billionaire oilman who may be responsible for the end of human civilization. Cruise has left his usual action star routine and transformed himself into a bombastic bigger than life tycoon who lives in a mansion and wears silk pajamas and snakeskin boots. It’s hard to recognize him under the makeup and the fat suit, but he makes himself known through the most over the top performance we have seen from him. The movie starts with bubbles emerging from the ocean floor. Then we find Digger Rockwell (Cruise) in bed attending to his sick cat, which appears to be an animatronic creation and not the real thing. (This is a hint as what will come later.) When he gets an emergency telephone call from an employee and is visited by some of his technical experts, it becomes apparent that there has been an explosion at the company’s oil rig in Greenland that resulted from a giant crack in the earth’s surface and a massive methane release. A large chunk of the ice shelf has broken free and may be headed to the coast of northern Europe where it would cause the greatest environmental disaster in history. A meeting of the President of the United States (John Goodman in a performance that matches his Big Lebowski role in intensity) and his cabinet is called at Digger’s mansion where the problem is presented and possible responses are considered. In discussions resembling our current state of affairs, possible options range from military strikes to calling for a spiritual revival to absolving those responsible of guilt and blaming the Russians. Later, in the master set piece of the movie, the leaders of the world are gathered in a large amphitheater like room where Digger makes an over-the-top speech with plenty of stomping and yelling taking blame for the catastrophe but also making himself out to be the hero as he was just satisfying the world’s unquenchable appetite for cheap energy. There is nothing subtle about Iñárritu’s intent here. Through all the satire and insane scenes, he is saying that we are our own enemy. Though we want to blame a few powerful men, we really must blame ourselves. Besides the loud performances, the story probably won’t land with many audiences used to Tom Cruise’s more conventional action movies. And it hasn’t been well received with critics either. It doesn’t quite match the humor of Don’t Look Up, that other comedy about an environmental disaster. This was a swing for the fences attempt for the moviemakers and for Cruise. The production though is top notch. It is apparent there was a lot of money behind this effort. Other notable cast members are Riz Ahmed (Sound of Metal) as the scientist warning Digger about the disaster, Sandra Huller (Anatomy of a Fall), Digger’s sister, a scientist working on renewable energy, Michael Stuhlbarg (Call Me By Your Name) as the US Vice-President and Jesse Plemons as a big tech billionaire. I can’t say what to expect when awards season comes, but it looks like a big swing and a miss. If you see it, watch for the big plot twist!