Tom Cruise is a bona fide movie star.
You could argue that he practically single-handedly rescued Hollywood from its financial woes during the pandemic lockdowns with his follow-up blockbuster to the 1980s "Top Gun" with the stellar reboot, "Top Gun: Maverick" in May 2022. That is how movie stars operate, or at least they used to.
(And more than one person at this publication loved "Maverick.")
Cruise is about to have a new movie come out on Oct. 2, which you likely have seen the trailer from all over the place, called "Digger, and from the trailer, it appeared that the actor was leaning into his crazy character from "Tropic Thunder" back in 2008.
You know, the one where Robert Downey Jr. broke many, well, taboos you would not be allowed to today.
Warning: coarse language
Robert Downey Jr.'s performance in Tropic Thunder is absolutely brilliant
— Kalshi Film (@Kalshi_Film) May 24, 2025
pic.twitter.com/Hy1VlqMtoc
There have been sparse examples of smart comedies on the big screen since that movie, unfortunately. (Although, my colleague Jerry Wilson raved about this year's "Coyote vs. Acme," and I agree. See the link above.) That is a gap of over 20 years. And one of the most side-splitting moments was Tom Cruise's cameo as Les Grossman, the movie studio executive with questionable morals, and a truly unique dance move.
Warning: coarse language
Anyways, here’s 2 minutes of Tom Cruise in tropic thunder https://t.co/5UyIaAiYUr pic.twitter.com/D9cvPPGSi6
— vids that go hard (@vidsthatgohard) October 8, 2024
No less a movie authority than the Rotten Tomatoes website included the character on what they considered the 24 Best and Worst Movie Bosses.
They put Cruise's turn as Grossman in the Ben Stiller-helmed "Tropic Thunder" as something of push - saying that while he was willing to let some movie stars die in a jungle while on location abroad, he "knows never to negotiate with terrorists." I think that's fair.
Anyway, what about this new movie "Digger"?
The expectations for it were soaring like an Air Force jet out of April's CineCon, with many of the online podcasters/critics in attendance impressed by the teaser trailer. IndieWire called it "the highlight of Warner Bros.’" presentation at the conference.
Some were even claiming the movie could net Tom Cruise major awards in just a few months' time. And the box office numbers were swimming like mythical mermaids in the movie execs' eyes, no doubt.
I often listen to The John Campea Show for balanced and honest film reviews, and Jonathan and his podcast guest talked on a recent episode about the early opinions being shared by reviewers. And what are people who have seen it saying?
"Tom Cruise’s Digger Reviews Are In And They’re Not Good" leaves very little wiggle room for interpretation.
Campea included a bunch of reviews in his video above, but here were two that stood out to me.
Even a seven out of 10 rating by "That Hollywood Show," which praised Cruise as "electric...[turning in] his best performance since 2004's 'Collateral,' dinged the movie as "far from accessible and fairly grating in some of its most experimental moments."
The Boston Globe's staff reviewer Odie Henderson gave Digger … a zero score. Henderson opined that "Cruise gets to grandstand and overact in downright embarrassing ways, chewing the scenery with impunity. And there's a lot of scenery to chew: This film was shot in VistaVision."
For any readers unfamiliar with the format, VistaVision "is a cinematographic technique which uses a higher-resolution, widescreen variant of the 35 mm motion-picture film format. It was created and designed by engineers at Paramount Pictures in 1954."
Oscar finalist "The Brutalist" was the first feature-length movie to be shot entirely in VistaVision since 1968, so it's something of a throwback play by modern filmmakers. There are also parts of Paul Thomas Anderson's "One Battle After Another" in the format. One of the most famous uses of it is Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" (1958), among other films through the Fifties. Paramount began with the stunning, epic musical, "White Christmas" (1954).
Find a fairly comprehensive listing of VistaVision films here at LetterBox'd.
Conservative movie reviewer and culture critic, Christian Toto, who publishes Hollywood in Toto, wrote Wednesday, in a snarky post, while commenting about a nixed title for the "Digger" movie:
Better title? Bombs Away! https://t.co/hd0TdEJ9t8
— Christian Toto (@HollywoodInToto) September 30, 2026
What about that awards chatter?
People who pay attention to awards season might remember that "Digger" director Alejandro Iñárritu was awarded the Academy Award for Best Director for "Birdman" (2014) and for "The Revenant" (2015). Only two other directors have reached that legendary milestone: John Ford, in 1940-1941, for "The Grapes of Wrath" then "How Green Was My Valley;" and Joseph L. Mankiewicz about a decade later, did it was "A Letter to Three Wives" (1949) and "All About Eve" (1950).
I love that Mankiewicz was there during the golden age of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) films, during which he directed my fave Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant/Jimmy Stewart movie, "The Philadelphia Story" (1940), before making a hasty exit to Darryl F. Zanuck's 20th Century-Fox.
(Ford is currently the champion of winning the golden statuette for Director, with an astounding four wins, with the other two pictures being "The Informer" (1935) - and my personal favorite movie by The Duke, "The Quiet Man" 1952).) And there is also this major distinction: Ford remains the only director to have won the DGA Award for Outstanding Directing two years in a row.
Not too shabby to walk in those masters' shoes, metaphorically.
Iñárritu has come to be considered something of a kingmaker, with "Revenant" lead Leonardo DiCaprio breaking through to win his first Oscar; the same magic behind the camera got Michael Keaton his first lead actor win for "Birdman."
Third time's the charm will most likely not be happening for Cruise... or "Digger," reports are starting to show on the stalled presales of the picture's tickets.
People expecting something like the movie star's character actor turn as Les Grossman in the '08 black comedy hit are not going to get satisfaction, apparently, either.
‘DIGGER’ is now tracking to potentially be the biggest Hollywood box office bomb of 2026 with a $12M opening weekend.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) September 30, 2026
The film's budget reportedly ballooned to $160M-$180M during production.
(Source: https://t.co/XNFKs0aR5G) pic.twitter.com/CLcXkTBXBq
