Doctor Strange Love meets Wes Anderson in this cautionary tale on climate change and unregulated greed. Tom Cruise is transformed from his iconic action hero character into a satirical amalgamation of out of touch and corrupt billionaires in“Digger”, Warner Bros. Discovery’s (WBD) recent $125 million dollar box office bust. 

After an advertising run that left audiences asking, “What is that movie even about?” Upon release it has been met with mixed love and hate from critics and audiences alike.

You should watch it. 

This was the last movie in theaters for WBD before its highly contested company merger with Paramount Skydance Corp. A coalition of 12 State Attorney Generals, in a summer of 2026 lawsuit to stop the merger, argued that it would “inflict substantial harm on movie theatres, basic cable distributors, and, ultimately, audiences nationwide. … After this merger, for every dollar generated by wide-release theatrical films and basic cable channels in this country, the combined company will pocket more than a quarter. This merger, in short, would create a media behemoth.” 

After a recent settlement in the State of California, the merger moved forward. Making David Ellison, son of the sixth richest man in the world and host of the 2026 Washington D.C. event entitled, “Honoring the Trump White House“, CEO of the combined company, who is set to pocket a large portion of the quarter revenue. 

At a time when the wealth gap between the billionaire class and hard working people grows ever wider, “Digger” mocks head first those with disturbing amounts of wealth and power. Cruise played his role as Digger Rockwell beautifully, a crazed oil barron who ignores the advice of leading scientists to halt a drilling operation in Greenland. Resulting in a 400 square mile iceberg breaking off and drifting toward the European mainland with catastrophic results. 

Cruise showed both the depravities of a corrupt billionaire while also showing the charisma often necessary to win over the masses. This dichotomy of personality is carried throughout the film, and ultimately shown a light on the absurdity of the lives of those with immeasurable wealth. 

When his character, Rockwell, gets called on the carpet to account for the apocalyptic level disaster he caused, in a captivating speech before a world council he proclaims, “Every one of you, no matter how conscientious you pretend to be … you want to drive around on the cheapest fuel … you want a two-day delivery on shit you don’t need … you want energy, energy so you can ask AI to solve the very same disasters that it’s fueling! Do you want freedom!? Freedom to bask in the comfort of your unsustainable lives!?” 

This rhetoric mirrors that of David Ellison who, in a comment to the Wall Street Journal, opined,  “By combining [the companies], we aren’t rewriting history—we’re equipping these iconic studios with a more powerful engine.” 

Whether it’s ignoring the documented effects of climate change or sugar coating what appears to be the forming of a mega-monopoly, both fictional and non-fictional billionaires try to make these debacles sound good for the proletariat.

In “Digger”, Rockwell’s blatant disregard for others and completely narcissistic approach to every interaction leaves the viewer with a bad taste in their mouth. His character showed more care and affection toward their chronically ill cat than toward any human being they interacted with.

The hyperbolic satire depicted in the film of the U.S. President’s interaction with the billionaire class was unfortunately too close to reality. In it, U.S. government officials’ laughably inept response to a greed fueled climate disaster was reminiscent of the current administration’s attitude toward, and cuts to, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or FEMA.

Rhiz Ahmed played the lead scientist advising Rockwell. While his character was unfortunately being intimidated by wealth and power, he showed two sides to the coin with his performance. His nervous energy helped solidify the role of power that Rockwell exerted over all. Yet his moments of courage in telling the truth were delivered with a sincere urgency. 

One of Highline College’s truth tellers, Rus Higley, scientist and Director of Highline’s MaST Center, articulated,  “Climate change is caused by adding CO2 and methane to the atmosphere. Most of that comes from our human impacts such as burning fossil fuels. … This is a huge question, but in the short term the biggest thing we can do is stop burning everything, electrification is a big part of that answer. People’s choices do have an impact but our societal choices have a much more significant impact. The best thing we can do is vote for the changes that need to be made and shop in ways that support the better choices and reduced impact.”

Despite the unreality that the ultra-wealthy attempt to paint, placing confidence in the scientific community and voting for politicians who heed their advice could help us avoid the worst of future climate crises. Iñárritu’s “Digger” comes as a much needed reminder and warning to all.