Tom Cruise’s Digger embraces polarizing reviews: ‘F— those people’

New ad urges moviegoers to 'decide for yourself'

Published Oct 01, 2026  •  2 minute read

Tom Cruise as Digger Rockwell in 'Digger.' Photo by Warner Bros.

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Tom Cruise and Warner Bros. are embracing the polarizing reviews for Digger with an ad campaign that highlights the critical divide swirling around his new movie.

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Directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, the film casts Cruise as Digger Rockwell, a billionaire oil tycoon whose company unleashes a catastrophic environmental disaster that threatens humanity.

Before its first screening, Cruise was hotly tipped to be up for an Academy Award. But his chances dipped after the premiere as viewers became split over the satirical drama.

“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,” BBC said in a review that gave it four out of five stars.

“Digger is basically what happens when you put two outsize egos together with nobody holding the reins to keep their most self-indulgent impulses in check,” The Hollywood Reporter wrote in its scathing review.

Tom Cruise plays an elderly billionaire out to save the world in Digger. Photo by Warner Bros.

New ad leans into polarizing opinions

Meanwhile, Variety called it a “ponderous absurdist lecture.”

Warner Bros., the studio behind the movie, has decided to lean into the rift with a new campaign that underlines both negative and positive reactions.

The ad starts with a quote from one X user, who declares: “Digger is an ambitious film sure to polarize audiences.” It then cuts to a clip from the film featuring Cruise’s Digger saying, “You know what? F— those people!”

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The ad continues to flip between positive and negative endorsements with words like “unpleasant” and “masterpiece,” “baffling” and “brilliant,” “very goofy” and “excellent” and “insufferable” and “magnificent” all flashing across the screen.

Instagram user @taraontv gets the last word with a comment that says, “I have never wanted to say less about a movie in my life. Go in blind! I mean it.”

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‘Same film, different truth’

The film currently boasts a 53% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, making it Cruise’s biggest bust with critics since 2017’s The Mummy. For Inarritu, the dismal reception currently makes Digger his worst reviewed of all-time.

But Cruise and Warner Bros. want moviegoers to “decide for yourself” by stressing its contentious reception.

“Same film, different truth,” says the ad.

“They’re afraid to tell the truth,” Cruise’s character says at the end. “Whatever that is.”

Tom Cruise’s Digger Rockwell is waving off the bad reviews for ‘Digger.’ Photo by Warner Bros.

The role marks Cruise’s first dramatic turn since 2017’s American Made.

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During a press event earlier this summer, Cruise told journalists he had been wanting to work with Inarritu since seeing his debut film Amores Perros. He also understood the risk Digger posed to his mostly unblemished career, but he embraced the challenge of trying something so wildly different.

“There’s nothing better than to physically and metaphorically stand on the edge of a cliff and go, ‘Let’s do this,'” Cruise said.

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