‘Digger’ disrespectful to moviegoing public

0BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) — Satire and farce are incredible tools a filmmaker can use to take an audience through a maze of twisted realities to the point where perception overrides logic. Done right and the production allows the viewer to slowly uncover the clever fiction or the complicated facts.

The key is letting the twists and turns percolate until the final brew is a tasty treat. Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s presentation of “Digger” has twists and turns but because the director shows such disrespect for the audience, he opts to stop the production long enough to enlighten what he must perceive as feeble minds.

It is not only an insult but a dagger in what should have been a tantalizing satire on global warming turning it into a sideshow with Tom Cruise as the Incredible Scene Chewing man. Cruise chews so much scenery that he will be passing splinters through his colon for decades.

The combination turns “Digger” – a Russian Nesting Doll version of film – into a disaster bigger than anything depicted in the movie. Spoiler alert: the end is apocalyptic.

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Cruise – hidden under massive amounts of prosthetics and fat suits – plays Digger Rockwell, an oil tycoon who is the most powerful man on the planet. His egomaniacal grasp on the people around him leaves little room for any sympathy for the character. Those smarter than what Iñárritu gives them credit for, see how Digger is the lovechild of Dr. Strangelove from “Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb” and every cat-petting villain to grace a Bond movie.

All the strutting cannot save Digger from a disaster his company creates that will have devastating consequences. Instead of dealing with the issue Digger becomes a human megaphone shouting over everyone from a sickly President Compson (John Goodman) to his chief ecological safety expert Ganesh (Raz Ahmed).

As this unfolds Iñárritu drops less than subtle clues to the structure of the film which is that the tale is being told by a group of actors staging a production of what really happened decades earlier. The mangy cat that Digger loves so much is so mechanical you can almost hear the gears turning.

Gear sounds would not have been unusual as Iñárritu fills scenes with ironic sounds. He cranks them up, so the viewer won’t miss how clever he is to use a clock ticking to signify the scared uniform heart of the group.

The charade finally ends when play rehearsal is disrupted when the show’s producer, Kenny (Jesse Plemons), steps on the stage to deliver in the most simplistic of fashions an oration as to how most people won’t understand the irony and farce. He becomes a human closed captioning to make sure the masses will have all they need to fully appreciate the film. Those who don’t see the irony and farce are treated like those who could not see the emperor’s new clothes.

Cruise doesn’t help. Hollywood history is filled with actors being allowed to make vanity films designed to remind the public they are not just matinee idols but serious actors. There is always a gamble because the projects tend to be so far removed from the norm, the vanity proves a deterrent.

Those who show up are presented with what should be farce and satire but ends up more slapstick. Cruise needed to find the line between a memorable character and a forgettable one and he failed.

It doesn’t help that the stage production and cinematography rise and fall like a broken theater curtain. The sets are big and garish but those are lost to moments where the scenery and players are ghostly pale.

If you miss the metaphor of the arena of world leaders all being brutish lugs who prefer to chant rather than take action, Iñárritu drives his message home with mannequins located through the crowd and a ceiling so low some have to bend their heads to stand. They are dummies who don’t fit in.

Iñárritu should have had more faith in the moviegoers. His “Birdman” was embraced for its satire that took high-brow theater to task. Even his continuous filming proved a deep draw.

“Digger” is not the worst film of the year when it comes to design, story and performances. It is nowhere near being one of the best although the obvious irony will be that Cruise will earn an Oscar nod based on track record more than this work.

What hurts “Digger” is the blatant nature by Iñárritu to pamper an audience. It is one of the most insulting movies of the year.

Cast: Tom Cruise, John Goodman, Raz Ahmed, Jesse Plemson, Sandra Huller