Digger
Digger (2026) Christian Movie Review · Rated R · Starring Tom Cruise, Riz Ahmed, John Goodman
📖 SUMMARY
Directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu. Oil tycoon Digger Rockwell (Tom Cruise) causes a methane explosion at his Greenland rig that kills everyone working there and breaks off a huge ice shelf that starts drifting toward Europe. Instead of warning anyone, Digger and the people around the U.S. president try to spin the disaster in their favor. It's a dark satire about greed, power and politics, and about halfway through the movie takes a turn I didn't see coming. Also stars Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons. Rated R, 2 hours 8 minutes.
👶 AGE RECOMMENDATIONS
💛 HOW IT MADE ME FEEL
I'll give Digger this, it's a creative movie. The direction they took with it was interesting, and the big twist (no details here, I'll get to it further down with a spoiler warning) made me think about the whole first half differently. But overall, the movie was extremely harsh. The language is nonstop, the jokes are crude, and almost every character is a terrible person making terrible choices. It's also pretty politically biased, and it's very rough in the way it shows Christianity. The Christians in this movie are mostly there to be laughed at. It was thought provoking, and I did find myself thinking about it afterward. I'm a big fan of capitalism, but corporate greed is a problem when companies put safety and people's well-being aside for profit, and I thought the movie was right to point that out. I just don't think the redeeming parts outweighed how rough it was to sit through.
The Popcorn & Prayers Movie Filter
CONTENT
No sex scenes, but a lot of crude talk. There are jokes about Digger's anatomy, crude comments about male and female bodies, a vulgar reference to a sex toy, and oil drilling gets described in sexual terms. Digger strips down to his underwear. A married couple says they love each other and there's a quick kiss.
Most of it is disaster violence. The rig explosion kills all the workers, and Digger calls it the "cost of doing business." Later there's news footage of people being swept away by floodwater and covered bodies, including a child. There are riots, a brawl where a man gets hit in the head with a shoe, bombs being dropped, and the president talks about a nuclear strike. A man takes his own life, and a dead body is kept in a drink fridge.
This is the big one. Around 110 f-words, more than 20 s-words, one c-word, God's name misused 11 times and Jesus' name misused 10 times. There's also a racial slur against Asians and a lot of other harsh language.
It isn't a scary movie, but the disaster footage and the ending are bleak, and the whole thing has a heavy, hopeless feel to it.
The language is what makes this one so hard to sit through. With around 110 f-words in a 2 hour movie, there isn't much of a break from it. Add in the crude humor and the way it treats faith, and I'd say this is a movie most Christian viewers are going to want to skip.
CELEBRATION
The movie wants us to cheer against greed, corruption and people in power who use other people's lives to protect their money. Like I said, I love capitalism, but putting profit ahead of people's safety is wrong, so I agreed with that part. The problem is that it lumps faith in with all of it, so the pastor and the Christians around the president end up being part of the joke too.
CONSCIENCE
For me, this is where it fell apart. Satire is supposed to exaggerate, and I get that. But the movie mocks prayer, has a man rip a cross necklace off someone's neck, and turns a prayer for "loaves and fishes" into a hallucination from a man who isn't well. Galatians 6:7 says "Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked." I didn't feel peace watching this one.
FRUIT
It was thought provoking, and I did think about the twist and what the movie was trying to say afterward. But I can't say it left me with anything good to hold onto. Mostly it left me feeling heavy, and I don't think it was worth what I had to sit through to get there.
WORLDVIEW
Digger is a satire aimed at greed, big business, American politics and a version of Christianity that has gotten tangled up with power. The movie doesn't seem interested in showing what real, humble faith looks like. Every Christian in it is either a hypocrite or a punchline.
ECHOES OF THE GOSPEL
Spoiler warning for this section. About halfway through, you find out the Digger story is actually a stage play called Fossil Fools, and Tom Cruise is really an actor named Curtis playing Digger. Curtis is struggling with the role and worried about his own daughter, whose flight went missing in a storm. That twist was the most interesting part of the movie for me, because it pulls you out and asks how much of what we're watching is a performance, and who is paying for it. In a way it made me think about how easy it is to perform faith instead of living it. Jesus talked about that in Matthew 6, when He warned against praying on street corners to be seen by others. The pastor in this movie is doing exactly that, and I think the honest takeaway for Christians is to check our own hearts so our faith is real when nobody is watching.
💬 FAMILY DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
- Where have you seen faith get mixed up with power or politics, and how do we keep our faith focused on Jesus?
- The movie twists Hebrews 11:1 to excuse harm. How do we make sure we're reading Scripture in context?
- How do you decide when a movie's message is worth the content you'd have to sit through?
- What does it look like to live out your faith when no one is watching?
✨ POSITIVITY
- A few characters try to push back against Digger, even if it doesn't get them very far
- A mom and dad clearly love each other and are worried sick about their missing daughter
- Someone shows a lot of care for a dying pet
- It's a warning about what happens when greed and power go unchecked, and the movie makes you think about how much we let money and influence decide what's true
- The filmmaking itself, the cinematography and the set design, is really creative
⚠️ THINGS TO NOTE
- Nearly nonstop profanity, including about 110 f-words and Jesus' name misused 10 times
- Christianity is shown very negatively, through a pastor who flatters the president and a businessman who uses Scripture to excuse people dying
- Politically one-sided satire
- Mass casualties on the news, including a child's body
- A man takes his own life
- Lots of drinking, and crude bathroom humor about a man's cancer
- A racial slur, and a doctor is mocked for his Indian background
One more thing…
So, where do I land? Digger is creative and the twist is interesting, and I can see what Iñárritu was trying to say about greed and power. But between the nonstop language, the crude humor, the political bias and the way it treats Christianity, the redeeming parts just didn't outweigh how rough it was. This one is a skip for me, and definitely not one for kids or teens. I'm giving it 1 out of 5.
💬 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Is Digger worth watching?+
Hailey gives Digger a 1 out of 5 on the Popcorn & Prayers Pop Score. Tom Cruise plays an oil tycoon trying to cover up a disaster he caused in this R-rated satire from Alejandro G. Iñárritu. The direction and the stage-play twist are interesting, but the nonstop language, political bias and harsh depiction of Christianity outweigh the redeeming parts. I gave it 1 out of 5.
How much language, violence and sexual content is in Digger?+
Content notes for Digger — Romance — moderate: No sex scenes, but a lot of crude talk. There are jokes about Digger's anatomy, crude comments about male and female bodies, a vulgar reference to a sex toy, and oil drilling gets described in sexual terms. Digger strips down to his underwear. A married couple says they love each other and there's a quick kiss.. Violence — strong: Most of it is disaster violence. The rig explosion kills all the workers, and Digger calls it the "cost of doing business." Later there's news footage of people being swept away by floodwater and covered bodies, including a child. There are riots, a brawl where a man gets hit in the head with a shoe, bombs being dropped, and the president talks about a nuclear strike. A man takes his own life, and a dead body is kept in a drink fridge.. Language — severe: This is the big one. Around 110 f-words, more than 20 s-words, one c-word, God's name misused 11 times and Jesus' name misused 10 times. There's also a racial slur against Asians and a lot of other harsh language.. Scary/intense — moderate: It isn't a scary movie, but the disaster footage and the ending are bleak, and the whole thing has a heavy, hopeless feel to it..
How does Digger portray faith and Christianity?+
Digger is a satire aimed at greed, big business, American politics and a version of Christianity that has gotten tangled up with power. The movie doesn't seem interested in showing what real, humble faith looks like. Every Christian in it is either a hypocrite or a punchline.
What age is Digger appropriate for?+
Here's our age-by-age take for Digger — 0-9: Skip; 10-13: Skip; 14+: Skip. Overall we'd say it's best for 17+.
Is Digger OK for kids?+
It's rated R and we think it's best for 17+. On our 1–5 Pop Score, Digger earns a 1/5. It was thought provoking, but the redeeming parts didn't outweigh how rough it was.
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