October begins with two very different national releases competing for moviegoers: one is an ambitious, deliberately provocative satire built around Tom Cruise in one of the strangest roles of his career; the other is a glossy psychological thriller adapted from a bestselling Colleen Hoover novel. Neither arrives with unanimous critical support, which may actually make this weekend more interesting. Both are the kind of movies audiences may need to judge for themselves.
Digger
Digger marks an unexpected change of pace for Tom Cruise, who steps away from Mission: Impossible-style heroics to play Digger Rockwell, an enormously wealthy and egotistical oil tycoon whose recklessness helps trigger an environmental catastrophe. Directed by two-time Academy Award winner Alejandro González Iñárritu, the dark comedy follows Rockwell as he becomes entangled in an increasingly surreal attempt to deal with a crisis he helped create. Cruise disappears beneath prosthetics, an exaggerated Southern drawl and a deliberately larger-than-life performance, surrounded by a strong cast that includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller, Michael Stuhlbarg, Jesse Plemons and Sophie Wilde.
The combination of Cruise and Iñárritu sounded fascinating from the moment the project was announced, and the finished film appears to be every bit as unusual as expected. Comparisons with Dr. Strangelove have been frequent, with Iñárritu using absurd comedy, environmental disaster and grotesquely powerful characters to examine greed, political paralysis and mankind's talent for creating problems it may not be capable of solving.
Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki gives the film an appropriately grand visual scale, while Ahmed has received especially strong notices for his supporting performance.
Critics, however, are sharply divided. As of September 30, Digger is sitting at roughly 51–53 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, with some reviewers calling it daring, visually stunning and unlike anything else in theaters, while others find it bloated, self-important and exhausting. Cruise's commitment is rarely questioned; whether his flamboyant performance is exhilarating or irritating seems to depend entirely on the viewer. Warner Bros. has even leaned into the split reaction with advertising encouraging moviegoers to make up their own minds.
For adventurous moviegoers, though, my recommendation is to give Digger a chance, particularly if you appreciate ambitious filmmaking that is willing to risk failure rather than play it safe. It may turn out to be brilliant, exasperating or a little of both, but it certainly doesn't sound ordinary.
Verity
The weekend's other major release, Verity, offers a very different kind of escape. Based on Colleen Hoover's 2018 bestselling novel, the film stars Dakota Johnson as Lowen Ashleigh, a struggling writer hired to complete a successful book series after its author, Verity Crawford, is left incapacitated. Lowen moves into the Crawford family's secluded home to examine Verity's notes and unfinished manuscripts, only to discover disturbing material that makes her question everything she has been told about the woman upstairs. Complicating matters is Verity's handsome husband Jeremy, played by Josh Hartnett, to whom Lowen becomes increasingly attracted. Anne Hathaway plays Verity, while Michael Showalter directs from a screenplay by Nick Antosca.
It is exactly the kind of setup that invites dark corridors, suspicious glances, forbidden attraction and revelations buried inside old manuscripts. Johnson brings her familiar cool reserve to Lowen, Hartnett supplies the charm and ambiguity, and Hathaway appears to be having the most fun, creating a Verity whose apparent helplessness never entirely convinces us that she is as vulnerable as she seems.
Early critics are almost as divided about Verity as they are about Digger. Rotten Tomatoes had it at approximately 50 percent as reviews began arriving. Hathaway has received considerable praise, and some reviewers appreciate the movie's knowingly pulpy, steamy qualities. Others argue that director Showalter does not push the material far enough into either erotic thriller territory or outright madness. Several reviews describe it as polished and entertaining but too predictable, with a third act that does not fully deliver on the deliciously sinister premise.
Again, genuine audience reaction will not be available until regular moviegoers begin seeing it this weekend. Readers of Hoover's novel may have an advantage—or perhaps a disadvantage—because they will arrive with very definite expectations about the story's twists. My recommendation is that thriller fans give Verity a look, particularly if you enjoyed movies such as Gone Girl, The Housemaid or the glossy erotic mysteries that were everywhere during the 1980s and 1990s. Even the skeptical reviews suggest that Hathaway, Johnson and Hartnett make the film watchable.
So, this weekend comes down to two very different forms of excess. Digger offers Tom Cruise going wildly against type in an apocalyptic satire that critics cannot agree upon, while Verity serves up secrets, sex, suspicion and Anne Hathaway behaving badly inside a beautiful house. Neither film arrives as a guaranteed crowd-pleaser, but sometimes those are the weekends when going to the movies is most interesting.
If you're heading to the theater, Digger looks like the choice for viewers wanting something bold and unpredictable, while Verity should satisfy those in the mood for a slick, twist-filled thriller. Either way, October is beginning with movies people are likely to argue about afterward—and that is rarely a bad thing.
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