People can't stop talking about Digger, the latest Tom Cruise film from director Alejandro G. Depending on who you ask, it is either a bloated and self-aggrandizing mess or one of the most insightful and relevant films in years. Commercially, the film has become a major box office flop, a rarity for star Tom Cruise.
Despite all that, legendary artists across mediums continue to speak out in defense of the film, becoming the basis of Digger nation. That army now includes noted cinephile Hideo Kojima who likens Digger to one of his own controversial works. The creator of the Metal Gear and Death Stranding series finally posted one of his long posts on X detailing his thoughts on the film, and he had nothing less than praise for Iñárritu's latest.
"Digger is a film that all of us living in today’s world should see. It is a work that remains with the audience, provoking reflection and sounding alarms," Kojima wrote. But that's only the beginning, as Gizmodo Japan has published an interview with Kojima and Iñárritu in conversation with each other.
In the conversation, the two artists find an unexpected thread that connects their work. "In 2001, I made a game called Metal Gear Solid 2," Kojima said, via machine translation. "At that time, social media didn't exist yet, but I created a story where social media had a kind of life of its own.
That has now become a reality, and it's the same with Digger." Specifically, both Digger and Metal Gear Solid 2 share thematic elements revolving around the proliferation of social media and how it can be used to alter the perception of reality by those in power. Iñárritu added that "We are living in a new reality imposed upon us by things we cannot actually experience. And I think we share that feeling.
It's terrifying." While not directly discussed in the interview between Kojima and Iñárritu, Digger and Metal Gear Solid 2 are remarkably alike in how they subvert audience expectations (spoiler warning for both). Trailers for Digger have made it seem like a Dr. Strangelove-esque comedy of errors about the end of the world.
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