Going into Digger, I was expecting something a little bit arty and quite different from a standard Hollywood film. With Alejandro G. Iñárritu writing and directing, and Tom Cruise stepping away from his more familiar action roles, there was certainly an opportunity for something different. However, coming out of this film, I have to be honest, I felt much the same as I did going in. It looked odd, it felt odd, and whilst there are things to admire about it, that oddness eventually became quite tiring. I can respect a film for trying something different, but different doesn't always necessarily mean good.

Digger follows Rockwell, played by Cruise, an incredibly powerful oil boss whose drilling project in Alaska goes badly wrong. After ignoring warnings, his company's work causes a huge mass of ice to break away, resulting in widespread damage to Europe. Rockwell, also known as Digger, then has to navigate the political fallout of a disaster which his own ignorance has helped create. That is the basic setup, but without getting into spoilers, there is quite a lot more going on with both the film and Cruise's character than the marketing lets on. Things aren't necessarily what they seem, which is interesting, although sadly that didn't always make it enjoyable.

For me, one of the most noticeable things was the look of the film. There is a greyness to it, with the sets, scenery and even the clothing feeling more focused on creating something arty than something particularly realistic. It almost feels like a dream, where you recognise the world but there is always something a little bit off about it. I think this is very much part of Iñárritu's style, with something like Birdman also playing with that feeling of things not being quite as they seem. His filmmaking isn't particularly conventional, and here that approach kept taking me away from feeling like this was built in reality.

One scene which really stood out involves Rockwell addressing what seems to be the press, although even that wasn't completely clear to me. He is in this very boxed-in, grey room, speaking to a crowd in a setting which almost has a courtroom feel. He is essentially making a speech about how the world needs people like him, and it doesn't go down particularly well. The whole thing feels very theatrical, from the space itself to the way he moves around it. It is a fundamental part of the film, but it doesn't feel like somewhere you would actually find in reality. That scene captured quite well the strange feeling I had throughout.

Luckily, Cruise was a highlight. I wouldn't say I am going to be shouting from the rooftops about the character, but he did a brilliant job of throwing himself into a complicated role. He really embraces the oddness of the film and the way it flows. It was also good to see him doing something which wasn't built around action. I feel he has relied quite heavily on stunts recently, but films like Rain Man and A Few Good Men showed just how good he can be when he has to really act. He certainly still has that ability. That being said, I would rather see him use it in something a little bit more grounded than this. I admired the performance more than I cared about the character.

There were some funny moments, particularly towards the beginning, and I did laugh a few times. Sadly, as the film went on, the oddness started to get in the way of the humour. I found myself losing track of where it was going, what was happening and what the message was actually meant to be. My reading was that it is partly about these powerful corporate figures not really knowing or caring about what they are doing. However, it also seems to take aim at the people reacting to them, who can become so caught up in their own notions that the facts get lost. Both sides end up looking a little bit silly. There is something there about the wildness of how we portray these figures, but I can't say the film made that particularly clear to me.

The score was composed by Cosmo Sheldrake, and I thought he did a great job of capturing the quirky, arty feel. The music shares the film's odd approach and certainly helps give it the atmosphere it seems to be going for. As a score for this particular film, it works really well. As something I would want to go home and listen to again, sadly it isn't for me. It did its job, and in this case that job was to make an already strange film feel suitably strange.

Overall, Digger is a film I can respect more than I can enjoy. Cruise really throws himself into the role, and the score fits the tone well, but neither was enough to make me care more about the story. I think this will be an acquired taste, particularly for people who are more interested in the art of filmmaking than the art of storytelling. For me, the constant oddness became tiring rather than rewarding. Trying something different is certainly worthwhile, but that alone doesn't make it a good film.