Tom Cruise’s “Digger” gets a “rotten” rating — Warner Bros. answers the critics with a “Decide for yourself” ad

Warner Bros. has found an unusual way to respond to the deep critical divide over “Digger,” Tom Cruise’s new film directed by Alejandro G. Iñárritu: as Gazettely reports, on Tuesday the studio released a 30-second ad that sets reviewers’ praise and pans side by side, with the closing card “Decide for yourself.”

The spot arrived on the morning the review embargo was lifted for the climate satire. Critics were split almost down the middle: the film scored about 52% on Rotten Tomatoes and a result in the low 40s on Metacritic — according to Gazettely, it is Cruise’s first “rotten” film in nine years and the first ever for Iñárritu.

The ad shows reactions from social media in pairs: the praise in white letters (“Masterpiece,” “Magnificent”), the pans in orange letters (“Bewildering,” “Unbearable”) — always on top. The Boston Globe gave the film zero stars and called it “the worst film of Tom Cruise’s career,” while the BBC’s critic praised the film’s environmental message.

Cruise plays Digger Rockwell, an oil magnate whose drilling in Greenland releases an ice shelf and triggers a global catastrophe; the cast also includes Riz Ahmed, John Goodman, Sandra Hüller and Jesse Plemons. Beyond the reviews, the challenge is also commercial: the budget is reported at $125–130 million (some sources put it near $180 million), while opening forecasts range between $10 and $20 million. “Digger” opens in cinemas and IMAX on Friday, October 2.