Digger is many things. It’s the first Tom Cruise movie in over a decade not to feature recognizable IP, fighter planes, or both. Its director Alejandro Iñárritu's biggest swing yet after divisive, high-brow films like Birdman and The Revenant. It’s a brutal condemnation of late-stage capitalism. It’s also a pretty clever magic trick.

Digger contains three big reveals that reshape our understanding of the movie in various ways. To really understand what Digger is about, you need to grapple with all three, and the way they fit together (both successfully and unsuccessfully) to tell a complex story about finding meaning at the end of the world.

(Also, if you're wondering whether Digger is a musical, you've come to the right place.)

Warning: full spoilers for Digger below.

Digger's first big twist ruins the movie

The first big reveal comes about 30 minutes into Digger. After meeting the aging oil baron Rockwell Digger (Cruise), we quickly learn that his Greenland drilling operation has accidentally dislodged a massive hunk of ice into the Atlantic Ocean, and it’s heading straight for Northern Europe. The U.S. President (John Goodman) and his cabinet show up at Digger’s mansion to discuss their best options (there are none). Then, as Digger and President Compson step aside into a private room to discuss other matters, Iñárritu plays his first trick: The majestic tree outside slowly tips over in front of them… and then a giant hand reaches out from behind the horizon to grab it.

Turns out, nothing we've seen up to this point is real. We're actually watching actors in the middle of a final rehearsal for an elaborate new play, which stars an actor named Curtis (Cruise) as Digger Rockwell. After a brief reset, the rehearsal continues, but from this point on, the scenes from the play are intercut with behind-the-scenes drama as Curtis clashes with his director and deals with a personal family crisis.

While Curtis prepares to take the stage in a starring role for what seems to be a major theatrical........

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