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Hideo Kojima says Alejandro González Iñárritu’s Digger resembles Metal Gear Solid 2 not because the stories are identical, but because both make information systems feel like invisible forces directing people’s choices. In Kojima’s reading, misinformation, filtered media and secondhand narratives become part of the world’s machinery—and the audience has to question what it thinks it knows.
The “most divisive movie of 2026” wording is an editorial characterization, not a measured popularity statistic. What is established is the film itself: a 129-minute, 2026 theatrical release starring Tom Cruise, about an oil-company chief executive forced to confront the planetary damage tied to his decisions.
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What is Digger about?
The official Japanese site describes Digger as a story about an oil-company CEO whose pursuit of profit helps produce a planetary catastrophe. The president orders him to clean up the consequences and try to save the world, while the film asks whether someone responsible for the damage can be trusted to fix it.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsIñárritu uses that premise to examine how stories are imposed on people, how belief in those stories can conceal reality, and how humor can make an unbearable crisis possible to face. The film combines cinema and theater in a deliberately unstable structure. Kojima highlights the fact that the theatrical material ultimately appears as part of history rather than simply depicting a conventional future scenario.
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That combination matters to the comparison with Metal Gear Solid 2: in both works, the form is part of the argument. The audience is not merely told that perception is being managed; the work makes the audience experience uncertainty about the frame around the story.
Why does Kojima compare it with Metal Gear Solid 2?
Kojima made Metal Gear Solid 2 in 2001, before social media existed as a mainstream force. He says he nevertheless wrote a story in which social media effectively had a life of its own. His comparison with Digger is therefore thematic, not a claim that the plots match.
“Back then we didn’t have social media, but the story I made was one where social media took on a life of its own.”
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For Kojima, both works show people being moved by information networks and systems they cannot clearly see. A message can spread beyond the intentions of its originator, acquire authority through repetition and influence political or personal decisions before anyone has established whether it is true.
“On social media sites misinformation spreads quickly, and there’s a fear over how this has an impact on politics and our daily lives.”
— Hideo Kojima, Gizmodo Japan interview, 2026
The parallel is consequently about control of reality. Metal Gear Solid 2 makes the player confront the possibility that the information guiding the mission—and the assumptions guiding the player—has been curated. Digger approaches the same anxiety through a film about power, climate catastrophe and competing layers of performance.
The comparison in five dimensions
| Dimension | Metal Gear Solid 2 | Digger |
|---|---|---|
| Information and truth | Information systems and manipulated narratives shape what characters and the player believe. | Misinformation and imposed stories shape public understanding of an unfolding catastrophe. |
| Audience manipulation | A perspective shift and disrupted expectations force players to reassess earlier assumptions. | The cinema-and-theater structure unsettles the boundary between performed material and historical reality. |
| Form | A video game uses player perspective and interaction as part of its argument. | A feature film layers cinematic and theatrical modes within a 129-minute presentation. |
| Tone | The thriller framework carries an underlying critique of information control. | Satire and comedy approach frightening conditions that include climate change and political manipulation. |
| Agency | The player must recognize forces shaping the mission and their own expectations. | Characters and viewers must decide whether they can identify and resist narratives shaping their choices. |
Why the film’s comedy and structure matter
Kojima calls Digger frightening because it depicts developments that are already happening rather than inventing a meteor, alien invasion or other safely distant threat. The film then turns that fear into comedy. The joke is not an escape from the crisis; it is a way to make the crisis discussable.
Iñárritu’s explanation of the dual structure points to a related purpose. The film examines stories that people inherit, repeat and use to interpret events. When the theatrical material is presented as part of history, the audience has to ask whether it is watching an event, a representation of an event or a story that has already been absorbed into collective memory.
Iñárritu hopes viewers laugh, feel and discuss the film afterward instead of consuming its message passively. That desired conversation is part of the film’s response to manipulation: discussion can expose the assumptions that a single authoritative narrative tries to hide.
Is Digger really about misinformation and AI?
Misinformation is central to Kojima’s comparison, while AI appears in his warning about where filtered information may lead. He and Iñárritu describe a shared reality increasingly assembled through smartphone feeds, social platforms and stories supplied by other people.
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“Right now, aside from climate change, the thing that scares us all most is the possibility we’re lost in a digital world where we can’t tell what’s true.”
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Iñárritu says people live inside “fragmented truths within our smartphones.” In that environment, someone can hold a firm opinion about a film they have not seen because surrounding commentary has replaced direct experience.
“Our current world is one of having firm convictions on things we haven’t even experienced.”
— Alejandro González Iñárritu, quoted in Kotaku, 2026
Kojima connects the idea to reactions to his own game Death Stranding: people who had not played it called it “just a walking simulator” as though they had firsthand knowledge. He fears AI-driven feeds will increasingly show users only material that matches what they already like.
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“You’re seeing only the opinions and things you like, so differing opinions and ideas never reach you.”
— Hideo Kojima, Kotaku, 2026
That is the AI concern relevant to Digger: not simply that machines generate false material, but that personalization can make manipulation difficult to notice by removing the conflicting information that would reveal it.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Do you need to play Metal Gear Solid 2 before watching Digger?
No. Kojima’s point is about a shared anxiety over information control, audience expectations and agency, not a shared continuity or required backstory. You can watch Digger without knowing the game.
Playing Metal Gear Solid 2 first can add context if you want to observe how a game uses perspective shifts and player assumptions as storytelling tools. That is useful background for recognizing why Kojima responds to Digger’s layered cinema-and-theater design, but it is not a prerequisite for following the film’s oil, political and climate-crisis narrative.
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What viewers should take from the comparison
- Digger is the film being compared. It is Iñárritu’s 2026 Tom Cruise movie about climate catastrophe, power and manipulated narratives.
- The comparison is about information control. Kojima sees misinformation and networked media becoming forces that shape people’s reality.
- Both works challenge expectations. Metal Gear Solid 2 changes perspective and interrogates the player’s assumptions; Digger uses layered forms to destabilize the boundary between performance and history.
- The fear is contemporary. Climate change, algorithmic filtering and opinions formed without firsthand experience are the conditions Kojima and Iñárritu identify.
- The intended response is conversation. Iñárritu wants audiences to laugh, feel and discuss what they have seen rather than accept a message without examination.
Current home-video and streaming availability for Digger has not been established by the cited material. The confirmed release information is its 2026 theatrical presentation and 129-minute runtime.
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