The Smashing Machine Review

Evan D. 

During a late scene in The Smashing Machine, Dawn (Emily Blunt) chastises Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) for “not know[ing her] at all.” Its an emphatic punctuation mark on their relationship — in the movie at least — but it also serves as a great distillation of the biggest problems with Benny Safdie’s solo directing debut. Kerr doesn’t understand his girlfriend because the film doesn’t.

The Smashing Machine tracks a very specific time in the life of Mark Kerr, the three year span between his UFC debut 1997 and his return from rehab in 2000. As portrayed by The Rock, Kerr is a dominant wrestler with a gentle heart. He’ll knock out his opponent in a split second then rush over to make sure he’s okay. While he’s winning his battles in the octagon — and more frequently the Japanese Pride circuit — Kerr is on the verge of tapping out in his fight against a debilitating opiate addiction. 

Safdie’s biopic of one of the UFC’s first major stars has an identity crisis. Although best exemplified by the treatment of Dawn as a character, it is an issue that goes the distance, neutralizing everything that really works in the film. For one, its the first Safdie film that feels like it could have been made by someone else. To some degree thats fine, considering the prototypical Safdie film is a heart attack inducing experience, but toning that instinct down at times makes The Smashing Machine feel as though it’s pulling some punches. 

From the opening moments, The Smashing Machine never finds where the pull of its story lies and ends up spreading itself thin. In that very first scene we see Kerr fighting, the brutality and bloodiness of it all, overlayed with the audio of an incredibly thoughtful and eloquent interview he gave in the aftermath. A stark contrast highlighting the duality of a complex man. It sets up a fascinating premise for the film. 

But then the next scene finds Kerr at home with Dawn, without any sort of backstory to their relationship. The two seem happy enough although cracks already show in the way they passive aggressively argue over protein smoothies. Perhaps Safdie is interested in the way Dawn and Kerr balance one another? Kerr then visits a doctor’s office to get a renewed prescription for pain medication. Clearly his addiction will factor into the story in a significant way.

It turns out that The Smashing Machine wants to examine all these threads, but is never able to pull them all together cohesively. Kerr participates in fight after fight without a real strong goal he is building toward. At home, Dawn is written as somewhat sympathetic in dealing with her boyfriend’s perfectionism before the script takes a hard turn, vaguely blaming her for Kerr’s addiction issues. Even those addiction problems are pretty lightly explored mostly by having Johnson gaze off with glassy stare before going off to rehab and moving on. No part of the film goes deep enough to break the skin. 

For as deeply flawed as Safdie’s effort to shed light on Mark Kerr is, he does bring a lot of style to the screen. Gentler moments are shot in a lo-fi glow that captures the sun drenched suburbs of Phoenix as beautifully as it does the bustling streets of Japan. When in the ring, the brutal sport feels visceral and dangerous. Even though the contrasts aren’t mined for their thematic depth, the filmmaking contributes to a portrait of a complex man. 

Its the performances here that have already garnered the most attention. Without doubt this is the best Dwayne Johnson has been in his Hollywood career. That compliment is a bit backhanded given his track record, although he is pretty good here. His portrayal of Kerr is at times transformative but, as is frequently, The Rock is too careful to lean into the darker elements of a character. The same qualifications don’t apply to the exceptional supporting players in The Smashing Machine. Emily Blunt is tremendous — surprise, surprise — lifting Dawn up from the muddled character she is written as and turning her into a multifaceted person. I also quite liked Ryan Bader as Kerr’s friend and colleague Mark Coleman. An MMA fighter in his feature debut, he frequently steals scenes. 

All of that to say, the craft in The Smashing Machine is really top notch. It looks and sounds great, is well edited and features standout performances. There is plenty to like even when the story gets a bit lost. A more pleasant viewing experience than something like Uncut Gems or Good Time, despite being a lesser film overall. 6/10