The Smashing Machine Review: Dwayne Johnson Puts in Oscar-Worthy Performance in Solid Biopic

Director Benny Safdie (Uncut Gems) begins his journey into solo filmmaking with The Smashing Machine, a sports biopic about real life fighter Mark Kerr.

Synopsis:

MMA fighter Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) reaches the peak of his career but faces personal hardships along the way.

Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader

Release Date: In Theaters Now

Transformative Performance From Dwayne Johnson

Credit: A24

Most of the discourse coming out of the early reactions for this film have been praising the performance from Dwayne Johnson and that was really my main excitement for going to see it. I'm happy to report that the hype he's received has been absolutely justified. The best way I can describe this performance is transformative, as he really departs from anything you'd expect from him for this movie. Not only does he prove he can be a good actor when he signs up for the right role, he's also entirely unrecognizable for the majority of the film. He clearly really worked to portray Mark Kerr in the most accurate way possible and that aspect of his performance will be hard to top from anybody else this awards season (looks like Jeremy Allen White as Springsteen will be giving him a fight though). Even past the transformation, he's doing a great job with the emotional material that he receives. The arc that his character goes on throughout the movie seems to really emulate the real life situation and it's just a real credit to Johnson's acting.

You've also got Emily Blunt in this cast, playing Kerr's wife. She is very on point as usual and does really well to sell all those challenging themes involved with her character. Being a wife of any athlete, but specifically anyone involved with fighting, is an incredibly challenging thing and I think Blunt was able to get that emotional side of things down really well. When it comes to the Oscars talk, I'm not sure Blunt reaches that level of performance for me, but I wouldn't be mad at seeing her included either. As for Johnson, I absolutely believe this should get him an Oscar nomination when it's all said and done. The amount of preparation he put in for this role should already get him in the conversation, but his actual performance lives up to the hype as well. It's really refreshing to see him out of his comfort zone after years of IP films!

Powerful Way In Dealing With Sensitive Material

Credit: A24

My other main positive for this film is how well they deal with the sensitive material that's at play. Obviously this is a sports biopic, but it's really more about Kerr's life and how he handles the obstacles in his way to becoming a successful UFC fighter. First, we see him dealing with a serious drug problem. I'm not sure I totally jived with the way they introduced this problem, more on that later, but I think the way they handled his rehab problem was very mature. Not only do we see his mental problems relating to this drug abuse, but we also really get to explore the affects it has on the people around him. It becomes a big point of debate between him and his wife, sparking many emotional arguments between the two of them. I think Safdie should be applauded for not shying away from the tension that his drug problems caused and really going in depth about its many affects on his life.

Outside of her response to Kerr's drug problem, there's just a general marital dispute between the two of them throughout the entire film. You can tell from the first time we see them that there's some tension and it really elevates to a large scale once we get further into the film. I really respect that they didn't pull any punches here. With Kerr being involved so much in the production process of the film, credit has to go to him for being okay with them really going in depth about these problems with such a pivotal figure in his life. These are the scenes where Blunt is really able to shine, especially with her electric chemistry with Johnson. Her final scene is an extended sequence between the two of them and it's just incredibly scary due to the way Blunt plays it out. Both these themes can make this a bit of an emotional watch at times and again, I applaud everyone involved with the film for not shying away from these storylines.

Slow Out Of The Gate

Credit: A24

Honestly, it took a while for me to really get into The Smashing Machine. The first 45 minutes to an hour are filled with mostly boring parts of the story and it also skips around an absurd amount of times. The film starts by explaining to us that it will take place over three years, and then the majority of those years are sped by in the early parts of the film. I think if they had either started the film with a later part in the story or expanded on this first part with a longer runtime, it would've made me a little more engaged to start off. It's also difficult because that first and second act make it really hard for us to root for Kerr as a character. I understand they are telling the story as it is, but it was really hard for me to care about him and his wife throughout some of those early scenes. Both of them are making really distasteful decisions towards each other and for a story that's meant to allow us see Kerr in a positive light, it takes a minute for us to get there. Maybe that means this would be better on a rewatch, but just basing off my initial viewing it bothered me.

How Interesting Is The Story?

Credit: A24

One thought I pondered while watching this film was that I worry that this story just wasn't all that interesting to make into a feature film. However, thinking about it more, I think that's wrong. There's aspects of it that are interesting, but on the whole it's just not a remarkable movie in any way. This isn't meant to be a diss on Kerr, but it's more a belief that the filmmakers didn't get the absolute best out of the real life story. They make it very clear at the end that Kerr was a pioneer for the future of the UFC, but it really didn't feel that way watching the movie. They show that he's one of the first UFC fighters and then there's not really anything else past that to make you understand how he was so influential on the sport. Reading up on Mark Kerr more in the past 24 hours, I feel like they could've made this influence more clear in the film than they actually did. The story weirdly focuses on his coach and then opponent Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader), to where by the end it feels like it should be a biopic about him. I just think there was the makings of a really interesting movie here, but they decided to play out the story in a way that wasn't 100% effective.

Final Thoughts

The Smashing Machine should absolutely get awards recognition for the acting performances, but I'm not sure it's especially remarkable outside of that. They did a good job of tackling the complicated life of Mark Kerr, but failed to maximize the story's potential. I feel like this may be a polarizing movie among audiences so we will see what the consensus is when it comes to awards season!

Rating: 3.5/5 Stars

The Smashing Machine is currently ranked 28th out of 72 new releases that I've seen this year.

Editor's Note: I've included the top 20 from my 2025 new releases list, for editing purposes.