MMA fighter Mark Kerr reaches the peak of his career but faces personal hardships along the way.
Director: Benny Safdie
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk
Release Date: October 3, 2025
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama, History, Sport
Rated R for language and some drug abuse.
Runtime: 2h 3m
Review:
Benny Safdie's, The Smashing Machine, has a different ebbs and flow than most sports biopics which gives it a distinctive but uneven feel that keeps us at arm’s length from Mark Kerr despite strong turns from Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. There's a sense of melancholy that hovers over the entire film even as Kerr becomes a champion and deals with opioid addiction. The first half of the film feels similar to Mike Figgis' Leaving Las Vegas, especially if you have no familiarity with Kerr's story beforehand as we watch him put his body through the ringer to become a champion. There's something oddly sanitized about it all as we are never given any sort of insight into his struggle until much later on in the film. Dwayne Johnson's performance has a measured intensity behind his determination to excel but the script never gives him many moments to really dig into the psyche of the man. Only a small moment at a demolish derby gives us the slightest bit of insight into his internal machination and the film could have used more of them. Johnson, to his credit, delivers his most focused performance that really shows he's capable of so much more than his standard fare. The film gives him a showcase to deliver something more subtle in his acting which makes it all the more frustrating that the script doesn't give him something more interesting to work with. Emily Blunt is in the same boat as she delivers excellent work as Kerr's acidic, passive aggressive girlfriend who becomes steadily more unstable and biting. They share a sequence in the latter part of the film that allows both of them to shine which leaves you wishing the story had taken advantage of their chemistry earlier on. Mixed martial artist, Ryan Bader, proves to be the biggest surprise as he delivers a rather tender and thoughtful turn as Kerr's best friend and fellow competitor Mark Coleman. There's an unspoken bond that comes through when Bader and Johnson share the screen together which gives their relationship an authentic connection. By the time it’s all said and done, The Smashing Machine, becomes just as much a story of Coleman's career resurrection as it does Kerr's which likely would have worked better overall for the story's focus.
B-
