The Smashing Machine
Dwayne Johnson plays the real-life mixed martial artist Mark Kerr in Benny Safdie’s rather underwhelming biopic.
A muscular talent: Dwayne Johnson as Mark Kerr
Photo courtesy of Entertainment Film Dists.
The cinema is choked with sporting biopics of extraordinary fighters, both in and out of the ring. The story of Mark Kerr, a tortured, gentle giant of a man who is the machine of the title, is perhaps less remarkable. What is extraordinary is that he is played by Dwayne Johnson as we’ve never seen him before in a film that attempts to exude authenticity from every pore. Kerr was a wrestler and mixed martial artist who in his debut match against the MMA champion Paul Varelans beat his opponent in two minutes. He then went on to remain unchallenged for his next ten fights…
Marking the solo directorial debut of Benny Safdie (who, with his brother Josh, won the Independent Spirit Award for best director for Uncut Gems), The Smashing Machine has the air of a documentary. Even as tensions build between Mark and his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) behind closed doors, Maceo Bishop’s handheld camera and the naturalism of the performances give the impression of a fly-on-the-wall exposé. There are convincing supporting turns, too, from the mixed martial artist Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman, Kerr’s best friend and sporting rival, and from Bas Rutten as Kerr’s coach (essentially playing himself).
Where the film falls down is with the rather underwhelming bouts themselves which, while naturalistic, produce little of the drama or adrenaline of most combat movies. There is talk that Dwayne Johnson could find himself with his first Oscar nomination as best actor, which is frankly ridiculous (if not impossible). Initially, it’s Dwayne’s black wig that does most of the acting, while The Rock just lowers his voice in-between doing his thing in the ring. The true marvel is Emily Blunt, who not only completely conceals her English accent, but convincingly portrays a woman teetering between adoration for her muscular catch and a fear of losing him to his substance abuse. The scenes of domestic disharmony are occasionally excruciating, augmented by the nervy hand-held camera and the honesty of Johnson and Blunt’s emotional shorthand (they had previously appeared together in Jungle Cruise). However, viewers expecting to see Johnson in either Rocky Balboa or Jake LaMotta mode will be sorely disappointed. Here, his Mark Kerr is just a mild-mannered version of The Rock with bad hair.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk, narrated by James Romero.
Dir Benny Safdie, Pro Benny Safdie, Dwayne Johnson, Eli Bush, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia and David Koplan, Screenplay Benny Safdie, Ph Maceo Bishop, Pro Des James Chinlund, Ed Benny Safdie, Music Nala Sinephro, Costumes Heidi Bivens, Sound Chris Chae, Dialect coach Elizabeth Himelstein.
A24/Out for the Count/Seven Bucks Productions/Magnetic Fields-Entertainment Entertainment Film Dists.
122 mins. USA. 2025. UK and US Rel: 3 October 2025. Cert. 15.
