‘The Smashing Machine’ movie review: Dwayne Johnson disappears into Mark Kerr to deliver a knockout

The story of an MMA fighter called The Smashing Machine would naturally have blood, guts and gore, right? The meteoric rise, the fall from grace, and the redemptive clawing back to the top, all set to that anthemic music with a rousing training montage, are par for the course. When you have professional wrestler Dwayne Johnson, who also happens to be a stratospherically successful movie star headlining the film, one should not be blamed for expecting standard fare — great fights and a feel-good story.

And that is where The Smashing Machine, based on the 2002 documentary, The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, pulls the rug from under your feet. First, there is Dwayne Johnson disappearing into the character of Mark Kerr, physically and emotionally, as he tries to explain the high he gets from putting his life on the line before a stadium full of spectators.

Then there is the dreamlike background score by experimental jazz composer Nala Sinephro. While it might be counterintuitive to use jazz for a high-octane film about a fighter, the tinkly harps, moody synths and discordant drums are unsettling and inviting in equal measure. In an early scene, where Kerr wanders about his house looking for drugs, the sound fades in and out, echoing his movement.

While the fights in the ring are brutal, they seem quite the picnic compared to Kerr’s battles with his girlfriend, Dawn (Emily Blunt), and increasing dependence on opioids. The film follows Kerr’s beginnings as a wrestler and pioneer in MMA. When he tells an interviewer he does not know what it is like to lose, because he has never lost, he reveals a frightening level of confidence.

After he makes a name for himself in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Kerr signs up for the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan. As his addiction spirals out of control, he loses a fight and later, on his return home, becomes unresponsive after a binge.

A still from ‘The Smashing Machine’
| Photo Credit:
A24

While his relationship survives a stint in rehab, Dawn leaves Kerr post rehab and Kerr goes to train with Bas Rutten (playing himself). Kerr returns to the ring in peak condition. He makes up with Dawn and the stage is set for the 2000 Pride Grand Prix where there is a chance of the final being between Kerr and his longtime coach and friend, Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader). The film ends in the present with Kerr playing himself at a supermarket, mostly unknown but at peace.

Johnson has gone the distance to embody the strength and vulnerability of Kerr while Blunt matches him blow for blow. That final blow-up between the two, shot in a single take, is an extraordinary and harrowing sequence.

Benny Safdie, who edited, wrote and directed The Smashing Machine, his first effort without his long-time collaborator and brother, Josh Safdie, has created a thrilling film that is not afraid to sacrifice conventional movie expectations for a truthful ride.

While some more details would have been welcome for those not so familiar with the extreme fighting scene, The Smashing Machine, which won the Silver Lion at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival is a brilliant meditation on a man who rode the punches thrown at him to emerge bruised but not broken on the other side.

The Smashing Machine is currently running in theatres