The Smashing Machine – Film Review
Reviewed by Damien Straker on the 5th of October 2025
Directed by Benny Safdie
Written by Benny Safdie based on ‘The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr’ by John Hyams
Produced by Benny Safdie, Dwayne Johnson, Eli Bush, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, David Koplan
Starring Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk
Cinematography Maceo Bishop
Edited by Benny Safdie
Rating: M
Running Time: 123 minutes
Release Date: the 2nd of October 2025
The Smashing Machine is less of a reinvention of the sports movie than a great showcase for actors Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt. Their compelling personal skirmishes revisit a reoccurring question of sports biopics: can a brutal athlete live a banal existence outside the ring? Both Martin Scorsese’s boxing film Raging Bull (1980) and Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008) probed this question. In the former, Jake LaMotta isolated everyone, including his wife and brother. Machine is thematically consistent with its inspirations rather than a startling revision. Still, its riveting when director Benny Safdie (Good Time, Uncut Gems) observes his subject’s contrasting faces. Similarly, the actors’ commitment makes this a finely acted study of personal control.
Set in the 1990s, the film recreates the life of UFC champion Mark Kerr (Johnson). Kerr is a hulking man mountain who pummels his opponents but speaks softly about euphoric victories. In a tough Japanese bout, he is buoyed by the support of his friend, Mark Coleman (mixed martial artist Ryan Bader), but feels distracted by the arrival of his partner, Dawn Staples (Blunt). Disillusioned by defeat, Mark’s opioid addiction triggers a serious medical episode that lands him in hospital. Unable to fight, his new domesticated lifestyle sees tension between himself and Dawn boil. He enlists the help of a new coach, Bas Rutten (as himself), to reignite his career. However, potentially losing Dawn and fighting Mark Coleman himself, a good-natured family man, weighs tellingly on Kerr’s soul.
The film’s appropriately grainy home video aesthetic is befitting of the late 1990s period and the story’s overarching question. It is surprising how much is set in Japan. It even showcases a funny moment where a man plays the Japanese anthem on an electric guitar! Meanwhile, the muted, lowkey visuals stage several mundane skirmishes inside Kerr’s home. The intention is to ask if he can be domesticated. He berates Dawn because she does not make his smoothie properly. Later, he complains she did not cut his cactus plant. Watching him pick up a knife in demonstration is loaded with tension. Later, Safdie escalates their verbal standoffs into a disturbing domestic altercation. Beneath the visual grain and petty arguments is an ordinary man lacking control and agency.
Safdie’s deliberately banal filmic style observes other facets of Kerr’s personality. In the opening scene, we see him pummelling his opponent with brutal strikes. Safdie deliberately overlays the violence with Kerr’s softly spoken voice over. The juxtaposition underlines the separation of his personalities. In a hospital waiting room, Kerr politely explains what the UFC is to an elderly woman. Stardom feeds his ego and purpose. After a surprise defeat, Safdie films him in an unbroken take from behind. The lone vision of his massive shoulders renders him into a hulking shadow. Once domesticated, his different personality traits collide like a well-timed forearm. Safdie arranges the different conflicts into a late collage that presses Kerr to decide on his existence.
Mark Kerr is indisputably Dwayne Johnson’s best role since he left the WWE for cinema. Having delved into action films, various comedies, and family movies, one could easily forget his intensity. His physicality is notable. Donning black trunks, this man mountain fills the entire frame. He is a credible fighter, which leaves us asking why the giant is threatened by a comparatively tiny, devoted woman. Equally effective is Johnson’s temperament. How he veers between self-serious in action roles and knowing in interviews filters into the part. He shifts Kerr’s brutalism to showmanship and then discovers an overly sensitive partner conflicted by his lack of control. Johnson’s layered performance is easily matched by Emily Blunt. Dawn’s pain is quietly expressive on her face. Since she is involved with alcohol and is co-dependent on Kerr, addiction unites and separates them.
Being a sports film, the story beats threaten to retread predictable clichés. There is a training montage and potentially fighting Mark Coleman creaks. Fortunately, Safdie films the fights with brutal clarity. He is also capable of gently upending these plot devices. The training sequence is unexpectedly set to Frank Sinatra’s ‘My Way’. The climatic fight is then neatly subverted. What interests Safdie most is an ordinary life unravelling because of addiction and co-dependency. His actors rise to the challenge. They even share the film’s funniest moment with a carousel. Dwayne Johnson shows nuance in exploring different passages of Kerr’s personality and Emily Blunt is a deeply sad screen presence. Their multi-layered performances shine in this familiar but involving adult drama.
Summary: Johnson and Blunt's multi-layered performances shine in this familiar but involving adult drama.
3.5
Compelling
About the Author
Damien Straker is a freelance writer and film critic. He studied at the University of Sydney and graduated with an Arts Honours degree in Film Studies. He is a pop culture aficionado and enjoys talking about all films, 90s TV shows, ninjas and watching Rugby League. His favourite film directors are Alfonso Cuarón, Clint Eastwood and Alexander Payne.
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