The Smashing Machine Review
An introspective biopic that subverts some of the usual tropes of a fight movie, while giving space for a wonderful lead performance.
Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is a mixed-martial arts and UFC champion, but he’s struggling under the weight of life - bills piling up, salaries being low or hard to come by, a tumultuous home life and a drug habit that is hard to kick. When the tournament he competes for in Japan comes up with a two round knockout competition for a life-changing amount of money, Kerr locks in, determined to kick his bad habits and turn his life around - even if it means having to go toe to toe with his best friend in the final.
The Smashing Machine is the cinephile’s answer to a UFC movie; tackling an early story, with an auteur director and an about-face turn from one of Hollywood’s most recognisable faces, shot in a more low-budget and handheld way than anything you’d see from one of the most overproduced sports in the world.
The film looks and feels gorgeous and of a time and place. The sequences in Tokyo in particular are beautiful, and there are a whole host of shots that will really stay with you - whether it’s the single tear on Emily Blunt’s face as she hugs her man, or The Rock dozing, massive, in the back of a cab as it tears through the streets of Tokyo.
The performances also are very strong, with Dwayne Johnson really giving his take on Mark Kerr a heaping dose of pathos. His Kerr is a kind, considerate sort, but also one with a lot of rage bubbling under the surface. He’s an addict, and the film is probably at its best when it is really engaging with that, but he’s also a genuinely kind guy. Ryan Bader is a wonderful pairing scene partner as Kerr’s best friend Mark Coleman, and Emily Blunt has moments of brilliance in a film that perhaps too often has her character relegated into one-dimension.
The let-down is perhaps in the plot, which somewhat subverts the usual sports movie tropes of a main character ascending to the top of the mountain, but also doesn’t give a huge amount of story to grip on. Mark struggles to get clean, and somewhat cements his place in the MMA world of Japan, but outside of that there isn’t a strong structure for the film to hang its hat on and drive that pulsing, kinetic, propulsive watchability through to the end. For cinephiles who ache for the sort of handheld, gritty filmmaking that this movie personifies, that is probably a welcome relief, but for those who love the sport - as gauged as it is by the inevitable ringing of a bell every few minutes to signify a round has ended and another is soon to begin - this might cause some boredom. It’s an odd choice, given how remarkably tense and urgent Safdie’s previous works have been, but there is no doubt that with The Smashing Machine, Safdie has managed to capture the man behind the fighter, and what it takes to fight in all aspects of life, uniquely and engagingly.
