By Mark Fields
Dwayne Johnson Goes Serious But Film’s Other Flaws Get In The Way
The Smashing Machine has been getting a lot of attention in the entertainment media, being touted as the dramatic debut of Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson, who has created a personal industry out of big, loud, and accessible popcorn movies (Jungle Cruise, Jumanji, and intermittent appearances in the Fast and Furious franchise), steps out of his cinematic comfort zone to play a more serious role, that of Mark Kerr, one of the early pioneers of mixed martial arts fighting. The actor makes the transition surprisingly well; but it’s a shame that the rest of the movie, especially the hackneyed script and lackluster direction of Bennie Safdie, undermines Johnson’s earnest efforts.
The movie depicts Kerr’s intertwined professional and personal life during a brief period in the late 1990s as he pursues a career in the emerging sport/entertainment of mixed martial arts fighting. His prowess in the ring (and his impressive physical power) has to cope with some forbidding challenges, including the opioid addiction brought on by the abuses his bodies undergoes and a tumultuous co-dependent relationship with his live-in girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt). The Smashing Machine alternates many fight scenes in the ring with domestic fight scenes with Dawn and the other figures (trainers, rivals, promoters) in the MMA world.
A fundamental problem with the film is that Kerr is not really a very sympathetic or engaging character. Despite efforts to warm him up by showing kind interactions with fans, he is essentially a self-centered and single-minded man. And there is no redemptive hero’s arc in the story, which robs the resolution of The Smashing Machine of any catharsis for the audience. Worse yet, the trite dialogue in Safdie’s screenplay provides no depth to Kerr, no deeper understanding of his motivations.
The relationship with girlfriend Dawn suffers from a similar weakness. Despite the (wasted) talent of Emily Blunt, Dawn comes across as a run-of-the-mill gold-digger, annoying and melodramatic. We never gain any insight into the glue that seemingly holds her and Kerr together.
Ironically, the strongest performance in the film comes from the least experienced actor, Ryan Bader. Bader, an actual MMA fighter, convincingly plays Kerr’s best friend and occasional competitor, Mark Coleman. Props also to Bas Rutten, another real-life denizen of MMA, playing himself as Kerr’s trainer.
Most of the trouble in The Smashing Machine lies at the feet of writer/director Bennie Safdie in his solo feature film debut. Best known for Uncut Gems, a well-regarded Adam Sandler crime drama that he wrote and directed with his brother Josh, Safdie never makes the story compelling beyond the MMA fights themselves. The listless direction, coupled with the rampant clichés of the dialogue, drain all the energy from the movie.
Devotees of MMA may find enough enjoyment in this movie (with the strong fight footage and the numerous cameos and Easter eggs that admittedly blew right past me) to make it worth it. But for the rest of us, the uninitiated, The Smashing Machine fails to land any cinematic punches.
Official Trailer
