"A day without pain is like a day without sunshine..."
Fifty films in, Dwayne Johnson has delivered the performance of his career - and his life will never be the same again. You will never look at him in the same way, either. It takes some doing - and guts - for one of the world's biggest stars to successfully roll the dice when they're in such a money-spinner of a comfort zone, but that's what Johnson has done.
With Johnson unrecognisable under three hours of make-up, this bruiser of a biopic tells the story of MMA trailblazer Mark Kerr. It's set between the years 1997 and 2000, when Kerr was flying economy class to Japan and fighting on the Pride roster for what seems like pocket money even then. Early on in The Smashing Machine, he's seen arguing with the suits about his take-home. The figure? $3,300.
In many scenes, that also looks like the budget of writer-director Benny Safdie's (Good Time, Uncut Gems) film, which, in its build-ups and comedowns away from the ring, looks like a homemade documentary or cheap-as-chips US soap opera episode that was found on a dusty shelf at home and stuck in the VHS recorder to see if the tape still works.
It does. And how.
Through Johnson's portrayal of Kerr, we get a no-holds-barred insight into hypermasculinity, depression, and addiction, all with the gut-sinking feeling throughout that things are probably going to end badly. "We get slapped around by our emotions," muses Kerr, and The Smashing Machine metes out similar punishment to the viewer under arena strobes and kitchen bulbs.
Fans of MMA will get their money's worth here as Safdie uses the canvas of 65mm to follow Kerr through victory and defeat inside the ropes, but the film is just as intense when he opts for 16mm to observe Kerr's life at home with partner Dawn, played by an excellent but underused Emily Blunt. When Safdie's fellow director Christopher Nolan saw the domestic scenes, he said they were like something that we shouldn't be watching. You couldn't put it better.
Although a little episodic, The Smashing Machine still ranks up there with the year's must-sees. Certainly, there will be no greater on-screen revelation in 2025 than Johnson's work. It is Oscar-worthy - reinvention, transformation, and a man in his 50s nailing the physicality of a fighter in his prime.
The Smashing Machine closes in the present day with footage of the real-life Kerr. He displays none of the trappings of wealth; he's doing his own shopping and driving a pickup. But he appears to be happy and to have his health. The richest man in the world, so.
