Dwayne Johnson Reinvents His Career With 'The Smashing Machine'
The Smashing Machine is a biopic for those who are either sick of or have no interest in them. It’s one of the few movies in the genre which transcends the boundaries of convention to deliver a story which feels as grounded, gritty, and heartfelt as the original Rocky (1976). The much-buzzed about lead performance from Dwayne Johnson, playing real-life MMA fighter Mark Kerr, is a truly transformative, unshowy performance which will likely reform the veteran performer’s career. Equally likely is the prospect that Johnson will walk off with the Best Actor trophy and next year’s Academy Awards.
The Smashing Machine is a Different Kind of Biopic
The film is directed by actor and filmmaker Benny Safdie in his solo directorial debut. Safdie is one half of the Safdie brothers, who brought us two mounting-anxiety classics in Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019). (Benny’s brother, Josh Safdie, is set to release his own sports-centric directorial debut, table-tennis drama Marty Supreme, in December.) At first glance, The Smashing Machine appears to be a self-conscious gearshift for its director. Certainly, it’s lightyears away from the thriller trappings of Safdie’s previous work. But it maintains the gritty texture of Safdie’s best films, notably the brothers’ debut Heaven Knows What (2014) and their follow-up Good Time, and as such is a terrifically unpredictable addition to the overstuffed biopic genre, the output of which is often of the print-and-press variety, so pat they’re indistinguishable from a lengthy Wikipedia entry.
Safdie wisely tweaks the structure of The Smashing Machine so that it denies audiences the most lugubrious biopic cliches. This has led to some dissent amongst critics and audiences expecting a more conventional story, but those who are either familiar with Kerr’s story or well-versed in the biopic pattern will appreciate the ingenuity here.
It Heralds a New Chapter of Johnson's Career
Johnson is nothing short of revelatory in the title role, cribbed from the 2002 HBO documentary The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr. The actor has always been an enjoyable screen presence, but up until now few would have argued that he disappears into his roles. He plays, depending on the project, fatherly, beaming Dwayne Johnson or butt-kicking, quipping The Rock, his former WWE alter ego. Just when it seemed Johnson’s steam had run out, with predictable roles in Jungle Cruise (2021), Black Adam (2022), and two underwhelming, unrelated blockbusters with “Red” in the title (2021’s Red Notice and last year’s Red One), the actor lays his cards on the table and shows audiences he’s capable of much more than he’s heretofore been allowed to display. It’s one of the few performances that could rightfully be described as revelatory, and to this point it’s the best male performance in a film so far this year. (Sean Penn’s supporting turn in One Battle After Another comes close, but he won’t be troubling Johnson in the leading actor categories.)
The Supporting Cast is Equally Powerful
Abetting Johnson are his Jungle Cruise co-star Emily Blunt, as Kerr’s partner Dawn Staples, and MMA fighter-turned-actor Ryan Bader, as Kerr’s trainer. The energy between the three is kinetic, and Bader solidifies himself as a genuine star in the making. Always brilliant, Blunt brings texture and life to a role which on the page is thinly characterized. There is perhaps no one better at imbuing a potentially thankless supporting role with vigor, as she did in Oppenheimer, though it’s slightly worrisome that this is where Blunt’s career has rested at the moment. The rest of the cast, comprised mostly of unknown and non-actors, ring with authenticity and brio. There are few directors better at eliciting naturalistic performances than Safdie, who has himself given a couple of staggeringly good turns in diverse movies like Licorice Pizza (2021) and Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret (2023). Though the outcome of the story is foregone, Safdie conjures a respectable intensity, especially where the brawls are concerned.
Its success at the box office remains to be seen, but it’s likely that, despite its early buzz giving way to a flurry of semi-disappointed reviews, esteem for The Smashing Machine will only grow in the coming months and years. It’s a good-natured but far from sanitized film, the sort of heartwarming and inspiring sports movie that hardly gets made anymore. Whether or not Johnson walks home with an Oscar or a handful of other awards, The Smashing Machine heralds a new era for the star and gives a tantalizing glimpse of where his career might go from here.