The Smashing Machine review: Dwayne Johnson wrestles with greatness in muscular performance

It’s also big in Japan, with a fair chunk of the movie set in Tokyo, as Kerr plies his trade in a competition dubbed ‘Pride’. With controversy surrounding the sport, the organisers are planning to tone it down: no eye-gouging, head-butting, biting or kneeing an opponent’s head when he’s on the ground. But that doesn’t stop Kerr’s rival in the ring, causing Kerr to lose his first fight, despite it being what he believes is a blatant foul.

While this loss is ultimately called “no contest”, Kerr is scarred by the experience. Worse still, his addiction to opioids, used to medicate the constant pain he’s in, is gripping him. And then there’s his tumultuous relationship with girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt), who flies out to Japan to see him, only to find him spaced out and barely able to communicate. Tempers flare, as the once impregnable Kerr starts to crumble.

Written, directed, produced and edited by Benny Safdie, who is making his first movie without brother Josh, following their acclaimed efforts Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019), The Smashing Machine won’t get you off your seat, pumping your fists in triumph. It isn’t that kind of sports movie. Rather, it’s a story of frayed relationships, whether it’s Dawn and Kerr, or Kerr and his good buddy/trainer/competitor Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader, one of several real-life MMA fighters featuring).

Safdie tones down the amped-up, angst-riddled style that he and his brother cultivated in their recent films, allowing Johnson and Blunt to flourish. Arguably, Kerr’s life – despite facing addiction issues and the rollercoaster emotions of winning and losing in this extreme sport – doesn’t quite bring us the high drama you’d expect. The obvious comparison is Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, although that was more of a last-chance-saloon story.

Here, we get a snapshot of Kerr’s life at the top, what it’s like to hit the skids, and how his battle for sobriety affected his relationship with Dawn. Sometimes, it’s a little too on-the-nose, like the use of Elvis’s version of My Way on the soundtrack. “Regrets, I’ve had a few,” croons the King, words that could easily apply to Kerr. Maybe Safdie could’ve delved further into the “animal instinct” that Kerr speaks about, the testosterone that was constantly flowing through his body.

Yet Johnson, looking radically different under a cropped black wig, takes this opportunity and wrestles with it. Not since his work for Michael Bay in Pain & Gain has he done anything this out of his comfort zone. If the rumours are true, and he is set to work with Martin Scorsese on a Hawaii-Set crime thriller, with Blunt and Leonardo DiCaprio co-starring, from a book Johnson co-authored no less, then this more than proves he’s ready to work with the master. Here? He smashes it.

The Smashing Machine is released in UK cinemas on Friday 3rd October.

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