A lot of what you’ll see in “The Smashing Machine” feels very familiar. It’s a sports movie, based on the life of unheralded mixed-martial arts and UFC pioneer Mark Kerr.
You get all the familiar beats: the rise to glory, struggles with drug addiction, the fall from grace and the ultimate redemption. The story is far from original and doesn’t give you much to get excited about.
What does make “The Smashing Machine” a notable and ultimately compelling film, are the actors on screen and the writer/director behind the camera.
The ready-made takeaway here is that this is the movie where The Rock goes dramatic. Dwayne Johnson, who has become an international superstar thanks to his days as a professional wrestler and his roles in action movies and comedies, plays Kerr.
It’s not that big of a stretch for Johnson to play Kerr, whose imposing physical stature and initial career path closely mirror Johnson’s. What’s impressive is how easily Johnson disappears (with an assist from a pound of makeup and a goofy wig) into Kerr’s kindly and volatile personality outside of the ring.
Also playing out of her comfort zone is Emily Blunt, who plays Kerr’s trashy-bombshell girlfriend Dawn, who may or may not be Kerr’s salvation from his personal demons. Blunt plays this ambiguity beautifully in what a lesser actor would typically phone in as a forgotten extra from “Jersey Shore.”
Rounding out the cast as Kerr’s closest friend and fellow UFC punching bag Mark Coleman is contemporary UFC star Ryan Bader, in his first acting role. Bader is not a trained actor by any stretch of the imagination, but his authenticity in his performance humanizes the proceedings and helps keep the movie grounded.
Pulling all of this together is writer/director Benny Safdie, one half of independent film darlings, the Safdie Brothers. This is Benny’s first venture on his own, but he proves he’s more than up to the task with his documentary-style camerawork that gives a gritty realism to the fight scenes and to the performances.
It also helps that since Kerr is not a well-known figure, his ultimate fate is not common knowledge and keeps the film from being too comfortably predictable.
Even though it winds up being a little on the lightweight side, “The Smashing Machine” is still the best-possible version of what this movie could have been. That counts as a clear victory by knockout every time.
“The Smashing Machine” is rated R for language and some drug abuse.
