Mixed Martial Arts is a sport I have little idea about, apart from the fact that it involves beating the living daylights out of your opponent. So a film about one of the first names of the sport didn’t initially grab me. Yet while Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine is a biopic of Mark Kerr, it is less about the violence in the ring and more about the man outside. Plus, it features a performance from an actor who has already been touted for Oscar glory, and even if you aren’t a fan of the sport, it’s worthwhile just to watch this amazing transformation.

Mark Kerr was a former wrestler who found himself in Mexico taking part in a new sport, Mixed Martial Arts, where anything goes. Outside the ring, Mark is a quiet, respectful man who has a relationship with his girlfriend, Dawn, that sometimes is tumultuous. As his star rises, especially at events in Japan, he is relying more and more on painkillers to ease the pain of the fights, as well as that brought on by defeat.

Benny Safdie, working for the first time as a solo director, previously working with his brother on films like Good Times and the excellent and intense Uncut Gems, brings a simple, unfussy telling of this man’s rise in a sport that was at the start of its creation. Like other biopics, this isn’t going to tell us something we didn’t know before. The man had issues. In this case, it’s dealing with defeat, something that he never faced before, dealing with a relationship that was difficult at times, and, more importantly, his reliance on painkillers.

While watching, it has an air of Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler about it. The movie that brought Mickey Rourke back to the forefront was a film that followed him around during his day-to-day routines. This has the same feeling, with shots from behind as he walks through corridors behind the ring, and camera shots hiding in gyms as we watch him train. In a way, it had to be made this way, as the story, while remaining close to the truth, isn’t brimming with events, apart from the moments he steps into the ring.

Once we are there, we are thrown into a world of bloody punnelling. The primary objective of these athletes is to get them on the mat and punch and knee them in the face until they are incapacitated. These scenes are very uncomfortable to watch, and you do wonder how this sport has risen to the status it has, especially when. Unlike wrestling, where you know it’s not real, this has opponents with smashed faces.

Yet for all the film’s faults, and if you can stomach the brutality of the sport, it does have an ace up its sleeve, in the performances. Emily Blunt is always on form, and here, as Dawn, she is once again stunning. This is a very different role for the actress, as she is flashy, loud and, in a way, self-absorbed. Sadly, her role is underwritten, and as a result, there are large parts of the film in which she is absent from the screen. Not really the script’s fault, but rather because the focus is on Mark Kerr and his sporting events.

At the heart of the film is Dwayne Johnson. The Rock has starred in many films, where his obvious screen persona is one of charm, with a touch of action thrown in. Here he has to act, and he is terrific. Completely unrecognisable as Kerr, it’s only when he speaks that you know it’s the wrestling film star. He brings a quiet assurance to the role, making you care about a man who is trying to make his way in the world. It is not only a physical performance, obviously, but a controlled emotional one, and it should put Johnson on a different route in his career.

The Smashing Machine is an interesting watch, especially if you know little about the sport, but it’s all about Dwayne Johnson, and he doesn’t disappoint. It will have limited appeal, but it will be interesting to see if Johnson’s name isn’t mentioned when the awards season starts.

3 out of 5

Director: Benny Safdie

Starring: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Andre Tricoteux, Raja Flores, Oleksandr Usyk, Takao Osawa

Written by: Benny Safdie

Running Time: 123 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 3rd October 2025