Film Review: The Smashing Machine (2025)

It looks like Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson is working hard to earn some Oscar credibility, but the question is whether The Smashing Machine truly delivers the knockout punch he’s aiming for.

The film tells the story of Mark Kerr, the mixed martial arts champion who helped put MMA on the global map. Kerr’s rise is well known among fans of the sport: a wrestling prodigy who transitioned into mixed martial arts and quickly climbed the ranks through sheer physical dominance and technical skill. His combination of grappling and ground control earned him the nickname 'The Smashing Machine.'

For those unfamiliar with Kerr’s real story, there’s also an excellent 2002 HBO documentary of the same name, which remains one of the most compelling portraits of an athlete’s rise and fall in combat sports.

The film version drops us into the mid-1990s, when Kerr was at the height of his career and the MMA world was still in its brutal infancy. This was before the introduction of unified rules, a time when almost anything went. Kicks to the face, knees to the head, elbows, headbutts, it was a raw, unforgiving sport where the line between competition and survival was blurred.

Dwayne Johnson plays Mark Kerr, and the film focuses on both his personal and professional life, showing how the two collided and ultimately shaped him. Kerr’s influence on MMA is undeniable; without spoiling too much, his journey from wrestling champion to troubled fighter eventually led to reforms that made the sport safer and more structured.

Benny Safdie, who writes and directs and is an actor himself, takes a surprisingly restrained approach. Known for his high-energy, anxiety-driven storytelling (Uncut Gems), here Safdie steps back and lets the performances do the heavy lifting. The result is a film that feels intimate and character-driven rather than sensationalist. For a story rooted in one of the most violent sports in the world, The Smashing Machine is notably light on actual violence, choosing instead to focus on the people behind the punches.

Where the film falters is in its writing. There’s a lot of material here: Kerr’s internal demons, his turbulent relationship with his partner Dawn (played by Emily Blunt), his friendship and potential rivalry with fellow fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) and the wider issue of addiction and self-destruction in early MMA. Each of these threads has potential, but the film spreads itself too thin trying to tackle them all. It touches on everything, but rarely dives deep enough into any one of them to leave a lasting mark.

The central relationship between Kerr and Dawn takes up much of the runtime, yet feels unresolved. Kerr’s mental health struggles and his obsessive drive to win are hinted at, but never fully explored. It’s as if the film lays out all the right ingredients but forgets to finish cooking the dish.

That said, the performances are strong. Emily Blunt brings nuance and warmth to Dawn, grounding the story with quiet emotional depth. Dwayne Johnson delivers one of his more introspective performances to date, but he’s still far from the transformative presence of actors like Joaquin Phoenix. His sheer physical presence can sometimes distract from the character he’s trying to portray, though it’s clear he’s putting in the effort. There’s potential here, and perhaps his upcoming collaboration with Martin Scorsese will push him into new territory as a dramatic actor.

Despite its flaws, The Smashing Machine is a solidly crafted film. The production design, the atmosphere and the subtle handling of violence all work in its favour. It’s just that the film never quite decides what it wants to be: a sports biopic, a relationship drama or a cautionary tale about fame and addiction. In trying to be all three, it becomes a bit of each but not enough of any.