★★★☆☆
Dwayne Johnson takes on a role not a million miles from his former life in The Smashing Machine. The WWE star here plays real-life UFC competitor Mark Kerr, in a film that is less sport biopic and more a portrait of a wrestler as a young man. Premiering in competition at the Venice Film Festival, it’s a fine showcase for an actor who is better known for family films and action blockbusters than hard-hitting dramas.
Set between 1997 and 2000, when the mixed-martial arts sport of UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) was just taking off, the undefeated Kerr is at the top of his game. He’s a freestyle wrestler, but UFC pits him against those with other backgrounds, whether it’s boxing, Jiu-jitsu or karate. It’s brutal, bloody and arguably one of the most punishing sports out there.
View oEmbed on the source websiteWhile 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.
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.
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.
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