I’ve made no secret of my frustration with how stale Dwayne Johnson has been as an actor in recent years, especially when it came to duds like Red One and Black Adam. His box office stardom isn’t as guaranteed as it was in the past, and as a result, he’s making this pivot into becoming a “serious” actor, with MMA drama The Smashing Machine at TIFF 2025 as his first big foray. At the very least, it’s a solid step in the right direction, even if the movie isn’t as great as its Oscar-chasing potential pushes it to be.
In the film, Johnson plays Mark Kerr, a huge star in the early years of mixed martial arts. Just like the 2002 documentary of the same name, the film covers a period of Kerr’s life from 1997 to 2000. Kerr’s explosive wrestling skills had garnered him huge success in the sport, but his success in the ring was matched by his struggles outside of it. His relationship with his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) is volatile to say the least, as the pair is one comment from a full-blown argument at every turn. His struggles only increased as he went to Japan to compete in the PRIDE FC, where injuries led to a serious addiction to painkillers.
To get the big question out of the way: Yes, Dwayne Johnson is great in the film. It’s the first time in over a decade that he wasn’t just coasting off playing an alternate version of himself. Mark Kerr is downright animalistic in the ring, but outside of it, he’s meek and soft-spoken. It’s an impressively lived-in performance. It helps that he’s under heavy makeup that makes him look damn near unrecognizable. There are a few instances where Kerr is discussing his upcoming fight where you can hear shades of the old Rock, but for the most part, The Smashing Machine is the most human Johnson has felt onscreen in ages.
“The Smashing Machine is the most human Johnson has felt onscreen in ages.”
I only wish that the rest of the movie was as great as the lead performance, though that’s not to say the film is bad. There are elements that work well. Shot on 16mm film, Benny Safdie–marking his debut as a solo director after splitting from brother Josh–presents a realistic, unglamorous approach to the sport. MMA’s early years were very brutal affairs, and the film captures that feeling in its fight sequences. Also, MMA fans will jump for joy at the litany of appearances of MMA legends and stars who make appearances, like Bas Rutten. Most impressively, UFC fighter Ryan Bader has a great turn as Mark Coleman, Kerr’s close friend and fellow fighter.
My problem is that when it comes down to it, I don’t feel like I gained any more insight into who Mark Kerr is as a person coming out of the film than I did coming in. Instead, Mark feels like an archetype for what MMA wrestlers had to go through and not much else. Although the movie sidesteps the traditional “build to a big final showdown” route most sports films take, it feels like the movie simply stops rather than coming to a meaningful conclusion. Also, as good as Emily Blunt is in the film, the arguments between Dawn and Mark get repetitive really quickly; the last one in particular devolves into full-scale melodrama.
I don’t think The Smashing Machine is the MMA equivalent of The Wrestler, but it is a reminder that Dwayne Johnson has the ability to be a person rather than a brand. Let’s just hope it’s something he decides to tap into more often rather than make the umpteenth movie of him in the jungle.
