Shadows on the Wall | The Smashing Machine

The Smashing Machine

dir-scr Benny Safdie
prd Benny Safdie, Dwayne Johnson, Eli Bush, Hiram Garcia, Dany Garcia, David Koplane
with Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Oleksandr Usyk, Yasuko Mitsuura, Whitney Moore, Satoshi Ishii, Yoko Hamamura, Stephen Quadros, Tomoyasu Hotei, Mark Kerr
release US/UK 3.Oct.25
25/US A24 2h03

VENICE FILM FEST
TORONTO FILM FEST

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Using a fly-on-the-wall style, writer-director Benny Safdie crafts an unusually realistic biopic about mixed martial arts champ Mark Kerr, who pioneered the sport. While his story features the usual beats of relational carnage and substance abuse, the film avoids the usual cinematic cliche by skilfully presenting everything in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way. This allows for a career re-defining performance from Dwayne Johnson, and a story that resonates widely.

In 1997, Mark Kerr (Johnson) is at the very top of the burgeoning sport that combines boxing, wrestling and martial arts, and he becomes a star in both the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pride in Japan alongside his long-time friend Mark Coleman (Bader). But after years of injuries, Mark has developed an addiction to opioid painkillers, and his fiery girlfriend Dawn (Blunt) is struggling to cope with his erratic behaviour. Amid their relational turbulence, Mark has a career setback, so he gets clean in rehab before reteaming with his trainer Bas (Rutten) for a comeback.

Covering about three years (plus a present-day coda with the real Kerr), the film is shot like a documentary featuring anecdotes rather than movie moments. This keeps it unusually grounded, as Safdie resists temptation to ramp up drama to provide easy resolutions or emotional climaxes. Even the fight scenes are shot without bombast, gritty and brutal but never over the top. So what stands out here are complex textures of interaction between bracingly realistic characters.

Johnson takes to this character role with gusto. Prosthetic makeup helps, but his altered mannerisms, physicality and temperament are even more impressive. Never grandstanding, Mark is a soft-spoken man with a steely sense of determination. His arguments with Blunt's equally focussed Dawn are beautifully underplayed, allowing the fireworks to emerge from deep within rather than flashing brightly on the surface. Their fights are scarier than the ones Mark has in the ring. And real-life MMA champion Bader is also excellent in a nuanced role.

Rather than focus on sporting triumph, this is a terrific story of a man overcoming his internal demons. It's rare to see a biopic about a professional athlete that doesn't create the usual competition climax. Instead, the film's power is in its quiet moments. And everything is shot and played with a concern for authenticity, recreating specific moments with a painstaking attention to detail. This is an involving and ultimately moving movie that continually surprises us and leaves us with a lot to think about.

themes, language, violence 24.Sep.25

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