Mixed Martial Arts fighter, Mark Kerr, twice won the Ultimate Fighting Champion Heavyweight tournament, following a stellar career in college wrestling. In 2002, a documentary about his career, The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, was released. Now writer and director Benny Safdie has adapted that into this feature film, with Dwayne Johnson in the title role. Having no knowledge of or interest in the sport, I had to look up Kerr’s story online. So was Safdie able to produce a movie that engaged me? The answer was sadly, no.
Let’s start with the main talking point of the movie. Johnson stepping away from his normal persona and knockabout action genre. He has proved here, he can act, and could well be a player come awards season. But I feel like he is receiving more praise than anyone else would, simply because the expectations are so low. Emily Blunt has the thankless role of his girlfriend which is a badly written part, half enabler, half nagging spouse. I felt, the most sympathetic and rounded performance was from Ryan Bader, who is actually a fighter rather than an actor, as Kerr’s friend and training partner.
Away from the performances, I was mostly bored. Kerr came across as a tedious man-child and, after being in his company for two hours, I have no clue why he was deemed worthy of a biopic. His sport is brutally stupid and he is an unremarkable character.
Rating: 3.5 out of 10