The Smashing Machine Movie Review [Venice Film Festival 2025]

The Smashing Machine is an authentically raw sports biopic on the gritty & brutal, real & emotional fights we face in & out of the ring.

After years of generating blockbuster after blockbuster, to increasingly diminishing returns, it seems Dwayne Johnson is FINALLY attempting something new in his acting career: an Oscar contender film and performance. Where the wrestler turned actor turned media mogul carries a bit of his comfort zone while simultaneously stepping out of it to bring us The Smashing Machine. The biographical story of mixed martial arts and UFC pioneer Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) between the years 1997 and 2000, following his struggles in & out the ring and the octagon.

Johnson is someone very familiar with playing tough, macho men full of bravado, where his famous charisma fill every frame but in The Smashing Machine Johnson displays raw vulnerability unlike we’ve ever seen from him, in the single greatest performance from a wrestler turned actor; Kerr’s dominant raw power when fighting struggles to translate when trying to open up about his complex emotions outside the ring, particularly in his relationship with his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt), and Blunt’s tour-de-force perfectly matches Johnson’s.

Kerr feels like he’s constantly on the run from something, whether it is himself, his addiction or even his relationship, except when he is in the ring, the only place where he actively runs towards something. The relationship between Kerr and Staples is the constant fight he seems to seek refuge from one, as it is one of volatile fragility, the two constantly walking on eggshells around one another afraid to say the wrong thing and quite finding the right moment to confront Kerr’s addiction, whose reactions are as overblown as Dawn’s.

Despite their constant being at odds, the two are cut from the same cloth; showcasing self-destructive tendencies that are augmented by their presence in each other’s lives; Kerr is never comfortable opening up with Dawn, only his “boys” and fellow fighters around him such as his trainer and friend Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) or Bas Rutten (as himself), they are the only people who see Kerr in his most unguarded state; the only person to ever see Kerr sobbing in the film being Coleman.

But despite Dawn’s pleads to Kerr about letting her in, we never see her doing the same for him, it’s either attempts at seeing him with his shields down or becoming angry and volatile when she isn’t successful; in fairness, the way director Ben Sadfie captures these sequences that verge on the self-parodying repletion, but Johnson and Blunt’s undisputed chemistry and the strong writing just about save it, bringing it home as an absolute knockout.

Speaking of knockouts, this wouldn’t be a sports biopic worth every ounce of blood, sweat and tears without capturing the raw viscerality of a mixed martial arts contest in brutally gritty action set pieces, the visual honesty of Maceo Bishop’s 35mm cinematography creates some of the best, and gnarliest, fights ever put to screen at that, to the tune of what sounds like improved jazz, a unique angle that conveys the unpredictability of what every fighter feels when stepping into the ring.

Visually authentic to the time and mood of its story; the handheld style and grainy image reflect the feel of Kerr’s inner mind, holding up walls to the world but clearly showing the cracks through which we glimpse the pain and constant sense of being overwhelmed by the dependency he has, not just professionally but his fear of disappointment if he loses, what is there for him once outside the ring besides the eruptive relationship awaiting for him at home when his friends all have families and jobs that can fall on if their opponents’ hand is ever raised.

Despite the strong performances and strong character writing, the interest of Safdie’s script isn’t at all to reinvent the wheel of the sports biopic, which may prove tricky for the films award season hopes. It’s heart is strong, and authenticity is worthy of praise, but Rocky set the bar and this is certainly not the film that will topple it. There is arguably too much of a comfort in ticking the boxes of what makes such stories of adversity work on screen, and while certainly playing to its strengths, Safdie never feels out of his comfort zone as a filmmaker at the helm of a story about a man whose victories in the squared circle are overshadowed by his fights outside of it.

The film’s real sin of the film is truly it’s ending, as the final scene plays as too rosy a conclusion for a story all about struggling, imperfect people living in an imperfect world, not helped by the fact that Safdie dares to show the classic acceptance of the need of rehabilitation, but it turns out to be no more than key jangling as the film skips right over what could be a more than compelling second act in favour of more action in the ring, no doubt to justify Johnson’s incredible workout and divine-like physique that would make the Greek pantheon hide in shame.

In truth, the film is begging for a longer runtime, something that surely couldn’t be helped without some more polish to the story structure, but while it could’ve done with some fleshing out of story elements about Kerr’s life that feel disappointingly superficial, this is a empathetic story easy to gravitate towards for many, about the real and relatable adversities we inevitably bring upon ourselves through life, evident by the performances and characters, particularly Johnson and Blunt’s, who despite the odds clearly showcase nuance and depth.

The Smashing Machine is an authentically raw sports biopic on the gritty & brutal, real & emotional fights we face in & out of the ring. Dwayne Johnson bleeds vulnerability onto the screen in an undisputed knockout performance worth every ounce of blood, sweat & tears.

Blunt is his PERFECT match.

Final Grade: B+

The Smashing Machine comes to theaters on October 3rd.

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