Dwayne Johnson gets serious! The Smashing Machine (2025) Review

15 minutes of standing ovations, tears of emotion for the lead actor and the Silver Lion for director Benny Safdie: "The Smashing Machine" has taken the Venice Film Festival by storm. But does the film live up to its hype and does Dwayne Johnson really deliver the performance of his life here? We've watched the movie and can now give you our opinion!

Rise and fall: a sportsman's story with peculiarities

"The Smashing Machine" takes us into the world of mixed martial arts in the late 1990s. At the center is Mark Kerr, star of the UFC and hot contender for the title of the Pride Fighting Championships in Japan. But while he celebrates triumphs in the ring, behind the scenes he is falling apart due to his painkiller addiction and his relationship with his partner Dawn.

At first glance, this may sound like a typical story of rise and fall, familiar from countless sports biographies. However, director Benny Safdie actually manages to stage the story with enough originality to prevent it from seeming completely predictable. Towards the end in particular, the viewer is in for a surprise or two – at least if you're not that familiar with Kerr's career.

Strengths in acting and staging

Let's be honest: Dwayne Johnson has hardly been the model actor par excellence in his career to date. Although he has regularly dominated the box office in recent years, multi-layered roles have been in short supply. In essence, he has mostly played himself – the charming, larger-than-life action hero with muscles and charisma.

But one thing we can now say with certainty: with "The Smashing Machine", he finally proves that there is more to him than just the Hollywood charmer. With an expressionless look, changed appearance and unusual vulnerability, he transforms into Mark Kerr – and leaves "The Rock" behind. Emily Blunt plays Dawn Staples convincingly alongside him, even if her role remains somewhat one-dimensional. However, the scenes in which the toxic dynamic between the two characters is expressed are among the highlights of the film. They can't live with each other, but they can't live without each other either.

Authenticity down to the grain

Visually, Safdie relies on an almost documentary aesthetic: coarse-grained images, an authentic 90s atmosphere, a camera that is very close to the action and brutal MMA fights that do not allow for any romanticization. You can feel the toughness and rawness of a sport whose popularity is constantly questioned.

The punch is missing

Despite the strong acting and the authentic staging, the film doesn't always ignite as it could. The emotional punch that made genre representatives such as "Warrior" or "The Wrestler" so great is missing. Safdie doesn't seem to want to expect the audience to experience the maximum amount of emotion. But that is exactly what would have been necessary to fully empathize with Mark Kerr.

The running time is also noticeable: At 123 minutes, the narrative occasionally loses pace. And questions also remain unanswered in terms of content: What actually sets Kerr apart from other MMA fighters? What did he do after his career and what about his family? The film only scratches the surface here, it doesn't really go into depth, although the running time would have allowed for it.

Conclusion

All in all, "The Smashing Machine" is a thoroughly convincing sports drama, carried by a surprisingly strong performance from Dwayne Johnson and a consistently authentic production. Fans of mixed martial arts will get their money's worth – because the fights in particular deliver exactly what you would expect from this sport. But despite all the strengths, the big emotional knock-out is missing at the end. You leave the movie theater somewhat perplexed and with the feeling that a Wikipedia article about Mark Kerr would probably have provided more insight. If we have nevertheless piqued your interest: You can see "The Smashing Machine" in cinemas from October 3!