The Smashing Machine review: Don’t believe the hype
The Smashing Machine received a standing ovation and Dwayne Johnson was surrounded by Oscar buzz at its Venice Film Festival premiere last month. I honestly feel like I’ve seen a completely different film as I don’t get the praise at all.
The biographical sports drama, written and directed by Benny Safdie, tells the story of wrestler and MMA fighter Mark Kerr (Johnson), with a particular focus on his relationship with then-girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt), his addiction to painkillers and his friendship with fellow fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader).
I felt distant and unconnected from the story in the beginning and hoped that at some point everything would click into place and I’d be into it. But that never happened. I never felt invested in the story and that’s because Safdie doesn’t take the time to make us care about Mark and Dawn. We never really know who they are or truly understand the dynamics of their relationship or the history of Mark’s battle with addiction. It just dives right into the story without giving us much context and you have to try and catch up.
I know all films are a collection of scenes but The Smashing Machine felt like a random mix of scenes thrown together without any real flow. Even the fight scenes are unengaging. I know it takes a lot of scenes and lines from the 2002 documentary of the same name, but here must have been a better way to illustrate Mark’s story. I appreciate that Safdie wanted to avoid the sports biopic clichés and typical beats and make something grittier and more unconventional but it’s so narratively unsatisfying. There is also a cringeworthy epilogue that left a bad taste in my mouth.
A lot has been made of the fact that this is Johnson’s first major dramatic role. He does a solid job and deserves respect for playing a character that requires such vulnerability. It’s the greatest performance of his career, no question, but it is not Oscars worthy. Blunt is excellent as his glam girlfriend and found their dysfunctional dynamic and resulting arguments to be the most interesting aspects of the story.
I cannot fault the performances in The Smashing Machine, but the execution of the story didn’t work for me at all.
In cinemas from Friday 3rd October