The Smashing Machine

Are we to applaud when a movie star who has lucratively coasted for decades on mere charm finally decides to give acting a try? Or do we lament that it took this long and some public humbling to arrive at this epiphany? This is the dilemma the industry faces on A24’s The Smashing Machine, which for more than a year now has been hyped as our introduction to Dwayne Johnson, award-worthy actor.

That fellow bears little resemblance to the entertainer we heretofore knew as Dwayne Johnson and previously The Rock, who did the bare minimum in transitioning from pro wrestling sensation to star of action blockbusters, family comedies, and blockbuster family action-comedies, all the while commanding some of the biggest salaries in the business.

Because the whole DC superhero thing didn’t pan out for him and maybe because his reputation has taken a dive amidst reports of rampant unprofessionalism and a criminal lack of punctuality, the charismatic 53-year-old strongman and self-proclaimed “Franchise Viagra” has decided to reinvent himself as a serious actor, at least for this one independent film written and directed by Benny Safdie, half of the sibling duo that gave us Good Time and Uncut Gems.

It is with no hesitation whatsoever that I can place Smashing Machine among the three best movies of Johnson’s twenty-plus years in film. Of the other two, one is his glorified cameo at the beginning of The Other Guys and the other is his voice work in Disney’s animated musical Moana.

Smashing finds Johnson playing a real person: mixed martial arts pioneer Mark Kerr. That’s probably not a name you recognize, which imbues the film’s narrative with an element of surprise. Or maybe confusion, as you keep asking yourself: why is this story being told and why are we told upfront that it takes place from 1997-2000? Does it end in triumph? Or tragedy?  Or maybe none of the above?

There is a 2002 documentary of the same name that apparently tells the same story. I wouldn’t be surprised if it tells the story better, either, but I haven’t yet seen it.

Safdie’s film, the first feature he’s ever made without his brother Josh, does a fine job of holding our interest without relying on standard sports movie or biopic beats and conventions.

Kerr, a beast of a man who is surprisingly soft-spoken and articulate regarding the mental demands of MMA, experiences some success as part of Japan’s Pride organization, putting together a series of victories with the variety of techniques the combat sport incorporates from other combat sports. The movie isn’t all that interested in Kerr’s fight style or his training methods.  It does seem interested for a bit in his need and willingness to self-medicate with opiates, but this too resolves itself after a hospital stay and a stint in rehab.

It also seems interested in Kerr’s relationship with his girlfriend (Johnson’s Jungle Cruise costar Emily Blunt, once again acting circles around him), a looker who tries to be supportive but is repeatedly kept at arm’s length. Their relationship is not tidy or familiar like many routine sports movie romances, which keeps things unpredictable even as the movie seems bound for a big climactic $200,000 fight between Kerr and his closest friend Mark Coleman (real MMA fighter Ryan Bader). And yet, expectations are again subverted.

The Smashing Machine cannot be accused of being formulaic or boilerplate. It is no cookie cutter biopic and you’re much more likely to declare it uneventful or anticlimactic than to call it the feel-good crowd-pleaser of this awards season.

For a movie whose chief purpose seems to be to win Johnson an Oscar he has never before even been close to competing for. That makes for an appealing narrative and probably would help the award ceremony’s Nielsen ratings slide less than usual for ABC. But I’m not convinced that’s how the next few months will play out. And it feels like anything less than a Best Actor win might give the movie the perception of disappointing.