The Smashing Machine | Film Review

 

Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is an MMA and UFC champion. When he has the chance to become a legend, he risks everything to achieve greatness.

I’d heard a lot about this film in the lead-up to it being released, some good things and some bad things, so it’s not one that I rushed out to go and watch. I also didn’t really know what it was about until I watched it.

This one pleasantly surprised me. It wasn’t amazing, but I liked it more than I thought I would.

For a start, I liked that we really got to know the characters. They were likeable, and you want to root for them and follow their story.

I liked Kerr in particular, and felt a connection with him from really early on. I was sceptical about Johnson going in but I think he did a great job in this role, as did all of the actors.

Speaking of Johnson, he and Blunt have great chemistry and work really well together. I know they’ve worked together before, but this is the first thing I’ve seen them in, and I liked them together.

As important as the fights are, the best parts of the film focus on the relationship between Kerr and Dawn. These are the most authentic scenes, and the ones that really hold the film together.

The dialogue is really authentic – these are real people and this is a real life we feel like we’re intruding on.

All the characters are three dimensional with obvious flaws, nothing is hidden. We see the worst parts of both characters.

My main problem with the film is that it was really obviously trying to hit these intense emotional beats that I just couldn’t feel. I liked the characters, but I didn’t feel their losses as strongly as I needed to, and as a result, I connected with the story a lot less than I did the individual characters.

Getting to the end of the film, I found myself wondering why Kerr’s story was chosen, as I don’t think the events of the film highlighted this.

Overall this was much better than I thought it would be, but that being said it’s not the best sports movie or biopic you’ll watch.

6.5/10