The Smashing Machine movie review

The UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championship) has just completed a new lawless with Paramount+ – about the insane amount of $ 7.7 billion for seven years. MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) has finally reached the top of the financial attention of the global martial arts community. But “The Smashing Machine” is about an era when the UFC was not yet a global mega event-and specifically revolves around an MMA fighter who once at all helped sport to its popularity, but whose name is only likely to know the most. Benny Safdie, one of the two brothers behind “The Black Diamond”, is responsible for direction and script, in which Adam Sandler may show his best performance at all …

… who, after his release on Netflix, also to a large part of the “Happy Gilmore” crowd. In addition, “The Smashing Machine” comes from the “The Iron Claw” studio A24 and was rotated on analog 16mm material. So if you have paid a little bit in advance, you could easily guess that “The Smashing Machine” would rather not become a mass-friendly and conventional athlete biopic. But this is the most evident from another personnel: as a composer, the 28-year-old Caribbean-Belgian experimental jazz artist Nala Sinephro, which is known for her atmospheric harp music, is known, among other things. And with the fact that your music really goes perfectly with the film is (almost) said everything necessary.

“The Smashing Machine” plays from 1997 to 2000: Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) already competes in the UFC, but he completes his biggest fights for the Japanese MMA organizer Pride Fighting Championships (Pride FC)-even if, for example, the payment of his martial fees not only on language, but also at cultural understanding Hapert. Also a problem in the Far East: In contrast to the USA, hard pain relievers are not simply prescribed here as if they are lobbons – instead, after a struggle, there are only läppische ibuprofen for a fight, which of course no longer have the necessary effect in the obviously heavily dependent athletes.

While his mentor, competitor and best friend Mark Coleman (great: Ryan Bader) consistently supports him, his girlfriend Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) is rather no help to bring Kerr back on the right way: just a few minutes before the most important struggle of his career, she bursts into the changing room to make him a scene – and after his withdrawal her withdraw No alcohol parties to celebrate at home or swallow larger quantities of painkillers in front of him. Does Kerr still have a chance to get the curve?

Lost in translation

Relative at the beginning, the latest rules of control are announced at a press conference: from now on there are no longer a bit of bites, fingers are put in the eyes or knee blades against the lowered head when the opponent crouches on the ground. As I said, there were other times at the MMA back then! But even without chewed earlobes, the ring scenes really hurt: Benny Safdie consistently dispenses with “Rocky”-like exaggeration, but after the fights you understand very precisely why Mark Kerr always carries a syringe filled with opiates. Perhaps Gavin O'Connor also helped here, who was responsible for one of the best MMA films to date with “Warrior” and was involved in “The Smashing Machine” as an advisory producer.

Nevertheless, “The Smashing Machine” is anything but a classic success biopic-after all, it is based on the documentary “The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr” from 2002: The “Universal Soldier: Day of Reckoning” director John Hyam received unusually open insights in that Training, but also in private life (including the addiction problems) of the MMA champion. Many of the strongest scenes in the film therefore also take place outside of the combat arenas-for example when the MMA giant drives out in a Japanese department store. In such moments, “The Smashing Machine” is less reminiscent of martial arts strips than Sofia Coppolas Oscar-winning “Lost in Translation” (even if Bill Murray doesn't have as many muscles).

At the latest since Conor McGregor, the UFC has been rather known that the fighter already go to the throats when weighing them – in the media. But in “The Smashing Machine”, the fighters meet with an inspiring level of respect – even as his competitor with banned knees, provokes an unexpected struggle, it is a matter of course for Mark Kerr to hug him afterwards. Dwayne Johnson is almost twice as old as the protagonist he portrayed in 1997, but his role is still great: as a philosophizing martial colossus (“A day without pain is like a day without sunshine”), he explores a completely different kind of masculinity than we have so far used to be used by the “Jumanji” star:

As Mark Kerr, Johnson, which is often barely recognizable in his mask, is not angry or brutal, but mild, melancholic, meek – and it is essentially not about winning, but on the contrary, but about a possible handling of defeats. In contrast, Emily Blunt (“Oppenheimer”), which is surprisingly difficult to get other sides next to the hysterical, (self-) destructive girlfriend: Yes, Mark Kerr exaggerates it with perfectionism and does not want children. But overall, Dawn Staples seems somewhat one -dimensional as a decorated villain in history (even if the couple stayed together for a few years in real life and got a son together). Only in a scene on the fairground when she enters a ride because of Mark Kerr's stomach problems and enjoys a lonely moment of weightlessness, there is still a deeper level, which is hardly researched in the rest of the film.

Conclusion: “The Smashing Machine” is exactly what you wanted from the new film by the director of “The Black Diamond”-and not at all what an unprepared mainstream audience would possibly imagine under a UFC film with Dwayne Johnson. Good this way!

We saw “The Smashing Machine” as part of the Venice Filmfest 2025, where he celebrated its world premiere as part of the official competition.