The Smashing Machine

Tropic Sprockets by Ian Brockway

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From the existential auteur Benny Safdie (“Uncut Gems”), here is a re-creation of the journey of MMA champion fighter Mark Kerr. The film is honest and dependably realistic with fine acting. Narratively it is a bit flat being objective and dispassionate in tone. Still, it is a breakout role for Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson displaying his solid acting skill.

Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) is a mixed martial arts fighter at the top of his game. He has a perfect record. Kerr has one Achilles heel: he is addicted to high level injectable opioids. for the most part he’s able to hide it. But gradually, his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) discovers that Mark is a serious abuser, dependent on the drug to function.

Dwayne Johnson is superb in this role, his most compelling and nuanced performance yet. He resembles a Lou Ferrigno gargantuan boulder with cauliflower ears. His eyes and nose are transformed and spaced at a seemingly wider distance. He is a concussion factory, yet outside the ring, he is reserved and reticent.

Dawn is energetic yet fragile, in love with Mark but wanting her own life. Blunt delivers her character with charm, energy, and care.

MMA fighter Ryan Bader co-stars as Kerr’s best friend Mark Coleman.

This film covers the mat in terms of pathos and percussion with fists of fury and hits all of the expected points of performance, ambition, drug dependence, and recovery, but oddly doesn’t reveal anything much beyond the surface of redemption. That being said, Johnson portrays the man with modesty and heart and there are enough quiet moments to show some delicacy under the damage, especially if you haven’t seen many other “athletes under stress” films.

Safdie’s camera is painstaking and clinical. Drama comes to the fore momentarily when Kerr enters the ring and the room suddenly darkens with ominous foreboding as if melancholic vultures glide over Kerr’s head, an omen of danger and dismay.

The most entrancing part of the film is the final ten minutes: the actual Mark Kerr himself is shopping at a grocery store, his face content and calm strolling through the aisles. He is a gentle giant with motions softly at ease. Then Kerr pulls away with his groceries, smiling sheepishly as he acknowledges the camera. In just a brief few minutes, this is a miniature portrait of a graceful and humble man who has been percussed thru the fires of purgatory only to drag-spin into delight.

Write Ian at ianfree11@yahoo.com