The story of mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) between 1997-2000 as he competes in the Pride fighting championships in Japan. 

Opening in 1997 we see Kerr demolish an opponent as we hear a voiceover of him being interviewed by a journalist. He is explaining how winning in the ring is a high like no other. Something so indescribable that later in the film during another interview, when asked what it would feel like if he lost he finds it impossible to comprehend. Kerr outside of the ring is an incredibly soft spoken and polite individual. Someone seemingly constantly aware of the image he needs to portray. And when we see him with his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) he approaches their many arguments in the same manner. The resulting focus of the film is the dichotomy between Kerr inside and outside of the ring. 

Ostensibly The Smashing Machine is a sports movie that follows the classic arc you would expect. Kerr has early success before hitting both personal and professional lows that will force him to dig deep and find a way through. There is even a montage sequence of him training in preparation for a particularly important fight. But in tone and presentation it is far more of a drama about a man struggling with his own inner demons and understanding himself. This is aided visually by being wrapped up in documentary style footage. Grainy images, handheld cameras and lots of close ups. 

Kerr’s relationship with Dawn is destructive. They push each other’s buttons repeatedly and every time we see her she in the main is creating a distraction to his desire to become the best fighter there is. 

Kerr’s relationship with pain medication is destructive and we see him slide inexorably into worse and worse usage. 

In fact Kerr’s only seemingly healthy relationships are with fellow fighters, sometime trainers and friends Mark Coleman (played by MMA fighter Ryan Bader) and Bas Rutten (played by himself). 

All of which sounds like it should make for fascinating and powerful viewing. For me though the result was rather flat and uninspiring. 

Johnson is very good. Impossibly muscular, brutal in the ring, meek and soft spoken out of it and very clearly a man struggling with his emotions. But those around him struggle to make any impact. Emily Blunt, usually superb seems lumbered with the difficult nagging girlfriend role and is generally sidelined. Whilst the other key roles in the film go to fighters who provide realism in the ring but provide less of an impact outside of it. 

Those fight sequences, whilst incredibly realistic offer little excitement or drama and as the focus is on character study I felt like I learned next to nothing about the growth of UFC other than they used to allow biting and eye gouging! 

The Smashing Machine is receiving a huge amount of hype for its central performance from Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, which is genuinely good and a clear step up for him in terms of the type of film and performance that he is known for. Ultimately though the film that it is wrapped inside of is one that falls between two stools. A sports movie crossed with a documentary like drama that feels somewhat flat in comparison to a swathe of other contenders. Its closest comparisons and much better competitors would be Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler and Martin Scorsese’s Raging Bull which feature stunning performances from Mickey Rourke and Robert De Niro respectively. Something that neither Dwayne Johnson or The Smashing Machine can compete with. 

For those of you familiar with Mark Kerr or the sport of Ultimate Fighting there may be something incredibly interesting here. For film aficionados waiting to see what writer/director Benny Safdie might do in his debut solo project I suspect you will be left wanting.