The latest trailer for The Smashing Machine continues to show typically unseen range from star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who plays troubled two-time UFC heavyweight champ Mark Kerr in the A24 biopic directed by Benny Safdie, one of the two Safdie brothers behind gritty indie hits Uncut Gems and Good Time.
The film focuses on Kerr’s rise as a dominant force in the early days of the UFC and his struggles outside the octagon. It explores his battle with a painkiller addiction and the toll the lifestyle takes on his career and his personal life, including his volatile relationship with his then-girlfriend, Dawn (Emily Blunt). As an ambient mix of Phill Collins’ uplifting ballad “Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” plays, the rift between the two is distilled in a couple of lines of dialogue. “A day without pain is like a day without sunshine,” Johnson’s Kerr says, to which Blunt’s Dawn responds, “This is getting bad, this is getting insane.”
Reviews have already started to arrive following early screenings from critic, culminating in a solid 83 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. BBC declared that “Johnson is probably the only actor alive who could play Kerr convincingly: his colossal, sculpted bulk fills the screen, and…his towering appearance raises the question of why Marvel used CGI for the Hulk in the Avengers films.
New York magazine similarly praised Johnson: “One couldn’t blame Safdie for trying to avoid conventionality, but sometimes the conventions are there for a good reason. In the end, though, he understands that his greatest weapon here is his star. A weapon, and a gift.” And Deadline wrote, “It’s that rare beast, a biopic that’s light on the bio and resistant to being a pic. It’s a film about a human being, and its effect is strangely haunting, since Dwayne Johnson seems to do everything while doing nothing.”
But not every critic has lavished such praise upon the film. The Contending‘s reviews summary reads, “The Smashing Machine is a definite showcase for Johnson. The character he portrays, Mark Kerr, was a groundbreaking Mixed Martial Arts fighter, but in execution the result feels more like a decent 1980s TV-movie—or an unnecessary reworking of The Wrestler.” Meanwhile, The Times UK opined that the film is an “awards season equivalent of a ‘fugazi’ diamond. It looks like an Oscar contender, it sparkles like an Oscar contender, but on closer inspection it’s entirely plastic and mostly worthless.”
Decide for yourself when The Smashing Machine hits theaters on October 3. Check out the latest trailer above.
