If you have no background on ultimate fighting (aka mixed martial arts) The Smashing Machine gives you only a few teases to understand what’s going on. The fighters are a mix of wrestlers, boxers, and martial artists, so can use all of the above skills in order to take down an opponent. At one point it is clarified that you can’t bite your opponent or knee a man in the top of the head repeatedly while his head is down. OK, thank you, this helps. But as portrayed, each fight seems to last about 30 seconds (is this true?) culminating with one man either beaten to a pulp and unconscious, or tapping for mercy for the refs to call the fight.
The Smashing Machine carefully tells us that this is a true story taking place from 1997-2000 (a specificity that is never given any meaningful context). Ultimate fighting was in its infancy when we meet wrestler Mark Kerr, a rock of a man who in the film looks like he is in his 40s (Dwayne Johnson is actually in his 50s, so he should be flattered) participating in his “first fight” in Brazil. (This I found baffling until I discovered that Kerr was actually in his late 20s, which makes much more sense—thanks, internet!). Kerr proceeds to beat his opponent’s head to a bloody pulp.
This launches Kerr’s streak of victories that leads him to fighting in a professional league in Japan where he becomes a fan favorite. When a journalist asks him how he’ll feel if he loses a huge upcoming fight, Kerr is genuinely baffled, like he doesn’t understand the question. It’s never occurred to him that he might lose. Cue foreshadowing.
The problem is that Mark is addicted to opiates. After the inevitable loss that completely throws his life asunder, his supportive circle of his girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) and best friend and fellow fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) prop him up when he hits rock bottom. Props to Dwayne Johnson for stretching himself as an actor here. He does a solid job especially when confronted by Dawn for being high out of his mind, as he sits on the couch with a plate of picked-at food, his blank eyes like small black dots.
At many points in the film, the drama seems to be leading up to… something. Dawn and Mark fight at home. He’s a control freak about how many bananas go in his smoothies (one and a half!) and not wanting the cat on the couch. Dawn goes out with her friends and comes home drunk, irritating him. She tries to support Mark but apparently has to find that feminine balance of not being in the dude’s space when she’s a distraction, but otherwise taking care of everything at home. No wonder she gets snippy when he accuses her of taking four hangover aspirins in front of him, and he’s rightfully irritated because he’s in recovery. Let’s just say, they fight like any not-good-for-each-other couple, except that he can smash his hand through a door really easily.
There are many points in the movie where you think, OK, now comes the pivot in the story where the dramatic climax is going to happen. And it just… doesn’t. I’m sure Mark Kerr was a celebrity ultimate fighter early on in the sport, and he seems like a nice guy who overcame some problems, but at the end I couldn’t help but think, “That’s it? Is the moral of the story that he could have made millions of dollars now, but didn’t because he fought in 1997-2000?” I suppose all of us non-millionaires also question our fate of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The Smashing Machine tells us that this UFC fighter’s story is noteworthy, but the film’s narrative gaps make his story strangely uncompelling (no disrespect to the real Mark Kerr). As a drama The Smashing Machine doesn’t have an interesting enough cinematic arc to be satisfying, and as a sports film I was left still not knowing a heck of a lot about what was going on. That leaves solid lead performances trying to anchor a movie that doesn’t seem to know where it wants to go.
