The Smashing Machine (Benny Safdie, 2025, USA/Japan/Canada)

The Smashing Machine is the latest from Benny Safdie, his first feature film without the involvement of his brother Josh. Based largely on the documentary of the same name, the doc tells the story of Mark Kerr, an early pioneer in the realm of MMA. The film traces Kerr’s story throughout the late 1990s, when he was at the peak of his career. Many of the events of the film take place in Japan, where Kerr was something of a celebrity at the time. The film marks one of the awards season's bids for A24, along with Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme.

At the heart of the film is a performance by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Kerr, his first performance in an independent film in recent memory. Makeup and prosthetics transform Johnson into Kerr, though it is still undeniably “The Rock” beneath the makeup. Johnson brings the necessary physicality to the role. Emily Blunt plays his girlfriend, with whom he has a quite tumultuous relationship. Rounding out the cast is martial artist Ryan Bader as Kerr’s friend and frequent opponent Mark Coleman.

Like most Safdie Brothers films, The Smashing Machine is a very busy film. There is a frenetic quality between the film’s sound design to its quasi-documentary style. Amidst all this style, there is a hollowness. The issue at hand is how the film is able to distinguish itself from its predecessors - there is nothing here that hasn’t been told a million times before and in more moving ways. Yes, there is something enjoyable about the period detail in Japan and the song choices, and all the various pop cultural minutiae, but it doesn’t lead to anything particularly satisfying at the end of the day. We know the film undeniably wants to be an “Oscar picture,” but unfortunately, it is missing the spark.

5/10