Having been a fan of the Safdies, Emily Blunt and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson (now going solely by Dwayne Johnson) and an MMA fan, wrestling fan, and combat sports fan I was certainly curious by Benny’s first solo outing without his brother in The Smashing Machine. The only thing I knew going into the movie, aside from who Mark Kerr was, was that Dwayne certainly had the physique needed to be a believable early pioneer of MMA/Pride/UFC but his performance throughout his career thus far always left for something more to be wanted, so was it possible Bennie Safdie could give Dwayne Johnson the performance of his career thus far, or was this going to be all style over substance?
The movie focuses on Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) as he trains, prepares, and fights, for his way to make it to the top of his game and get the recognition he believes he deserves and fights for. He switches between NCAA, Pride, and eventually the UFC fighting for the top prizes whether that be cash or championships. Kerr is not alone in his endeavours though, he is joined by longtime friend, trainer, and fellow fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) whose another prominent name in the beginning days of MMA becoming a world wide sensation.
Along for the journey with Kerr is his long term girlfriend, Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) who is there for all of the ups and downs of Kerr’s life. Without getting into too much detail, if you’re watching this without any idea who Mark Kerr is, there is a lot of substance abuse and methodical actions taken place by Kerr to get in the right head space, so Dawn has to march through and push through all of the chaos to be there for Mark and sometimes things just get too hard. It is the relationship that Kerr has with both Coleman, himself, and Dawn which makes The Smashing Machine a smashing hit.
Safdie has something about him that manages to get terrific performances out of people, even if they’re not necessarily known for them. We saw the Safdie’s have Adam Sandler deliver another incredible performance, but he also managed to pull a performance out of The Weeknd which no one else has seemingly been able to do. However, with The Smashing Machine, Benny manages to elicit an award winning calibre performance out of the former WWE star, Dwayne Johnson who knows this is his vehicle to become more than the former wrestler turned actor star as he even dropped the moniker from his name for this role. His performance certainly gives him a pedigree that no one knew he had prior, and manages to deliver an earnest and powerful performance. However, he is not alone in this endeavor as Emily Blunt is electric as Dawn Staples. Her performance is magnetic and powerful, nearly towering over her co-star in terms of captivation and power in the role especially in their pivotal bathroom scene making these two a duo to be reckoned with that no one may have thought possible and honestly may not have been possible without the talented hand of Benny Safdie.
The Smashing Machine is one of the best movies of the year, because it simply surprises its audience with the way its told and the performances it gets from its cast. While it may not be something that can be dissected over and over again, it’s rather a standard bio-pic but the way its conveyed and the shocking performance out of the leading man Dwayne Johnson is what excels for The Smashing Machine, between Johnson and Blunt a masterclass of acting and ensemble is presented here.
