September 23, 2025
by Carla Hay
Directed by Benny Safdie
Culture Representation: Taking place in the United States and in Japan, from 1997 to 2000, the dramatic film “The Smashing Machine” (based on a true story) features a predominantly white and Asian cast of characters (with a few multi-racial and black people) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.
Culture Clash: Mixed-martial arts and UFC fighter Mark Kerr battles drug addiction, relationship issues and self-esteem problems in his obsessions with being a champion fighter.
Culture Audience: “The Smashing Machine” will appeal mainly to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, movies about MMA fighting, and well-made movies about people struggling with addiction issues.
“The Smashing Machine” subverts many of the usual cinematic formulas of athletes struggling with inner demons. In this biographical drama of former mixed-martial arts (MMA) champ Mark Kerr, Dwayne Johnson gives a performance that can be quietly devastating. “The Smashing Machine” does not preach but merely presents a portrait of how one man dealt with his athlete fame when he was at the top of his profession.
Written and directed by Benny Ssafdie, “The Smashing Machine” had its world premiere at teh 2025 Venice International Film Festival, where the movie won the Silver Lion prize for Best Director. The movie takes place from 1997 to 2000 in the United States and Japan. “The Smashing Machine” was filmed in New Mexico. The movie gets its title from Kerr’s professional nickname of the Smashing Machine. There’s also a 2002 documentary about Kerr that is also titled “The Smashing Machine.”
Kerr (who was born in Toledo, Ohio, on December 21, 1968) was a wrestler before he began competing in mixed-martial arts. He makes a cameo at the end of The Smashing Machine” biopic. Unlike other celebrity sports movies that chronicle use the “rise, fall, and rise again” template, “The Smashing Machine” begins when Mark (played by Johnson) is at the top of his MMA profession.
At the beginning of the story, Mark has never lost a match, but he’s also secretly addicted to injecting opioids. He illegally obtains prescription painkillers in a variety of ways. Curiously, the movie barely gives any mention of steroid addiction, which is rampant in professional sports such as wrestling and mixed-martial arts. In real life, Mark Kerr admitted to abusing steroids (a habit he says began when he was 18), and he says his past steroid abuse caused him significant health problems later in life.
The first half of “The Smashing Machine” shows how Mark juggles his double life until the charade comes crashing down on him. He has a seemingly idyllic relationship with his live-in girlfriend Dawn Staples (played by Emily Blunt), who is appears to be loving and supportive. However, Dawn has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” attitude for most of Mark’s addiction, as well as some mental health issues of her own. It’s eventually revealed that Dawn and Mark have an unhealthy co-dependency. Mark Kerr has a loyal and much more balanced relationship with his longtime friend/training partner Mark Coleman (played by Ryan Bader), who is Mark Kerr’s occasional competitor in the ring.
The movie has a level of authenticity that many other MMA narrative feature films not. Johnson (who is one of the producers of “The Smashing Machine”) is famously a former WWF/WWE championship wrestler who had the nickname The Rock. “The Smashing Machine” features real-life professional athletes making their feature-film acting debuts as MMA fighters, including former Bellator MMA champion Bader; 2012 Olympic boxing gold medalist Oleksandr Usyk (who has the role of Igor Vovchanchyn, one of Mark Kerr’s toughest competitors); 2008 Olympic Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii (as Enson lnoue); former UFC fighter James Moontasril (as Akira Shoji); former One championship fighter Paul Cheng (as Masaaki Satake); former IWA World Heavyweight champion Andre Tricoteux (as Paul Varelans); and Marcus Aurélio (as Mestre Hulk).
“The Smashing Machine” has immersive and thrilling depictions of matches that Mark Kerr had when he was competing in the Tokyo-based promotion Pride Fighting Championships. (Pride Fighting Championships, which existed from 1997 to 2007, was discontinued after it it was purchased by Zuffa, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, also known as UFC.) The movie has some portrayals of how Mark adjusted to Japanese culture, as someone who spoke minimal Japanese. However, most of “The Smashing Machine” doesn’t show fight matches but shows a more difficult internal battle that Mark Kerr has with himself.
Unlike other MMA fighters who have a loud and flamboyant personality, Mark Kerr is quiet and introverted. His rage tantrums, when they happen in the movie, are sporadic and usually happen when he’s arguing with Dawn, who is more complicated than she first appears to be. (Blunt gives a credible performance in this role.) Although some viewers might think that this movie needed more MMA action and more information about Mark Kerr’s personal background before he became a professional fighter, “The Smashing Machine” is a subtle but thought-provoking film that has effective performances and offers an artistically made look at the dark side of athlete stardom and the sacrifices involved.
A24 will release “The Smashing Machine” in U.S. cinemas on October 3, 2025. A sneak preview of the movie was show in U.S. cinemas on September 22, 2025.