Nope. Try Again.
A review of The Smashing Machine.
The top eight Oscar Best Actor frontrunners (in some order) are Leonardo DiCaprio, Timothée Chalamet, Jeremy Allen White, Michael B. Jordan, Wagner Moura, Jesse Plemons, George Clooney and Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson.
The final name there might seem like a bit of a surprise, considering that over the past decade or so, he’s made mostly streaming slop, lowest-common-denominator action comedies and Moana, and yet, he’s firmly in the race for his “serious” turn as mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine.
After a few duds from Moana 2 to Red One to Fast X to Red Notice to whatever the hell Black Adam is, this feels like a way-too-calculated about-face. A nakedly bland ploy to be rewarded for playing a real person in a real movie. He co-stars with MMA fighters, yells back-and-forth with Emily Blunt (who’s playing a caricature of the wife in this type of movie) and has a drug addiction.
Yes, it’s based on a true story, but this has all been covered in the documentary, The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr, and the Benny Safdie movie almost lifts scenes directly from the 2002 film.
It’s not that Dwayne Johnson is bad here—he’s fine, I guess—it’s just that there’s nothing there from his hollow-eyed gentle giant to the odd pacing that never really goes anywhere. This is especially bizarre with a Safdie behind the camera, as few directors love an energetic, usually exhausting story quite like a Safdie.
Johnson and Blunt both go for broke, but at the movie’s conclusion, you just feel kinda confused about what made this story interesting/compelling for the duo. There’s nothing here you haven’t seen before. Plus, it’s a bit of a slog to get through. The fighting sequences are well done, sure. But at that point, you’re better off just watching YouTube highlights of Mark Kerr that pack a similar (more realistic) punch.
I guess I’m confused by the buzz around this one. And it seems like audiences are kind of going through the same questions. The Smashing Machine had a 70% decline in its second week with minimal word of mouth and middling critics’ scores, which I can’t say I’m upset about. And now GoldDerby has The Rock on the outside looking in when it comes to Best Actor, and I think that’s for the best. This is pure Oscarbait biopic shlock that we need to put a stop to … or at least slow down.
There’s only a finite number of times you can see a famous person play another famous person, while getting into fights with their spouse and trying to “get back to greatness.” Just watch a good movie with more resonant themes like Inside Llewyn Davis and call it a day.
I think what truly bothered me about The Smashing Machine—hence, why I’m writing this—is how paint-by-numbers the entire thing is up until the ending, which takes a more interesting turn than these movies usually go for. And still, at that point, I was ready to leave the AMC and go for a walk.
If you've made me want to leave a movie theater, you’ve definitely done something wrong.
And yes, I know the potential Jeremy Allen White nomination is for a biopic about Bruce Springsteen. We’ll get to that soon enough, I’m sure.