Worth seeing:

for Dwayne Johnson's knockout performance and the frenetic energy of the fight scenes

Director:	Benny Safdie
Featuring:	Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Ilan Rosenberg, Mark Kerr, Oleksandr Usyk
Length:	123 minutes
Certificate:	15
Country:	US
Released:	3rd October 2025

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

Mixed Martial Arts pioneer Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) has quit fighting at the height of his career to train an up-and-coming convert from wrestling, Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson).

After some success as a coach, he decides to return to the ring and challenge for the world title again – but can he make it to the final – and will that bring him face-to-face with his former charge?

The Smashing Machine follows three years in the career of – no – not Mark Coleman, but Mark Kerr – whose career is jeopardised by a drug problem, relationship difficulties and an incomparable level of complacency.

WHAT’S IT LIKE?

After his recent crime capers, Good Time and Uncut Gems, Benny Safdie – working for the first time without his brother – delivers an equally frenetic and energetic tale, although it’s more of a drama – an unusual genre for the biggest block-buster star in Hollywood, Dwayne Johnson.

With his characteristic enormous physique and uncharacteristic hair, Johnson looks unrecognisable, which makes him all the more believable in the role of a troubled fighter – troubled largely by opioids and an insecure girlfriend, played by Emily Blunt. Watching them argue is like watching a twiglet threaten a mallet – yet the mallet never does worse than tear up a paper-thin door.

The supporting characters are peppered with performances by real-life fighters – including heavyweight boxing champion Oleksandr Usyk as one of the rival fighters and MMA star Bas Rutten, playing himself.

The fight scenes are visceral and will often have you cowering behind your hands or protecting your own head as Kerr is illegally kneed in his.

However, much of the drama seems obvious and disappointingly familiar – so a sportsman develops an opioid habit as he becomes addicted to his pain killers – and his needy girlfriend takes up all of his emotional energy, when he needs to be concentrating on his training. Neither of these are particularly surprising or unusual for sportsmen.

But what’s perhaps more peculiar is that this is billed as a film about a guy who was once the best MMA fighter in the world – perhaps he was, but that’s not what we see here – we seem to be following him at a time where he’s a middling fighter, with an overinflated opinion of his own abilities.

Without wanting to spoil what already lacks drama, the more successful fighter, during this period, was his former trainer Coleman, whose own story might have made a more gripping film.

The Smashing Machine is a well intentioned look at the inner turmoil of a  fighter – but it’s no knock-out.