The One Factor The Smashing Machine Does In a different way From Each Different Sports activities Film

Beware, this text comprises main spoilers for “The Smashing Machine,” in theaters now.

From “Rocky” to “Rush,” so many sports activities films, whether or not they’re about boxing, racing or any variety of athletic competitions, are sometimes in regards to the glory of victory and the arduous journey to get there. However every so often, what initially looks like a typical sports activities film goes towards the grain and digs a bit of deeper past the ultimate triumph. In actual fact, typically the film is best when the athlete we have been watching finally ends up shedding. “The Smashing Machine” is a kind of films.

Benny Safdie’s biographical sports activities drama “The Smashing Machine” follows Dwayne Johnson giving an Oscar-worthy efficiency as Mark Kerr, an newbie wrestler turned combined martial arts (MMA) fighter at a time when the extraordinary sport had but to drum up large moneymaking offers for these taking punches and kicks within the octagon area. The game of MMA combating was seen as barbaric, and through Kerr’s time as a fighter, the Final Preventing Championship (the highest match in america) was banned in 36 states. This meant Kerr usually traveled to Japan to combat in main tournaments; he wasn’t a family title like Conor McGregor or Georges St. Pierres.

For essentially the most half, “The Smashing Machine” follows an identical trajectory to a variety of sports activities films. We watch as Kerr trains laborious for his fights, he has an unstable relationship along with his girlfriend Daybreak (Emily Blunt), his undefeated report is damaged along with his first loss, and most importantly, all through all of this, he is hooked on opioid painkillers due to the agonizing toll combating takes on his physique. 

Safdie does not give Mark Kerr a triumphant rise from his low factors. When Kerr loses a probably life-changing combat that might have received him $200,000, it isn’t a cheerful ending. Nonetheless, what’s fascinating is that the drama main as much as this does not hit the identical peaks and valleys that loads of different sports activities films have traversed up to now. As a substitute, Kerr is usually offered as a standard man, and “The Smashing Machine” finally ends up not being in regards to the glory. 

As a substitute of a career-defining biopic about an iconic athlete, “The Smashing Machine” is about displaying Mark Kerr as a standard man who went by means of some common trials and tribulations and got here out of it on the opposite facet simply the identical. It subverts what you’d anticipate from some other film of its variety.

After Kerr’s first loss, he spirals along with his dependancy and has a brief separation from Daybreak. Kerr overcomes his drug dependancy, and there is not any dramatic relapse. We witness a few intense arguments, together with one the place Daybreak threatens to shoot herself, nevertheless it does not escalate past that.  Nonetheless, there’s additionally no triumphant comeback both. Kerr trains for the upcoming large combat, however as a substitute, his greatest good friend and coach Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) goes on to win the $200,000. It must be famous that we additionally see Coleman dwelling an much more mundane life along with his spouse and daughter. 

This may make the film really feel boring or inconsequential to some viewers, however I believe that is the purpose. Kerr endured a combating profession that was as soon as promising, and he received his justifiable share of tournaments, nevertheless it ended up fizzling because the years went on. Whereas he can undoubtedly be pleased with what he achieved, the end result was Kerr being no totally different than anybody else who overcomes their very own demons and settles into a daily life.

Certainly, the tip of the film does what so many variations of true tales have executed: It exhibits the actual Mark Kerr grocery searching for himself. In the meantime, textual content explains what occurred along with his profession and his relationship with Daybreak. They ended up getting married, had a son, and obtained divorced. Kerr fought till 2009, however he solely received two out of 9 fights throughout the ten years following the foremost loss depicted in “The Smashing Machine.” The aim of this second goes past equating the actual man with the model we simply noticed on display screen performed by Dwayne Johnson.

That is the place the film’s intention turns into clear. Additional textual content factors out that Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman by no means actually acquired the popularity that in the present day’s MMA fighters have gotten; among the greatest followers of the game by no means even knew their names. After this, we watch as Kerr packs his groceries into his truck, often muttering and laughing to himself about one thing he noticed within the car parking zone of the shop. Lastly, he acknowledges the cameras, waves, and says bye. He may very well be anybody’s father simply out on the grocery retailer on a Sunday.

It was solely in June 2025, largely due to “The Smashing Machine,” that Mark Kerr was inducted into the the UFC Corridor of Fame as a part of the promotion’s Pioneer Period Wing. Dwayne Johnson launched him on the induction ceremony and offered him with the distinction. In any other case, Kerr’s fame was virtually non-existent within the twenty first century.

“The Smashing Machine” is the English translation of Mark Kerr’s combating nickname, “Máquina de Bater,” which he acquired from Brazil’s Tatame journal. Whereas it’d sound a bit hokey, the true smashing machine will be the world of MMA combating, a sport that beats many rivals into submission however solely provides a choose few of them the glory that they search.

“The Smashing Machine” is enjoying in theaters now.