In a lot of ways, Mark Kerr is a man ahead of his time. He was one of the best mixed martial arts fighters at a time when the sport was very much in the shadow of boxing. There was a lot of potential in the sport, for instance it better answered the question of which man was the better fighter because it allowed so many fighting styles and relaxed so many rules. In boxing, all you can do is box. With mixed martial arts, you can be fighting karate, or boxing, or ju-jujitsu or something else. Mark Kerr, from Toledo, Ohio had a background as a free-style wrestler. And upon that basis he added a bunch of other things you can’t do in wrestling, like head-butting, and eye-gouging, and kneeing someone in the face. MMA would soon ban some of the more extreme moves, but while they are allowed, in the early days when it was a bloody free-for-all, apparently Mark Kerr was very good at it.
Mark Kerr also developed an addiction to pain-killers about twenty years before the opioid epidemic. So he was ahead of that trend too. When the documentary came out, it included scenes of Mark shooting up and also scenes of him in the hospital after an overdose knocked him unconscious. These scenes were apparently shown to Mark before the documentary was finalized and Mark was given the choice as to whether they would be included (I know this from Mark's recent interview with Joe Rogan). He okayed the inclusion of all the embarrassing stuff thinking that if people saw it they may not make the same mistakes that he did. He was a brave guy.
The movie was written and directed by Benny Safdie and stars Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson as Mark Kerr. This is Benny Safdie first feature film directing alone. He previously directed movies with his brother Josh Safdie. I've seen two very good movies from them, Good Time (2017) and Uncut Gems (2019). Interestingly, Josh Safdie has his first feature film without Benny coming out at the same time, Marty Supreme starring Timothee Chalamet. I have not seen that one, but I will soon and I expect to write a review about it.
The Smashing Machine feels like it was made by people who admire Mark Kerr and want you to know more about him. Certainly, someone like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, one of the highest paid action stars in the world, does not need to take part in a small movie like this. He is doing it because he believes in the story. I’ve said this before about Dwayne Johnson: that he probably is a good actor, but it is hard to tell since his physical nature makes him hard to write a good role for. He is too physically imposing to be your stereotypical leading man but too nice looking to be a villain. Mark Kerr is one of those rare roles that are tailor made. Mark Kerr was a smashing machine but also, apparently, a soft-spoken nice guy outside the ring. There is a very good scene here where Dwayne Johnson strikes up a nice conversation with an elderly woman in a doctor’s office. I think there is credit to be given to certain actors that can pull off roles that very few other actors can even attempt (I’ve argued for more recognition for Jim Carrey in the past with this logic). Who other than Dwayne Johnson could have played this part? And not only that, keep in mind that Dwayne Johnson and Mark Kerr are about the same age so when Dwayne plays Mark, there is a quarter-century age difference. What over fifty-something actor can plausibly take on a twenty-something role, and without a shirt and in tight pants. I’m not saying give him an award but let’s not dismiss this very exceptional thing we are witnessing here.
If Dwayne is playing well within type, albeit in a dramatic and not action-oriented role, his romantic counterpart, Emily Blunt, is playing decidedly against type. Here is an actress that has played Queen Victoria and Mary Poppins, who is now playing Dawn Staples, the girlfriend of Mark Kerr, a well meaning but immature American. We have to give her a break because she is also twenty-something and doesn’t quite understand what Mark Kerr is going through, mostly because Mark is not the type of person who can really articulate what he is going through and why all of this is so important to him. They have the type of conversations that unnecessarily turn into fights because they aren’t successfully communicating with one another. It is a testament to the writing, yes, but especially the acting, because although the characters aren’t connecting, the audience at the same time understands that they are not and why they are not.
Shakespeare is great not simply because he used fancy words better than anybody else, but because he so successfully communicated what his characters were feeling. For the same reason, these scenes between Dwayne and Emily are great because the audience understands so much of what is going on. That the characters themselves can’t quite see it lends the scenes a certain tragic quality to it.
For those like me who did not know anything about Mark Kerr before watching this movie, the ending was a surprise. I didn’t know whether or not he won the big fight or how the result may have happened. The best sports movies do not rely on the outcome of the big contest. After all, movies simply cannot compete with real live sporting events in this regard. (Why watch something contrived to turn out a certain way, when you can watch real sports and actually feel the suspense.) So great sports movies use contests to get at something deeper. And The Smashing Machine is no exception. This entire movie is a relentless pursuit of competing at the highest levels and all the trials and tribulations that come with it. And the ending here, well, it is a sigh of relief, a relaxation. All your love and all your hate and all your memories and all your pain. You tried your best. It's time to let go.
The movie ends with a scene of the real Mark Kerr shopping for groceries in the supermarket on a bright sunny day in Arizona. He looks healthy. He looks happy.
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