"The laws of moviedom decree, of course, that Mark will soon lose, and his well-earned sense of invincibility will shatter. The Smashing Machine bounces between Mark's home and Japan, where the Pride Fighting Championship takes place. That's where Mark, a much-celebrated champion, is taken down by an illegal but nevertheless humbling move. After the fact, the match is ruled a tie, but the stink of defeat never dissipates."
"In his films with his brother, Safdie has long brought real-life figures into their movie worlds, blurring fictional boundaries. Bader gives The Smashing Machine a dose of documentary in his presence, but I'd argue that Johnson's proximity to this world gives the movie its most compelling real-life echoes. I happen to think Johnson is also very good in full movie-star mode, especially when he has the chance to wryly undercut his big-screen presence in comedies like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle or The Tooth Fairy."
The Smashing Machine stars Dwayne Johnson as MMA pioneer Mark Kerr and employs grainy, VHS-style aesthetics. The film alternates between Mark's home life and international bouts in the Pride Fighting Championship in Japan, where an illegal humbling move results in a tied match and lingering shame. Benny Safdie brings a documentary texture by including real-life figures, and Bader's presence heightens the quasi-documentary feel. Johnson delivers a subdued, finely detailed performance that minimizes his usual charisma. The film's narrative remains surprisingly conventional and lacks deep probing, which diminishes the overall potency of the central performance.
Read at Kqed
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]