The Smashing Machine

 The Smashing Machine is a very good film that has genuinely great things in it. This film a biopic on unsung UFC OG fighter Mark Kerr and his struggles in the ring, in his relationship and with opioid addiction is a film that puts in a lot of solid blows but just misses a knockout. Benny Safdie in his first solo outing as director after professionally separating from brother Josh Safdie has made a sports film with an unconventional approach being more like a series of rises and falls than a more formulaic structure and that is a massive plus. Another is the excellent performances from Dwayne Johnson as Kerr and Emily Blunt as his long suffering partner Dawn there performances are so great they make you forget the major flaws here at least for awhile, unfortunately it’s how Safdie develops these characters on the page that somewhat hinders the experience especially Dawn a partner who flits between victim, enabler and aggressor almost in the same scene but seems to have no inner life or motivation for putting up with Kerr’s he-man act. It is credit to Blunt’s incredible talent that we forget that she is playing essentially a rough outline of a girlfriend character rather than a three dimensional person, at one point during a heated exchange Dawn yells “you don’t know a thing about me” and she might as well be talking to us in the audience as well. That said the performances and Safdie’s vision make this easy to recommend but a minor rewrite or tweak and this could have been great. 

I Give It 4 1/2 Stars!!!