The Smashing Machine is based upon the life of Mark Kerr, an amateur freestyle wrestling champion and mixed martial arts fighter. Kerr (played here by Dwayne Johnson, who certainly knows his way around a wrestling ring) becomes more addicted to pain drugs as he keeps subjecting his body to some pretty brutal treatment. The difficulty is that very few people try to stop him or help him, and he’s constantly fighting with his girlfriend (the always reliable Emily Blunt) over his drug use. Johnson seems to have bulked up even bigger than he normally is for this role, and he looks very different with hair and facial prosthetics. This movie might be remembered as the one where viewers started to consider that Johnson is a good actor, but honestly, who didn’t already know that he was a good actor? He’s very skilled at showing the difficulty Kerr has in getting sober and staying sober; he becomes very difficult to be around because he’s so very careful about his sobriety. Blunt’s Dawn gets mad because he’s changed so much; they’re really just too different from each other to be successful in this relationship. The fight sequences – and there are many of them – can be quite bloody and tough to watch, and I never quite grasped why so many of the tournaments were in Japan, but that just might be due to my own lack of knowledge about this sport. Perhaps the film’s lack of success was the result of Johnson trying to branch out as an actor, but isn’t that what we want to see of actors?
Oscar
Nomination: Best Achievement
in Makeup and Hairstyling
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