Quick Review: The Smashing Machine (2025)

The first solo Safdie brother film is a pretty good one

Introduction

I’ve been waiting for a new Safdie brothers movie since watching Uncut Gems in 2020. I watched Good Time as well during that time and was excited to see what these brothers would come up with next. The brothers ended up splitting up, but it meant we would get two different movies from them this year and the first comes from Benny. You then have Dwayne Johnson as well who has been critiqued for playing the same character every movie so this seemed like a breath of fresh air to see him in a role where he does need to give it a lot more effort. This was a movie that I was intrigued to see with the components in place and I had some decent expectations going into it. After watching it, I felt The Smashing Machine has its problems , but I did find myself appreciating a lot of elements that made it come together and I overall did like the movie.

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Review

The clear positive that this movie had been getting praise for is the performances and that is easily where the film works best. The performances here are very good. Dwayne Johnson is great in this role and it’s nice to see him in a different role and not playing the same character he has been playing in his past movies. He has a lot of moments to shine here and I hope he takes more unique roles in the future. I will say though that Emily Blunt does give the clear best performance here. Some stuff I wish was told differently about her character, but she works her ass off playing this character and she is a clear highlight in this movie. Also a shoutout to Ryan Bader and Bas Rutten having some notable scenes as well. I thought overall though this film does have a lot of great performances across the board.

A lot has been said about the film being boring, but I didn't really feel that way watching the movie. There is definitely slower scenes in the film, but I didn’t feel completely bored through it and for the most part, I did care about the story being told here. It is told in a much more unique perspective than other biopics so I did appreciate how it was able to tell its story.

Something that I really appreciated about the film is the stylistic look that the film has going for it. Being in the time frame of 1997 to 2000, it does a great job feeling like it was made during this time and there’s nothing that really takes you out of the film with that. The 16 mm film look of it all looks really nice and I think compliments the film well. I also like the documentary style look the film takes on. It doesn’t do anything too crazy with it, but I felt it was able to tell the story in a unique way instead of doing in a typical biopic way. The overall technical aspect that the film has going on like the cinematography, score, and editing I think are all good here. The style of the film is all here and I think makes it more memorable that way.

I think my main problem with the film ends up being is I wish the film did dive a bit more into Mark Kerrs life. The film mostly adapts the documentary of the same name from 2002. Mark Kerr certainly seems like an interesting figure and it does make me want to check out the documentary, but I wouldn’t have mind if it went into more interesting aspects that happened in his life. I feel like as well the film should have focused more on the conflicts that are established through the film like Kerrs addiction to painkillers as it feels like it’s a main focus at first and then doesn’t really dive into any of it too much. The movie didn’t have to go through his whole life, but it felt like it could’ve done a bit more in showcasing some more aspects of what truly made him special as a fighter.

Some other problems I ended up having was I think this film has some very bizarre song choices thrown in there. There’s a scene in the film that is very dramatic, but then it has a song thrown in there that I felt was out of place and felt more like a distraction to the scene. One other thing is I felt like the film ended in a weird spot. It goes to the end and shows some text of what happened after everything and while I understand why it would end where it did, I felt like I would have preferred seeing some things they described happen rather than being told about it. With that said, I do think that there was still a lot to appreciate about the film. While I feel like I did want more out of it, there was still much to appreciate about the film at the end of the day and I did enjoy watching it.

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Final Thoughts

The Smashing Machine has a lot to appreciate about it, but I wish there was more to care about it when it came to its story. I still felt like I walked out liking a lot more about it than things I disliked about it and I do look forward to what Benny Safdie will have in store in the future.

Rating: 7/10