The Freaking Film Fanatic with Nathan Unck
The Smashing Machine Rated: R for Violence, Language and Drug Use.
In 2001 I was a huge fan of the first two Mummy films with Brendan Fraser and was excited to go see a spinoff of those two films, The Mummy: The Scorpion King. I found out that a popular WWE wrestler was going to become the Scorpion King. When I saw the film, I was so disappointed. Not only did the special effects look terrible, but the acting from this wrestler known to the wrestling world as "The Rock", was just as bad. However, Hollywood wasn't done with this wrestler turned "actor".
After a few films, it seemed that "The Rock" was becoming more popular in some comedies where he was a super strong man, but put into rolls like the Tooth Fairy, or a professional football player that learns he has a little daughter that he needs to take care of. These films weren't very good either, but they didn't use the terrible special effects, so that was a step up. However, thanks to the Fast and Furious films, "The Rock" came into the franchise and made it fun. I'm not the biggest fan of The Fast and Furious films, but "The Rock" made them better. At about this time, he wanted to go by his real name Dwanye Johnson, and not "The Rock".
Most of the roles Dwanye Johnson have either been action hero, or comedic action hero. I have grown to like him over the years. While I haven't ever felt that Dwanye Johnson was an Oscar caliber actor, I have enjoyed films he is in... until now. Before I say anything else about the film, I want to say that in this film, Dwanye Johnson delivers a killer performance of one of the original UFC Fighting pioneers, Mark Keff. Dwane Johnson, with the help of some prosthetics and a wig, Dwanye Johnson is able to transform into this fighter but broken human being.
Along with his performance, fellow co-star actress, the wonderful Emily Blunt, working together again after starring in Disney's Jungle Cruise movie, but the characters could not be any different. Emily Blunt is incredible in The Smashing Machine as well, but that's where the good stops.
The film follows the fighter, Mark Kerr between the years of 1997 through 2000. After winning challenge after challenge, Mark Kerr started fighting regularly in Japan in a competition called Pride. He lives with his girlfriend, Dawn, played by Emily Blunt while he trains, but their relationship is strained due to Mark's training diets and workouts. Mark is also addicted to opioids which numb his pain after a fight but also makes him numb to his relationship with Dawn.
The film follows Mark through his fighting career, his first loss, this drug addiction, rehab and return to the sport. It's not a complicated story, which makes watching the film a chore. The film feels very segmented and there are times when time passes, and you aren't made aware of it. A small example, Dawn and Mark get into a fight, and Dawn leaves Mark, but she reappears and they are back together. There wasn't one hint or clue that they had somehow fixed their relationship. It feels like someone was telling you a story and kept forgetting parts of the story, but then abruptly remembers something that happened and goes back and tells you about it. It doesn't even let you know that he is addicted to drugs until it is pointed out that he is high before a fight. The film is a mess.
Besides Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt's performances, the film is kind of hard to watch and follow, but there are two things that did make some of the scenes interesting. The first is a scene where the song being played for the soundtrack has a woman singing lyrics to the effect of, "take me in your arms and I will make you feel better". It's a romantic love song, but it's playing as Mark is shooting up his drugs, so the "take me in your arms and I will make you feel better" makes sense to the movie.
The other scene is after Mark has gone through rehab, Mark goes with Dawn to a carnival, and there is a demolition derby going on, so they go in to watch it, and it shows a car ramming into the side of another car, backs up, and rams into the car again, over and over, which makes Mark feel uncomfortable as he is reminded of the fight he lost where the other fighter kept hitting him over and over while he was on the ground. It's a shame that the movie is a mess because every once in a while, there are little pieces of a great movie in it. It's sad that the performances are so great, but the movie never really makes you feel an emotional connection in any way to any of the characters.
After all is said and done, I don't think I will ever watch this movie again unless I am teaching or taking a film class where you would need to study an actor playing and becoming a character where you are able to not see the actor, but the character. If you are a big fan of Dwanye Johnson and Emily Blunt, this film might be something you would want to see at some point, but I wouldn't suggest paying full price for a ticket. I would hold off until it is streaming somewhere. It's just frustrating that you know there is a better movie hidden under the confusion and bad storytelling.
The Smashing Machine is rated: R for Violence, Language and drug use.
