TIFF 2025: The Smashing Machine Review

This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.

Nearly 6 years after providing audiences with a century-defining film, Uncut Gems, in what was an otherwise stacked year in cinema, one of the Safdie brothers make their highly-anticipated return with Benny helming his first solo feature, The Smashing Machine (while Josh Safdie’s effort, Marty Supreme, releases later this year). Proven capable of taking type-cast actors and releasing them outside their comfort zone, the winner of the Silver Lion at this year’s Venice Film Festival and Dwayne Johnson collaborate on this biographical drama on the life and career of take of mixed-martial arts and UFC champion, Mark Kerr. 

Biographical films often find themselves following the same conventions, conventions that hold projects back from reaching the level of compelling storytelling style worthy of their subjects and standing out. Here, Safdie quickly tackles the genre with a noticeably different pace. The Smashing Machine is sharply devoid of the unnecessary melodrama and predictable beats unlike many modern adaptations focused on emotionally complex athletes. The film narrows its focus on the height of Kerr’s (Johnson) career and personal struggles between the years 1997 and 2000, providing a grounded approach to his career-defining fights and life-altering struggles with opioid addiction. Meanwhile, the use of 16mm to frame the film, along with Nala Sinephro’s free-jazz score, forms a peculiar ambiance that encompasses this slice-of-life story. Reducing the importance of providing audiences with a predictable biographical hero story, The Smashing Machine serves more as a study on human behavior, allowing audiences to become a fly on the wall across the roller coaster that was Kerr’s life during that period.

Hoping to escape the bubble of charismatic invincibility, Johnson delivers a distinguishing performance that breaks down the necessary vulnerability and adversity absent nearly throughout his entire career. While portraying a character adjacent to Johnson’s extensive career in wrestling, his subdued portrayal of Kerr issues outside the ring generate enough fascination to understand and appreciate this gentle giant. Aided by Safdie’s subtle script, Johnson utilizes these moments to embody Kerr every step of the way. These moments help audiences understand what kind of person Kerr is, what he hopes to achieve, and how they defined who he is in the most thought-provoking manner.

Often testing Kerr’s moral character is his partner Dawn (Blunt), who amps up the unpredictability and breaks the conventions of storytelling decisions that often put the supporting loved ones into two binary categories; unconditional support or continuous doubting. Safdie’s established skill at incorporating unconventional actors to support his protagonists is substantially utilized in the film, as many professional fighters are cast to round out Kerr’s work-friendly colleagues, including Mark Coleman (Bader), who serves as a level-headed confidant throughout many of Kerr’s ups and downs. The overblown rivalry trope becomes refreshingly absent as these fighters understand as much as he does that the fighting remains in the ring and that there is no need for resentment outside of it.

In the end, Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine delivers a refreshing take on the sports biopic, creating a slice-of-life tale about the height of Mark Kerr’s career and personal struggles. The use of grainy 16mm film, Nala Sinephro’s score, and Dwayne Johnson’s nuanced, subdued performance create a distinct ambiance that helps audiences understand the film’s purpose in telling Kerr’s story without the melodrama or needless backstory.

still courtesy of VVS Films

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Costa Christoulas

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