Nominated for Best Hair and Makeup
Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) was a championship wrestler who became a forerunner in Mixed Martial Arts/Ultimate Fighting spaces in the late 90s and early 00s. His first professional loss coincided with the mounting toll fighting put on his body and his toxic relationship with his girlfriend (Emily Blunt) to kick off a drug addiction and subsequent overdose, which is helpfully faced and overcome in the first 30 minutes of the movie.
So I'm going to address some aspects as tactfully as I can without disrespecting Mark Kerr, a real person, or UFC fighters, who work and train really hard, or even UFC fans.
This movie didn't need to be made.
It especially didn't need to be a boilerplate biopic complete with training montages. For a guy who lost ONCE. Again, no shade. The first time you fail at something is really hard, and the longer it takes for you to fail, the harder it is. That's why it's better to learn that lesson as early as possible so you develop the coping skills you need to deal with future failures. But it does not feel like particularly high stakes in the film, so the resulting come-apart feels like an overreaction.
This was directed by one half of the Safdie Brothers (Benny). Later, we'll watch Marty Supreme which is directed by the other one (Josh) and see which brother has been carrying the other.
The movie really wants Dawn the girlfriend to be the villain, if there is one, without ever once acknowledging Mark's own toxic behavior. There's some commentary to be made there but I frankly don't have the energy to spend any more time on it while the gushing fanboy glaze is catching so much light. I'm not going to discount the effort fighters put in, the time and energy --mental and physical-- analyzing their own and opponents' tactics and strategies. That's real and valid. But you are getting beat up by a stranger for money. You're not curing cancer. There is zero reason for you to have a full "Know His Name" end title card like you're Rosa Parks. It comes off as silly and indulgent.
Still, if you are interested in one of the foundational members of UFC, The Smashing Machine is streaming on HBO Max.
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