The Smashing Machine
Pairing Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson with Emily Blunt in 2021's “Jungle Cruise” was a stroke of casting genius.
Their comic bickering as they rode the rapids rekindled the chemistry of Humphrey Bogart and Katharine Hepburn on their own leaky boat called “The African Queen.” Dwayne and Emily elevated the comedy up a notch or two from just being one more Disneyland ride spinoff.
Together again, the pair navigate far more treacherous waters in “The Smashing Machine,” a biopic about '90s mixed martial arts and UFC champ Mark Kerr. The stars both got well-earned Golden Globe nominations for their efforts, but there aren't many laughs this time around.
Kerr's sport was a hybrid of wrestling, boxing, kicking and basically pulverizing one's opponent. The rule books of the various extreme-fighting sanctioning bodies, some in Japan, were always works in progress. Biting was ruled out relatively early, but not pummeling the face of someone on his back on the mat, or kicks to the head, resulting in the chronic neuropathy still affecting Kerr to this day.
As in last year's excellent “Iron Claw,” the vicious opponents in the ring weren't the biggest demons Mark Kerr faced.
“A day without pain is a day without sunshine,” he quips at one point. But his pain leads to painkillers which lead to addiction in the script by director Bennie Safdie. Equally challenging is Mark's relationship with his honey, Dawn Staples (Blunt).
In her perfect makeup and skintight wardrobe, Dawn is his biggest fan. They share a home in the Phoenix suburbs, and she's a regular at the gym. She's a real ring babe, but Mark balks at an actual ring, or kids.
Initially in the movie, she's utterly devoted to him and his career, a role made more difficult by his attitude when she doesn't get his smoothies exactly right. But over the course of the film, especially after he gets sober and she doesn't, their knock-down drag-outs result in lots of broken home furnishings.
Mark Kerr was the subject of an acclaimed 2002 documentary also called “The Smashing Machine,” when the sport was new and he was in his prime. His personality and charm were as compelling as his talents in the ring, so the role was a natural fit for Johnson. Under a full head of black hair, with prosthetics reshaping his face, he melds into the role with the assurance of a veteran, uh, actor.
In an interview, he credited Emily Blunt with giving him the confidence to move out of his ultra macho comfort zone to reveal vulnerability and other chinks in the armor. He pulls off the new act surprisingly well, and his chemistry with his co-star registers as strongly as it did their first, more light-hearted time around.
Blunt's performance is … perfect. Seems like she doesn't know how to play a role any other way.
The performances aren't the problem with “The Smashing Machine.” Real life is. Real life, as a rule, doesn't fold itself neatly into the three-act structure of, say, a fight classic like “Rocky.” The plot is limited by the fact that Mark Kerr is a real, still-alive person (who actually shows up in the final scene). His greatest triumph wasn't in the ring, but in conquering addiction. His relationship with Dawn Staples was a whole lot messier than your standard Valentine card.
While there's plenty of action, and plenty of blood, it doesn't gel into a triumphant freeze frame at the end. Indeed, the last developments in the plot have to be summed up in text before the end credits roll
You will be happy to know, though, that the real Mark Kerr was able to escape the vicious world that could have killed him, and land a job selling Toyotas in Phoenix.
Comments
Post a Comment