The Smashing Machine: Dwayne Johnson is ‘magnetic’ in gritty biopic

When big stars take on roles requiring facial prosthetics, “it’s often a sign they want to be taken more seriously”, said Dulcie Pearce in The Sun. Think Bradley Cooper in “Maestro” and Steve Carell in “Foxcatcher”. Now, for indie director Benny Safdie’s biopic, Dwayne Johnson has spent hours in “the make-up artist’s chair” to make himself look like the real-life mixed martial arts fighter Mark Kerr.

Of course, Johnson (aka The Rock) was himself a wrestling champ before he became one of Hollywood’s most bankable action stars, and he still has the bulked-up physique to prove it, but this role requires him to flex his acting muscles rather more than he has in his career to date.

Kerr is a fearsome figure “whose biggest struggles” are mostly on the inside, said Alissa Wilkinson in The New York Times. When the film starts, he is “at the top of his game”, so addicted to the high of winning that he has never lost a fight. But things begin to unravel when he starts taking part in tournaments in Japan. His substance abuse spirals; his relationship with his girlfriend (Emily Blunt) becomes increasingly volatile; and his rapport with his training partner (Ryan Bader) bows under the pressure.

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The plot is repetitive (he goes to fights and comes home, which is probably true to life, but you do miss the peaks and troughs that usually appear in sports movies), and Blunt is stuck with an annoying role, “somewhere between a mob wife and a leftover homecoming queen”.

But Johnson is “magnetic” as a frightened man whose need to win comes from somewhere deep within. It’s “an extraordinary performance”, said Owen Gleiberman in Variety. Communicating Kerr’s troubles with impressive subtlety, he delivers a faultless portrait of a “man-machine” learning to become human.