The Smashing Machine

Name: The Smashing Machine
Director: Benny Safdie
Genre: 36, 18
Released: 2025
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Ryan Bader, Bas Rutten, Lyndsey Gavin

20256.5movie

People

Benny Safdie• Director Dwayne Johnson Emily Blunt Ryan Bader Bas Rutten Lyndsey Gavin Zoe Kosovic Oleksandr Usyk Satoshi Ishii James Moontasri Yoko Hamamura

Where to Watch

HBO Max

Set up your streaming services

In the late 1990s, up-and-coming mixed martial artist Mark Kerr aspires to become the greatest fighter in the world. However, he must also battle his opioid dependence and a volatile relationship with his girlfriend Dawn.

Who would love this

♥Fans of Benny Safdie's directorial style and his previous works.
♥Viewers interested in realistic, character-driven sports dramas that eschew clichés.
♥Those who appreciate Dwayne Johnson in more dramatic, less action-hero roles.
♥Audiences interested in the personal struggles and "will to fight" of athletes.

Who might not

✗Viewers expecting a typical, high-energy Dwayne Johnson action film.
✗Those who prefer immersive, visceral fight sequences in sports movies.
✗Audiences looking for a straightforward, triumphant sports biopic.
✗Viewers who find observational filmmaking less engaging than direct narrative immersion.

Shows similar to The Smashing Machine

The Salton Sea

The Responder

Leaving Las Vegas

Scenes After a Marriage

Love Lies Bleeding

The Whale

If I Had Legs I'd Kick You

Museum of Innocence

The Plague

Love Story

Vladimir

Raging Bull

What critics are saying about The Smashing Machine

Benny Safdie's“The Smashing Machine” is an anti-biopic. It is very clearly an attempt by a filmmaker to make a sports movie that doesn't lean into the ... ... Benny Safdie’s“The Smashing Machine” is an anti-biopic. It is very clearly an attempt by a filmmaker to make a sports movie that doesn’t lean into the expected clichés of sports movies. Whereas most films about sports icons reach for immersion, Safdie takes an observational approach. Notice ... ... Benny Safdie’s“The Smashing Machine” is an anti-biopic. It is very clearly an attempt by a filmmaker to make a sports movie that doesn’t lean into the expected clichés of sports movies. Whereas most films about sports icons reach for immersion, Safdie takes an observational approach. Notice that almost every fight scene in this film is shot from outside the ring, the ropes often breaking the image into chunks, or from above, giving us the POV of a camera instead of putting us into the action.

The Smashing Machine movie review - Roger Ebert

You only need to see its trailer to know that “The Smashing Machine” is one such film, a vehicle par excellence for Dwayne Johnson, a.k.a. the Rock. He’s starred in plenty of movies to date, but they’ve most often been of two flavors, or combos thereof: high-voltage action films, in which he punches and zooms and often ends up saving the world, and family-friendly comedies, in which he’s some kind of big softy who must protect others. ... ‘The Smashing Machine’ Review: Licking Wounds, In and Out of the Ring Dwayne Johnson shines, but the movie around him tells the wrong story. Listen · 6:23 min Share full article

‘The Smashing Machine’ Review: Licking Wounds, In and Out of the...