Although movies have been made about mixed martial arts (MMA) in the past, no director has ever been able to accurately capture and film a biopic about a fighter’s life. However, director Benny Safdie, along with help from production/distribution company “A24,” has smashed it out of the ballpark with the newly released MMA biopic “The Smashing Machine,” which was released on Oct. 6 with a run time of two hours and three minutes and is rated R due to strong language and drug abuse which is depicted in the film.

“The Smashing Machine“ tells the story of Mark Kerr, a former NCAA collegiate wrestling champion and MMA fighter who fought from 1997 to 2009. This movie primarily focuses on Kerr’s personal struggles in life, as well as his fighting career from 1997 to 2000, during which he fought in promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), Vale Tudo in Brazil and Pride FC in Japan.

Words can not describe how surprised I was by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s performance in this movie. The Rock, a former college football player and current professional wrestler, has been strictly in either action or comedy films, playing a role as someone who feels the same every time. 

When I originally heard that The Rock was going to get a serious role, I didn’t believe that he could pull off such an important role. However, his acting performance really caught my attention and surprised me beyond belief. He looks absolutely unnoticeable, with him looking basically identical to the young Kerr. In preparation for the movie, The Rock had to gain 30 pounds and underwent a 12-week training camp that consisted of cardiovascular training, weightlifting and MMA coaching.

While The Rock’s performance was an absolute masterclass, Emily Blunt put up a show for moviegoers as she dominated her role as Dawn Staples, Kerr’s girlfriend. This movie goes very in-depth with Kerr’s personal life. Between her boyfriend’s damaging drug addiction and the relationship with him, Staples rarely catches a break and has to deal with the issues of her boyfriend that cripple her well-being. 

Safdie was also really creative with his casting. By casting current and former combat sport athletes it gave a realistic feel to the film. Bas Rutten played himself in the movie as Kerr’s coach and a sports announcer in the film. Along with Rutten, the current undisputed boxing champion Oleksander Usyk plays Ukrainian kickboxer Igor Vovchanchyn. This was a cool piece of casting, since Usyk looks very similar to Vovchanchyn in real life.

While these actors both did amazing in their roles, respectively, what really stood out to me was how Ryan Bader absolutely killed it in his role as fellow MMA fighter Mark Coleman. Coleman and Kerr were best friends, and Coleman played a key role in helping Kerr overcome his drug addiction in the film. I didn’t expect Bader to put on such a good performance, but I was really impressed by him and I could even see a career in acting for him. He did really well and, by far, was my favorite actor in this film.

Something super unique about this movie was how it was shot. Marceo Bishop was the cinematographer for the movie and he did super well. The entire movie had a retro feel to it, which was accomplished by differentiating from shooting on 16mm film to shooting on 65mm film. The unique camerawork doesn’t end here, however, as some of the angles that were used when filming almost made it feel like a mockumentary in a good way, almost similar to how TV shows like “The Office” and “Abbot Elementary” are shot.

Overall, whether you are a fan of mixed martial arts or someone who just enjoys movies, check out this film. From the amazing performance that The Rock had put on, to the amazing cinematography, or even the underrated performance of Bader as Coleman, this movie needs to be seen. I had high expectations coming in and those high expectations were definitely met.