GOOD SPORTS DRAMA, BETTER CHARACTER STUDY

THEY say, “Nice guys finish last.” Mark Kerr may be a great mixed martial artist in the ring, but is he really a nice person outside of it? perhaps no, but the best thing about director Benny Safdie’s The Smashing Machine is that it never gives you any easy answers.

- SREEJITH MULLAPPILLY

The film is uncompromising in its approach towards unravelling the layers behind this “250-pound monster.” In the opening monologue of Safdie’s film, we see Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) beating his opponents to a pulp, as if he is in a fit of rage and is out there to take out all his frustrations. In the background, we hear the fighter say that he gets a high from doing what he does. Later, Kerr tells his wife, Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt), that he gains a sense of “orgasm” from win ning a battle and listening to thou sands of people chanting his name.