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Dwayne Johnson's MMA biopic 'The Smashing Machine' is a nostalgia headache
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The contradictions of mixed martial arts brawler Mark Kerr can’t be contained by a ring, an octagon or a film.
Their version of “The Smashing Machine” tells the same story that Hyams did, across the same years with the same handheld aesthetics and rattle-snap jazz score (by composer Nala Sinephro).
Look at how dutifully Safdie and Johnson have worked to re-create this world, the movie seems to be saying.
But “The Smashing Machine” should be about change.
Turns out Kerr has been a car salesman for the last 15 years, but you wouldn’t know that leaving “The Smashing Machine.” You wouldn’t know why this movie existed at all.