I’m not a fan of boxing but I have enjoyed a few great boxing MOVIES. I have a strong dislike for MMA fighting and wondered if I might be able to enjoy the new movie The Smashing Machine. I was NOT able to enjoy it.

It’s not that The Smashing Machine is necessarily a bad movie. It’s just that the depiction of the the “sport” of Mixed Marshall Arts is gruesome and, for me, off-putting. Seeing a man on top of another man, repeatedly punching the guy in his already bloody face is disgusting and cringey.

If you like that kind of thing, well, then, director/writer Benny Safdie has constructed a stylish film with several shots from a handheld camera and with an ethereal instrumental jazz audio track. And he and his crew deserve credit for making the fights seem realistic.

Dwayne Johnson (nee The Rock) has bravely stepped into a more serious role as Mark Kerr, a real-life MMA fighter who becomes addicted to pain meds, goes through rehab and tries to make a comeback. Yep, that old sports movie redemption cliché. Johnson’s look is different too. His hair makes him look a bit like André the Giant.

Kerr’s girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt) has issues, too. Her support for Kerr is inconsistent. She wants to occasionally be a party girl while he tries to stay clean. Trouble ensues.

Fellow MMA fighter Mark Coleman (Ryan Bader) is effective as Kerr’s buddy and friendly competitor. 

The Smashing Machine received a 15-minute standing ovation at the Venice Film Festival a few weeks back. And the superlative accolades for the film and especially Johnson’s performance from early reviewers have been splashed all over the TV and print advertisements for the movie. Is he award-worthy? To be determined.

The box office appeal of Dwayne “Don’t Call Me ‘The Rock’” Johnson will sell a bunch of tickets during TSM’s opening weekend. But will it have “legs?” That, too, is to be determined.

The Smashing Machine is rated R. There’s some language and, did I mention, the fighting is rather violent.