October 2, 2025
In 1997, a 255 lbs, 6'1" Ultimate Fighting Championship mixed martial artist Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) joined the Pride MMA competition in Tokyo, Japan for the first time and won. In 1999, before his championship match with Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride 7, Kerr mentioned in a pre-fight interview, that since he never lost, he cannot verbalize how it felt like. Little did he know that he was soon going to eat his own words.
This biopic was written, directed and edited by Benny Safdie in his solo directorial debut. His previous directorial works, notably "Uncut Gems" (2019), were co-directed with his brother Josh. This was based on the 2002 documentary "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr" directed by John Hyams. The part where he explains about MMA to an old lady in a doctor's waiting room was recreated in this new film.
The main reason to watch this film is to see Dwayne Johnson play the role which early pundits are betting on to be one of the five Oscar nominees for Best Actor. I was ready to see the Rock basically playing himself, as he was a professional wrestler. However, impressively, Johnson (and his makeup crew) actually convinced us that he was another wrestler, whether with hair on his head or not. I won't be surprised if he did get cited for this acting performance, that went the distance with a range of emotions we typically do not see from him before.
Kerr was basically portrayed to be a good guy, congenial and calm, whose one major flaw was his addiction to injectable opioid painkillers, which eventually would eat into his relationship with girlfriend Dawn Staples, played by Emily Blunt. Blunt's Dawn was written in a way that she was the villain in the career of Kerr. She came across as a self-centered drama queen who had meltdowns at the most inopportune situations, interfering with Kerr's focus.
Ukranian boxer Oleksandr Usyk, who played Kerr's nemesis Igor Vovchanchyn, is the undisputed heavyweight champion of boxing in 2025. American MMA star Ryan Bader, who played Kerr's best friend Mark Coleman, owned the longest streak of wins as heavyweight champ in Bellator MMA. Kickboxer-wrestler-MMA Bas Rutten who played himself as Kerr's trainer, was a veteran of action films since the 1990s, in his highest profile role to date.
Also very notable in this film is its pop music soundtrack that included "Santeria" by Sublime, "Every Morning" by Sugar Ray, "Rhythm of My Heart" by Rod Stewart, "Just Another Day" by Jon Secada, "Tempted" by Squeeze, "Back at One" by Brian McKnight. Standouts were the cover of "Don't Be Cruel" by Billy Swan and "My Way" by Elvis Presley. There was also an electric guitar version of Japanese national anthem "Kimigayo" by Tomoyasu Osei, as well as a New Age harp version of the Star Spangled Banner by Nala Sinephro.
This film documented the transition of MMA from a no-holds-barred, anything-goes combat sport to a "less brutal" one with no more biting, eye gouging, head butting, knee and kick to face when opponent is faced down allowed. These action sequences were very tightly shot, making us absorb the powerful impact of every takedown, slam, punch and kick, especially with the intense sound effects editing. Like "Rocky," there were also training montages here, but Safdie was not going to follow the usual sports film formula to the letter. 7/10
