The Smashing Machine

Name: The Smashing Machine
Genre: Action, Biography, Drama, Sport
Released: October 3, 2025
Rating: 65

2025

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 56 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

No score yet

tbd

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

tbd	Your Score
tbd	User Score No score yet

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Movie Details & Credits

A24 | Release Date: October 3, 2025

Summary: The story of mixed martial arts & UFC fighter Mark Kerr.

Genre(s): Action, Biography, Drama, Sport

See All Details and Credits

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

Owen Gleiberman

Sep 1, 2025

The Smashing Machine isn’t a sports movie that wants to jerk a Pavolvian response of triumph out of us. It’s after something subtler and more moving. By the end of the film, Mark, who had grown so used to winning, has won in the most transformative way. Read full review

Tim Grierson

Sep 1, 2025

The Smashing Machine may not always transcend genre conventions, but is a consistently idiosyncratic and candid look at a working-class athlete with a complicated romantic relationship and a crippling opioid addiction. Despite his hulking physique, Dwayne Johnson plays Kerr with real vulnerability as his championship aspirations slip away. Read full review

Hannah Strong

Oct 2, 2025

It’s a film that feels gloriously alive, earnest in its depiction of masculinity that is fragile rather than toxic while still grappling with the question of why anyone would choose to make a living in such a barbaric way. Read full review

Bilge Ebiri

Sep 1, 2025

Sports biopics are so common that one couldn’t blame Safdie for trying to avoid conventionality, but sometimes the conventions are there for a good reason. In the end, though, he understands that his greatest weapon here is his star. A weapon, and a gift: It’s nice to have the Rock acting again. Read full review

Alex Saveliev

Jan 25, 2026

It strives as hard for authenticity as its protagonist does to remain relevant; the strain shows. Read full review

Matt Singer

Oct 3, 2025

Everything Safdie, Johnson, and Blunt do to conjure up this time and place is a technical achievement, but it never goes past that to a truly involving sports story. The Smashing Machine is sadly not a knockout. Call it a split decision instead. Read full review

The Film Verdict Alonso Duralde

Oct 3, 2025

It’s entirely possible that Benny Safdie was out to craft a different kind of underdog sports movie, one where the audience isn’t manipulated into raising a triumphant fist at the end. But surely the writer-director-editor hoped for more than a disinterested shrug. Read full review

SEE ALL 56 REVIEWS

User Score

Write a Review

tbd

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

No reviews yet.