‘Extraordinary’ Dwayne Johnson and ‘Sensational’ Emily Blunt Praised in Venice Film Festival ‘Smashing Machine’ Reviews

Are Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in the Oscar conversation for their new movie? Judging by early reviews, the answer is yes!

A24’s The Smashing Machine (in theaters Oct. 3) debuted at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday, Sept. 1, with Johnson, 53, Blunt, 42, and writer-director Benny Safdie, 39, in attendance. Critics there were generally positive in their reviews of the Mark Kerr biopic, praising its two stars in particular. 

“Johnson gives a performance of immense pathos, intensity and depth – one that looks bound to win him awards recognition,” wrote Geoffrey Macnab of The Independent. While the wrestler-turned-actor playing mixed martial artist Kerr, 56, isn’t entirely new material, he noted, Johnson nevertheless “[grapples] with parts of his personality that are usually left untouched.”

He added, “this is the most raw and vulnerable that Johnson has ever been on screen. Once you’ve seen him this exposed, you won’t watch his typical action movie stunts in quite the same way ever again.”

“What [Kerr is] carrying around deep inside him — the thing that makes him a smashing machine — is a rage he scarcely knows what to do with. And that’s where Dwayne Johnson’s revelatory performance begins,” wrote Owen Gleiberman of Variety, calling the actor “extraordinary.”

Drawing comparisons to Darren Aronofsky’s 2008 Mickey Rourke movie The Wrestler and 1980 Robert De Niro movie Raging Bull, he said that Safdie has made “a drama that’s less a ‘rousing’ sports biopic than an intimate, exploratory, documentary-like slice of life that hits a lot of the same notes you’d expect from a sports biopic (the thrill of victory, the agony of defeat, the private ups and downs) but rarely in the way you expect.”

Of Johnson’s physical transformation as Kerr, Rafa Sales Ross of The Playlist observed that his facial prosthetics “make him look like the spitting image of O.J. Simpson,” but that the star “leans into the absurdity” of the look.

“A cleverly cast parade of real-life MMA fighters,” the critic continued, supports Johnson and Blunt capably. “While Dutch-American Bas Rutten is a delight in a small role as Kerr’s coach, Ryan Bader is the clear standout as best-friend-turned-opponent Mark Coleman.”

“Johnson drops ‘The Rock’ from his identity in all senses to reveal a heartfelt core,” wrote Ryan Lattanzio of IndieWire. Although The Smashing Machine feels like Oscar bait on paper, he said, it’s “rather a sweet duet between a remarkably unembellished Johnson and a blazingly good, blue-collar and freshly blown-out Emily Blunt as his codependent girlfriend and eventual wife Dawn Staples-Kerr.” Echoing multiple reviews, he called the Devil Wears Prada star “sensational.” 

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Yasmine Kandil at DiscussingFilm wrote that Blunt and Johnson’s “unified ability to play into each other’s performances in a manner that complements rather than overshadows is pitch-perfect.” The chemistry between them as an onscreen couple, she added, “is incredibly palpable.”

“Dawn is both the bedrock for the fighter’s rollercoaster of a career and his Achilles’ heel,” explained Jordan Mintzer of The Hollywood Reporter, noting that Safdie’s story sides more with Kerr’s side than his wife’s. Blunt gives the latter “a whiplash spontaneity,” wrote Gleiberman, “playing her with a bittersweet fusion of compassion and arrogance that makes Dawn a searingly authentic and touching character.”

Bilge Ebiri of Vulture, however, said that the Oppenheimer Oscar nominee “does what she can, but the film doesn’t give us enough of her or their relationship to get any kind of handle on the character.” Criticizing the movie as “too soft for its own good” in his headline, Ebiri wrote, “the film can feel too understated and glancing for its own good. 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.”

He included plenty of praise for Johnson, though, writing, “You could give a couple of acting awards to the Rock’s shoulder blades and rhomboids and I’m not sure anyone would complain. He’s by far the best thing in the movie.”

The Smashing Machine is in theaters Oct. 3.