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Movies Worth Seeing
Movies Worth Seeing is a comedy podcast that explores all the best trending films and blockbuster releases. A big movie buff, Michael is an unconventional reviewer of all things movies. This podcast is for anyone sick of watching crappy movies and wants only to watch the best
Movies Worth Seeing
The Smashing Machine - The Rock finally Smashing Expectations
A fighter who can break you in the ring but apologizes with his eyes—this is the paradox that hooked us. We went in expecting swagger, exits through flames, and the usual invincible sheen. What we found instead was Dwayne Johnson letting go of “The Rock” and stepping into Mark Kerr with bruised grace, while Emily Blunt turns every shared scene into a live wire. The fights snap, sure, but the quiet beats are louder: the held breath before a bad decision, the shame that keeps secrets alive, and the kind of friendship that refuses to fracture just to give the plot a twist.
We dig into the gendered crossfire at the story’s heart: how many men are taught to love by building careers, and how many women ask for presence over provision. The movie lingers in that gap, and we sit in the discomfort with it. Anger simmers but doesn’t detonate where you expect; the violence turns inward, and that choice feels painfully real. Mark Coleman’s portrayal becomes the rare on-screen constant—no jealous heel turn, no betrayal—just loyalty with boundaries, the kind of anchor that gives recovery a chance. That sincerity helps the film dodge cliché and keeps the emotional stakes honest.
Then there’s the ending—anticlimactic, maybe even jarring. We wrestle with it. Is that a flaw, or the truest note a biopic can hit? Redemption rarely sticks its landings on cue, and postscript text can bruise a perfect arc. Still, what stays with us is the craft: documentary textures, long takes that force the question to bloom, and two leads who create a pressure cooker without a punch thrown. Call it a sports biopic if you want, but we felt a relationship drama with gloves on.
If you’re drawn to performance-driven stories, complicated love, and a sports film that cares more about the person than the trophy, queue this one up. And if you’ve seen it, we want your take—does that final note work for you, or does it undercut the climb? Follow, share, and leave a review to keep the conversation going.
Hey everyone, and welcome to another episode of Movies Worth Seeing. Today's episode, we're gonna talk about the smashing machine, starring Dwayne the Rack Janssen and Emily Blunt. Yeah. She's just such a great actress, man. She's just so fucking good. She's just so fucking good as an actress. Just her performance in this is just what did you think of the movie? I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Was there a movie playing? I was just looking at Emily Blunt. Fuck you, John Krasinski. Wow. No, okay. So yeah, Emily Blunt was absolutely amazing. But she is always amazing. Yeah. I've never seen a movie where I was disappointed with her performance. However, The Rock. The Rock is different. I don't like what he normally does, but he was unrecognizable in this film.
SPEAKER_02:Not just physically with the I mean visually with the prosthetics. It does help. It definitely does. Like just being able to see the like knowing it's the rock, but also not like I feel the prosthetics helps him to strip away his generic kind of flatline level of acting, right? Like he can't he can't scrape by because he's playing a real person now. Yeah. And no one in the comments dare say that General Hobbs from Fast of Furious is a real person, or he's not a fucking character. It's just The Rock. It's just The Rock being like, this is me when I'm invincible because I'm the rack and I'm always invincible and I can beat everyone, including Ben Diesel. So fuck yeah. It wasn't like that. You know what the hardest thing, the the biggest challenge for The Rock must have been in this movie? Playing a character that fucking loses a match, that loses a fight. So remember that used to be a whole contract clause for him. Was it? Yeah, he couldn't lose fights.
SPEAKER_03:I I had no idea.
SPEAKER_02:It was a clause, yeah, apparently. I'm not into the wrestling stuff. No, no, no, for the movie stuff, not wrestling. The movie stuff. Yeah, like him Fast and Furious's stuff. There was a clause where like he couldn't lose a fight or look bad in fights. Really? Yeah.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:Part of his marketing campaign sort of thing, as as establishing as it's got to be the the Arnold Schwarzenegger of the 2010s or the 2020s, I guess I should say. And there you go. So that that was probably the biggest acting challenge for him having to lose a fight and be defeated. But yeah, getting back to like Mark Kerr, holy shit, this guy is a fucking very interesting fighter because he has such a likable, sympathetic side to him. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Very it's it the thing I loved about the movie so much was that, like you're saying, he is such a nice, sympathetic, empathetic guy with a gen genuine good heart, pushed into places where that personality is really challenged. Yeah. And I really like that. It hits some really deep parts, like is in in so many different types or moments in the story, he gets challenged in so many ways, right?
SPEAKER_02:Especially when he's having these these moments of conflict with his wife, with Emily Blunt's character and dawn. Where you're just like, oh my god, he's gonna lose his shit. But the the the interest, the in the most engaging part for me is seeing him like bubbling under the surface. Not not just the explosion that you know is coming, yeah, but everything under the surface.
SPEAKER_03:And I feel like the beautiful thing he made with with that is that he has become such a relatable character for young men or adult men, just men in general. Because every man wants to be nice, they want to be genuine, they want to make the decisions that support their partner, wants to support their career. Whereas they put career as their main focus and thinking that that will solve all the problems in life. Which it clearly doesn't, but that's what, from the male perspective, it's general consensus, right? Whereas from the female, it's more about the relationship. Relationship is more important than anything. Like I had a lot of these issues with AJ, for example, and that's why that whole relationship storyline, the B storyline, was so for me, it cut really deep because it's exactly what I went through with AJ. Was that for the woman of the in in the couple, in the family, it's relationship is the most important. Career comes second. For the man And creating the family, and creating the family, all the kind of stuff, but relationship-wise, creating the family. Whereas for the man, it's creating a financial stability, creating career, and that way build the family. And that clashes so often, and the way they depicted that in this film, it was just spot on. And I think it's so relatable for everybody watching this film, as well from the male perspective as well as from the female perspective, because you can see the imperfection in both characters, and you can see where it clashes, though she you can see in the first half where he fucked up a lot of things, yeah. And then he it went 180 and she was the one going fucking crazy.
SPEAKER_02:But I guess from both sides, you understand their point of view of they're they're justified in their actions and they feel justified in the decisions they make.
SPEAKER_03:Like I so I can understand their points of view, but there wasn't like exactly what you're saying, because like there was a point in their heightened moment of the fight, just before she disappears on the screen, before the climax of their relationship, when she makes one statement that he took her on so well, she says, and and we're on his side, and she says, You don't know anything about me. And then we realize as much as we're siding with him, it's like, yeah, you're right. We we don't know anything about her. And you can see in Dwayne's eyes, in Mark Kerr's eyes, that she's right.
SPEAKER_02:But she's also like poking the bear.
SPEAKER_03:She is poking the bear and a half, 100%. That's why we're siding with him. Yeah. But when she says that, we do take a moment and we sit with him for a second before he says his next line.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, there's almost an irony where the the for me, the the scenes between the the rock and Emily Blunt were so much more intense and entertaining than the fight scene.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. Because every fight scene opened the exact same way.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, takedown. Oh, boom. And then at one point, I was laughing because you know, Mark Kerr goes for a takedown on one of his opponents. He lets the opponent up, and then he just takes him in down again. And I was like, yeah, well, that guy had no kind of defense around his uh jujitsu background at all. But one thing I was so hooked with Emily Blunt and and The Rock, and one scene in particular, I was literally just like fucking grabbing. In the climactic scene of the relationship. I was just like, holy shit, this is going, this is going down, and I did not see it coming. And that was one of those fucking heart-wrenching moments for me. There was a few really heart-wrenching moments, yeah. So they brought it. Emily Blunt and The Rock, amazing chemistry. Killed it. Keep putting them in movies together. Ryan Bader. Right, Mark Coleman.
SPEAKER_03:What kind of performance did he put down? This guy's not an actor. This guy's a UFC fighter.
SPEAKER_02:I never once questioned that until you told me he he has that he's a UFC fighter. Right. There was not one moment where I was like, this guy's acting doesn't really seem at the same level. There was no contrast. He didn't stand out for the wrong reasons. He totally belonged. He totally belonged.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. And and but the thing I really liked about his acting is it was super sincere. Yeah. It wasn't acting, it was being. It was being truthful in the moment. And it's just okay, what he reminded me of was a new actor in the industry that just graduated from an acting school and was just excited to be there. And every aspect of his character that you could see was genuine. He was excited to be there. He was happy, it was exploring, and there wasn't an arrogance of like, I know what I'm doing, I'm confident. Whereas with Dwayne Rock Johnson and Emily Blunt, you kind of have that feeling. It's like cool that you can see past that their character, past their acting, and you can see the confidence that they're carrying themselves with, which is attractive to look at, but it's you see every main actor do that. And this was kind of like an underdog. It's like this guy is like, I kind of want to watch this guy because it's just sincere, it's truthful, he's not overdoing anything, he doesn't carry himself with so much confidence that it becomes arrogant, that it becomes this guy believes he deserves his place on the screen. This guy wants his place on the screen.
SPEAKER_02:So you you felt he had a selflessness about him where he was completely in service of the story. Absolutely, and was just happy to be there to do his part.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely, and that's what I'm saying. He he reminds me of an actor who's doing a short film for free because he has a love for the craft.
SPEAKER_02:He probably felt being a UFC fighter, he probably felt like I want, I really respect the sport since I'm part of the sport, and this is mixed martial arts being shown on the big screen. This is our chance to be appreciated and recognized. He probably felt like a badge of honor in a way of like I'm gonna show everyone what this sport is really about to the mainstream audience. Absolutely. And for that, he he brought it, man. Like his his bromance, Mark Coleman's bromance with Mark Kerr, is like the ultimate bromance of like two guys that are genuine friends, and there's no jealousy, there's no conflict, they always got each other's backs in the best way possible. Probably the healthy one of the healthiest friendships I've ever seen on screen.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:And knowing that it's a a real life friendship that it's based on.
SPEAKER_03:It didn't follow any normal Hollywood film structure where they have to break the relationship, they have to fight against each other, and therefore they're gonna have this competitive thing going on between them. They were like, no, we're gonna fight, and the best one's gonna win. And I'm just excited to fight to spar with you. Yeah, there was never a breakdown of relationship, they were always there for each other, and it was always the best friend with no issues in between. And it was just a nice anchor point in the film, something you could hold on to. You know, like no matter where, how bad his life is gonna get, Mark Coleman is always gonna be there for Marker. Yeah. And I don't remember seeing a film do that in a long time because that is real life. And in real life, you have a best friend, no matter how shit's how shit, how bad shit gets, that best friend is gonna be there for you. And every other film, they have to make it a little bit more dramatic and cause like a rift of relationship and get the character to feel loneliness. And it it just doesn't reflect with the audience, I feel. It does because you have fear of that happening, but it doesn't always happen. And in this film, the loneliness that Marc Kerr or Dwayne Johnson was experiencing was all within. He was going through because of the shame of sharing what he's going through. He's lying to everyone, lying to his best friend. His best friend sees that and he goes along with it for a second and then he pulls him up on his shit.
SPEAKER_02:That was a brilliant scene.
SPEAKER_03:It was so good.
SPEAKER_02:Something about the smashing machine that I really love is it gets across the frustration and the illusion where when someone's addicted around you and you're powerless to get them to stop, but you know you need them to stop, but you also don't want to cause arguments and conflict with them. So you're stuck in this spot where you're like, do I tell them, do I bring the hammer down and that be that disciplinarian where I say to them, like, what the fuck are you doing with your life? Or do I just let them be and hope that they wake up one day?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah. It's a tough decision you gotta make for your friend. How much am I gonna pull them up on it? And what's at what cost is gonna be because you put your friendship at risk when you do that? That said, these were all really good things about the film. Yeah. Really good thing. Actually, actually, having seen Spinal Tap before we went to see this, it's funny because there's a lot of documentary style moments in this film as well. That kind of like was funny to see that. With a comedy and with a comedy documentary scene before, a rockumentary. Yeah. To see a kind of like a bit of a documentary style elements in this film, kind of like, oh yeah, they kind of flowed easily into it. A lot of incredibly great things in this film. There's just one question I have to ask. Why? Why make this film? Like the acting is phenomenal. They told the biography of Marker phenomenally, and it was hard-wrenching and hopeful, and an incredible roller coaster of emotions and uh yeah, of being going through it. But the question is, what makes this story so worth telling? Because it's anticlimactic at the end, and then in like in the in the post-sene, the final scene where you see the real Marco in 2025, in dialogue is something told, they're like, Where the fuck did this come from? Why, why would you fuck up your life afterwards? And it's just given in dialogue in text. As if it's a happy ending. As if it's a happy ending. But it's like, yeah, there's so much it it's a it's a very anticlimactic ending with it's pretty credit, but it's a post-scene that doesn't pay off anything that we've seen in the film. It's just Marqueur at the shopping center giving some information about his later life in like five sentences that's a complete twist on how we ended the film. So and and and and more, it's it's it's so anticlimactic that I'm thinking, why is this story specifically worth telling? And why not tell Mark Coleman's story? I think a few reasons. Well, he has a happy family the entire way through. His life is very stable. He never lost a never never lost a match. Uh he probably has lost a match.
SPEAKER_02:I think I think with Mark Kerr overcoming the opioid addiction. Of course. And you know, staying clean is is a really strong redemption arc. Yeah, true. But I also think it's because Mark Kerr is so unique and likable. The contrast between him beating the shit out of guys and being fucking a smashing machine, a monster in the ring. But what about Mark Corman? He he did he was the same. Yeah, but uh, I think with Mark Kerr, there's this interesting thing of like he can be the friendliest and nicest guy in the room, but he can rip your head off if you're in the ring with him.
SPEAKER_03:But isn't Mark Coleman the same? Look at how he bashed the other people up.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, but like I think the the human side of Mark Coleman isn't as unique as Mark Kerr uh based on the movie.
SPEAKER_03:Based on a movie, but it's but that's obvious because it's a lead character versus.
SPEAKER_02:I don't know enough about the real life Mark Coleman.
SPEAKER_03:No.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, uh an argument could probably be made for a lot of other UFC fighters getting their own film. Very true. But perhaps it's because this was before UFC was big. This was in the 90s.
SPEAKER_03:1997 to 2000. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So perhaps it's because they were the pioneers of jujitsu.
SPEAKER_03:Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_02:And there's that aspect. Jiu Jitsu. Yeah, jujitsu.
SPEAKER_03:They were wrestling.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, they were doing jujitsu.
SPEAKER_03:Mixed martial arts.
SPEAKER_02:They were doing jujitsu.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, what?
SPEAKER_02:They mentioned jujitsu.
SPEAKER_03:I thought their opponent was jujitsu. They he was a wrestler.
SPEAKER_02:No, he seemed to always be going against strikers, I think.
SPEAKER_03:Oh. I I I remember him sitting in the uh waiting room talking to the lady. But I was like, yeah, it's a mixed martial arts, and I'm a wrestler and I bring the wrestling to it, he said.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, I I think jujitsu and wrestling have a lot of commonalities. I could be wrong, and someone in the comments will probably rip my head off for saying this. You know more about fighting than I do, so um Nathan will probably can probably correct me since he's a jiu-jitsu expert. Yeah, he does Brazilian jujitsu. There's a a dojo just here. I think that the movie wanted to focus more on Mark Kerr while having Mark Coleman as a side character to show the contrast. Yeah. But also it's it's stronger being with the addict who overcomes the addiction. Yeah. Like you said, Mark Coleman seemed to have a lot more stability in his life, so maybe they were like not as interesting.
SPEAKER_03:Don't get me wrong, like the story is fantastic, and I understand why. It's just so different to see a film made with such an anticlimactic ending. And it's all about the journey and not about the not about the ending. It's really refreshing to see, but it lead it's built up to such a climactic ending and it just doesn't happen. And it it's weird.
SPEAKER_02:That was I I still am struggling with the ending. I'll I'll be honest, the ending didn't click for me. No. Like when we were talking about it after, I was like, oh yeah, that shot makes a lot more sense to me now. I enjoy the message of him accepting defeat a bit a bit better, mentally, dealing with defeat better. But as far as like why is this particular point the endpoint, the final bow on the story, I don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, the final bow is I I don't get it either. It's nice to see the real marker that he's doing well and he's alive and he's happy and he's still a nice human being. But the information that was given in the in the sub in the in in the titles on the bottom very confusing as into why that was necessary. It's like great story.
SPEAKER_02:I just don't think that point was the point to end on.
SPEAKER_03:I I have mixed feelings about it. Because one, what you're saying I 100% agree with. It's why make that the cherry on top of the cake? If why do you leave us with that last note that's a complete 180 on the rest of the story and be like why? Yeah. What I do appreciate about it is that it's truthful to reality, to the true story. And I'm like, yeah, reality isn't that pretty. Reality can be extremely anticlimactic. And because there's so many moments in the film where you're like, why why why will you do this? It's because we're looking at it from a film perspective and expecting like this big arc of building and and and and and and yeah, from the whole straw structure of storytelling. And it just doesn't tell the story the same way.
SPEAKER_02:Which, as you said, it could be refreshing, but it could also be.
SPEAKER_03:Just gotta get your head around.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:It can feel jarring. And it it did feel jarring. But not in not in a it wasn't bad. Not in a bad way, jarring. It's just like I just need some time to process why what the purpose of it is to leave me, to let me leave the cinema with such a feeling, such an ending. And yeah, still processing it. It's still sure I'll have a dream about it tonight and tomorrow morning. Let's do the podcast now. Yeah, cool. Because I have another idea.
SPEAKER_02:I have I forgot this point. Let's redo the podcast. Yeah, probably. Is there anything else important to say about it? I guess my final like getting into the final closing kind of remarks or my final review on the smashing machine is it's one of those movies I felt such a fucking relief because the rock is is like Adam Seandler, where we all know that he can act and he can be really good, but he just for some reason chooses not to be. And now it's like we finally have that moment. We have The Rock doing a film where he gets to show the world that he can act. This is like what I always wanted since 2002 when The Rock started acting. It's like we get those glimpses of hope, like Gridiron Gang, or what other films has The Rock done? Jimanji? I don't know. No, I'm saying like good movie. I don't know. Like Gridiron Gang, I mean Walking Talls a bit underrated. I just loved seeing The Rock strip away all the the default, you know, level of charisma that he has and switching it up, like talking differently, yeah, moving differently, seeing him react or handle things differently than he action movie rock would. Yes. Is just so refreshing. It's it's like being fed the same meal. It's like if you were in prison and you ate the same meal for like a month and then you finally get a different meal. You're just like, oh my god, this is amazing. This tastes so much better. Yeah, that's how I felt the whole way. Did I think that would I necessarily go back and see this again? Probably not. That's a maybe.
SPEAKER_03:I would say a maybe to that, actually. Just because I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:I think there's a lot of yeah, sorry, keep going. I before you fucked up my point.
SPEAKER_02:What I do, yeah. I'd say it's like it's it's like a four out of five for me. Whereas I really appreciate it. I I loved the story and what they were telling. I appreciated the acting chops from Emily Blunt and The Rock and just the sheer will of trying something completely different. I love like with a lot of bios, biopics, I love that after watching this, I want to go watch Mark Kerr's fights. I feel inspired to watch Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman's fights and and see what really happened. I just don't see myself watching this again. It's like when you watch Uncut Gems and you're like, wow, this is amazing. But the intensity and anxiety that this movie gives me makes me not want to watch it again for a long time. I appreciate it, it's really great, but I'm not gonna want to watch it for a while. I do want to watch Uncut Gems again, though. It took me like a couple years, though, before I wanted to watch Uncut Gems. Yeah. I've Uncut Gems is a bit higher up, though. You reckon I didn't quite like it, but I'd love to revisit it. It's a bit more memorable, I feel, in its point.
SPEAKER_04:I don't remember much of it. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:How long ago did you watch it?
SPEAKER_04:When did it come out? 2020, 2021. It's about well, about four years ago I watched it. Like shortly after it came out.
SPEAKER_02:I reckon if we watched it again, you'd let's watch it again. Yeah, you'd have a newfound appreciation. Probably. It's relevant because the Safti brothers created that. Yeah. But this is Benny Safti that's created the smashing machine. He's one of the brothers. Yeah. Yeah. Cool. I don't know the Safety Some. So you could see some similarities there. Yeah. In the way they build up tense scenes, let the shots linger a little bit longer, uncomfortably longer sometimes. It's great. I love that. Yeah. What were your what's your final thoughts on the smashing machine?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, like you said, the lingering shots I thought was really cool because you really let the tension build, the question rise on what is going on for real. And I think the questions were super clear. A couple of examples of that was when Mark uh has had his first anger issues where he punched the door and ripped the door out of the wall and then threw everything off the closet onto the off the bench, onto the floor, and just became destructive. And it's relatable, but you're you're just wondering: is this gonna be a cliche where he's going to turn his anger onto his partner? But that question really lingered. And I don't know how, but they managed to bring that question back multiple times. And every time it was just a super long shot, and you're just waiting for him to make a decision. Am I going to hit her or am I not? And you really, really, really hope that he's not going to be an idiot to do so. And and and just the way they set it up and paid it off every time is just super clear and mad respect for pushing to go there. Because you're normally just I find with these films, they really want to cut through that real quick to not have such a topic being part of the film.
SPEAKER_02:It was this great kind of lingering question throughout because I didn't know anything about Mark Kerr. So I was like, oh my god, I really hope it doesn't. Yeah. Was he a person was he? Was he a stereotypical, you know, person that did that? Yeah. And I was so relieved when that didn't happen. Because for me, that would have been past the point of no return. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:You would have judged a character in a completely different light. Yeah. If he did take that step, and thank fuck he didn't.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Especially because you know he's such a nice guy. But because and you know that he never would, but the way the challenges in his life pushed him to the edge, he became more self-destructive than destructive to others. It is what men do. Typically. Right? It's typically what men do. They become more destructive towards themselves than to people around them. Normally, right? So look at addiction, look at smoking, look at punching a wall. The amount of times you hear guys just punching a wall and breaking their fists out of anger is because the they need to take that. They need to take that express that anger somehow, but they never they they don't want to do that to other people.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Right? And and you can judge in a positive or negative light, whatever, it's all psychological uh debate. But it's relatable to, I would say, 99% of all men. Right? You have the occasional idiot that does turn into domestic violence or violence or sort of people become aggressive. That's the 1%. But the other 99% of the people, of men, I think most of them can identify with this. And that's what makes it so beautiful.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Like it's so good. But also because as much as you hate Emily Blunt, like we said before, her character. Her character, sorry, Dawn, and she did amazing. Because everybody dislikes her watching this movie, but you also you get her too. You understand that she throughout the whole movie, she is a supporting lead. She's a supporting lead, yet we don't know her last name. We know nothing about her. So from the story side of things, we are parallel and synchronized to the relationship where she is such an important key character of the whole film. She's an anchor point to and the kryptonite to Mark Kur's character to Mark Herr right to Dwayne's character. Yet we don't know nothing about her. And neither does Mark. Yeah. We don't know, we don't know her last name. We know her as Dawn. That's all we know. She's not invited to this, she's not invited to that, and we can understand why Mark Herr doesn't invite her to things because she is dramatic and wants to make it all about relationship. And she can be dramatic or understandable, but then yeah, Mark Hurst makes issues about little things that is an issue for her, and vice versa. And it's just a clash of male and female that is where they're just missing each other. Typical, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:They just keep missing each other.
SPEAKER_03:And that's why you know why the attractiveness comes back every time. And they get keep getting back together. I was going to give the movie a four out of five, but I'm actually gonna give it a four and a half out of five. Oh damn! Yeah the more the more we're talking about peeling back the layers more. Peeling back the layers is there's so much. It's a great film. It's an A24. Like I saw the trailer a little bit. I I never look at trailers, so I always switch it or skip it or just look away. I just don't want to see trailers because it gives away the film. But I knew Dwayne Rock Johnson was in it, and I was I was not gonna watch this film. I didn't even remember the title until you said, let's watch this watch the smashing machine. It's like, oh sure.
SPEAKER_02:I wasn't I really wanted you to see it because I had this feeling you were gonna be like blown away by The Rock's performance.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, well, I had zero faith in The Rock, zero, because I thought he's just going to be the same rock as you see him in every other film. He's gonna break this macho, whatever, stereotypical character to it, but he was phenomenal. I think there's going to be an Oscar contender, as well as from Emily Blunt, as well as from Dwayne Johnson, for next season. They're going to be academy nominees. They have to contend.
SPEAKER_02:Honestly, if either of them won, I I wouldn't be surprised. I wouldn't I wouldn't be annoyed at all with that decision.
SPEAKER_03:Absolutely. One thing to note, and I I I felt this straight from the first five minutes of the film. I didn't want to say anything to you. This feels like it's just gonna it's it's it's the similarities. It's there are similarities. You grab a wrestler from the 90s. No, the the von Eriks were from like the 70s. 70s, whatever. From the 50s to 2000s, whatever. You you grab a retired fighter or fighters with a dramatic story and you tell the biography. It's it's it become it's becoming a trend. And I think there's gonna be another one, right?
SPEAKER_02:I I'm not too sure who else they would cover. I did see similarities with the ironclaw, especially with the the style, like it's so different though, because professional wrestling, like that that style of wrestling is all about showmanship and flashiness and the audience and and performance, whereas this was all about a guy that can rip your throat out in real life, but then ask you, like, oh, uh, are you okay? Like, oh, did I hit you too hard? Sorry.
SPEAKER_03:But wasn't isn't Zach Efron the same thing? I I understand that when he is in the when he's in the ring, it's about the fight and and and it's a showmanship versus UFC. But Eric von what was his name?
SPEAKER_02:Kerry von the Von Erich family.
SPEAKER_03:The Von Erich family. The Von Erik family, yeah, that's right. Uh the Von Erik family. It's like what's Zach Efron, he looked like he's gonna rip your throat out. Like the guy's just massive, jacked, super high on steroids, not Zach, but the character, how it looks. Basically, von Erik version of He-Man. The same thing, super nice guy, innocent, sympathetic, going through a hell of a situation through his life, and you question where his life is gonna take. Is he gonna stay straight or is he gonna go off path? And it it's the same story structure with a different story, but same structure with a climax at the end.
SPEAKER_02:I think the Von Eric's that I think Iron the Ironclaw was a lot more tragic.
SPEAKER_03:It's no, don't get me wrong, it's a lot more tragic, but there's still true. Similarities in the similarities. It's it I'm just saying it's a trend. Yeah. And I hope it doesn't get overdone. I hope it's not gonna get overdone because this film was amazing. Ironclaw was amazing, and I really don't hope they're gonna do another one where Jason Momoa is gonna do the next one. For example, right? Mike Tyson or something like that. Yeah, for example.
SPEAKER_02:That would yeah, that would be a tough one though.
SPEAKER_03:Mohammed Ali, they're gonna do something like that. They've already done Muhammad Ali. Oh, there you go.
SPEAKER_02:Bill Smith played Ali.
SPEAKER_03:When was this? Long time ago. 2001. 2001 sure, whatever. That's a standard alone movie, but I hope this is not going to become a trend. Because this feels like I include this success. Let's make another one. That's how it felt. And I hope I'm wrong, but that's what my inkling that I have an inkling that that tells me that that is the case behind the production of this film. And I really hope I'm wrong, because this movie is fantastic and I don't want to take anything away from it, but I hope that the success of this film, and I don't know if it's successful or not, is going to inspire more wrestling bio biopics.
SPEAKER_02:Well, uh biopics in general, I think there is an influx of biopics now.
SPEAKER_03:There is an influx of unoriginal content. Yeah. There's not there's almost nothing original out there.
unknown:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:I'll leave that at that bit. What I was gonna say is like before before you interrupted me and fucked my train of thoughts. Oh just to bring it back. Is that annoying? Just to reflect back on what you said. No, no, no. As soon as I found out it was what the Smashing Machine is and it's Dwayne DeRock Johnson, I had no faith in the film whatsoever. Because I thought it was gonna be just a character writing.
SPEAKER_02:And he are giving the movie a higher rating than me.
SPEAKER_03:Well, hey, hey, before you fuck my train of thoughts. As soon as A24 came on the screen, I was intrigued. Okay. Because A24 is not they they they do different stuff, they do break the trend of Hollywood.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, and they clearly did. Yeah, you're not gonna see A24 presents Fast and Furious 15. Exactly.
SPEAKER_03:They're they're A24, I'll I love they have some hit and misses, but they've always been they they built themselves up, themselves up from a small production company that went out there and they just made it massive with films that are daring. Yeah. I remember like uh Civil War. It's A24. Yep. Midsummer was back in the day. Fucking hated Midsummer. Sure, you can you can hate it or like it. It's it's it's a different style movie, but it was good. Like it's daring, it's different. Wait, was Salt Boone?
SPEAKER_02:Saltburn was good. I mean it was fucked up, but it seems like something that would A24 would make. It's not an A24.
SPEAKER_03:Oh The Lobster?
SPEAKER_04:I fucking hated that. Again, different though. Uh The Smashing Machine, Midsummer. Oh, Hereditary? That was an 18. I haven't had a chance to say that.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, Heretic. Heretic.
SPEAKER_04:That's the real one you're talking about.
SPEAKER_03:Heretic, the one that just came out with um Hugh Grant.
SPEAKER_04:With Hugh Grant.
SPEAKER_03:Yep. Materialists, I haven't seen that one. Everything, everywhere, all at once.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, that was a perfect day to read a four film.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, so I'm gonna give it a four and a half out of five.
SPEAKER_02:I thought it was really good. I'm gonna give it four rock bottoms out of five. That is our review of the smashing machine. But let us know what did you think of the smashing machine? Are you gonna watch it or are you gonna skip it? What are your thoughts? Comment below and let us know. Until next time, that's us, guys, and this is movies worth seeing.