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Black Phone 2 review
BLACK PHONE 2:
THE GRABBER GOES FREDDY KRUEGER IN FUN HORROR FOLLOW-UP!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** out of 4
UNIVERSAL PICTURES
Mason Thames and Ethan Hawke in Black Phone 2
Ethan Hawke (Before Sunrise trilogy, Sinister, Boyhood) is back as The Grabber in Black Phone 2, the new horror film from Blumhouse and director Scott Derrickson (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Sinister, Doctor Strange) and follow-up to his 2021/22 hit, The Black Phone. I really, really liked the first Black Phone movie and thought it was a genuinely frightening and gripping horror film about a kid trying to escape from an abductor’s basement.
I don’t usually get scared of horror movies that much, but anything involving child abduction is legitimately terrifying to me and while the movie does have a supernatural element to it via ghosts of the kidnapped/murdered children communicating through a broken phone on the wall, it is a realistic situation that can happen and has happened. Plus a memorable performance by Ethan Hawke as child abductor and killer, The Grabber who crafted a new horror icon out of this character.
It’s a solid movie that stood on its own…not sure why it needed a sequel though outside of the fact it was successful. I was also taken a back seat when the trailers revealed that The Grabber was going to be a ghost or demonic entity a-la Freddy Krueger from A Nightmare on Elm Street in this one which I felt ironically made him less scary than when he was alive.
Despite my initial skepticism, I was going to see this movie regardless and give my thoughts on it and…Black Phone 2 is fun. It’s nowhere near as frightening as its predecessor, but those looking to have a creepy good time at the movies for Halloween surely won’t be disappointed.
The film is set four years after Finney Blake (Mason Thames-How to Train Your Dragon (2025), Regretting You) killed The Grabber and follows him and his sister, Gwen (Madeleine McGraw-American Sniper, Toy Story 4, The Mandela Effect) who after the latter begins to have nightmares involving murders at a youth camp in the 1950s venture out to the camp during a snowstorm in order to figure out what happened. This all turns out to be a trap concocted by none other than The Grabber (Hawke) who is now a ghost and hellbent on causing as much pain to Finney as possible as revenge for killing him.
Finney, Gwen, and their friend Ernesto (Miguel Mora who previously portrayed The Grabber’s victim, Robin in the first film) uncover a secret regarding this camp and their family history as they face off against a killer who has grown more powerful in death.
The film also stars Demián Bichir (Alien: Covenant, The Nun, Godzilla VS Kong) as Armando, Jeremy Davies (Twister, Saving Private Ryan, Justice League Dark) reprising his role as Finney and Gwen’s father Terrence Blake, Arianna Rivas (Danger Force, Prom Dates, A Working Man) as Mustang, and Graham Abbey (Degrassi: The Next Generation, King John, Stay the Night) as Kenneth.
Overall, Black Phone 2 leans more into fun horror compared to its predecessor and doesn’t really have that blood pumping energy from the first, but it’s still a solid sequel and an enjoyable time at the movies. I personally preferred the tension of the first as that was like the ultimate “Stranger Danger” movie with Ethan Hawke’s Grabber being very unsettling in it, but I was entertained while watching this one.
The sequel definitely utilizes the supernatural element more with the sister who has all the dreams/visions, Gwen essentially being the protagonist while Finney is a supporting character. Basically the Nancy Thompson from A Nightmare on Elm Street of this movie and it works well enough.
It especially helps that Madeleine McGraw is excellent in the film, I thought she was a standout in the first, but this really is her movie. She has the snarky remarks, vulgarities, and tough as nails attitude that she had in the first while also selling the heartfelt and dramatic moments.
Mason Thames is also very good reprising his role as Finney though he’s not as focused on this time around and I like that Jeremy Davies is given more to do as Finney and Gwen’s father and actually plays a part in helping them stop The Grabber. Speaking of which, even in death (I’m talking about the character FYI!), Ethan Hawke is still great as The Grabber and has plenty of creepy moments throughout the film, but like I said, I thought he was much scarier when he was alive than when he became a Freddy Krueger clone.
I do really like how Gwen’s dreams are depicted with a very grainy, shot on film look (The movie even starts with the 70s-80s Universal logo in the beginning) which makes it easy to differentiate between the dream world and the real world. Honestly, it makes the dreams feel rawer and grittier, I thought that was a clever way of handling them.
The kills are bloody and fun, but a lot of the time they felt too reminiscent of A Nightmare on Elm Streetcomplete with a “If you get hurt/die in your dream, you get hurt/die in real life” sequence. We’ve seen ghosts/entities moving people around, tossing them, slamming them, and killing/wounding them in bloody ways many times before and while they’re done well here, there really isn’t anything special about them.
Black Phone 2 is a flawed but fun horror sequel that pales in comparison to its predecessor, but it offers enough thrills and mystery to make it an entertaining watch for the Halloween season. Pick up the phone and see for yourself.
Good Fortune review
GOOD FORTUNE:
KEANU REEVES TRULY IS AN ANGEL IN UPROARIOUSLY FUNNY COMEDY!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: **** out of 4
LIONSGATE
Seth Rogen, Keanu Reeves, and Aziz Ansari in Good Fortune
Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation, Get Him to the Greek, Bob’s Burgers) befriends a Guardian Angel played by Keanu Reeves (The Matrix franchise, John Wick franchise, Sonic the Hedgehog 3) who turns his life…into absolute perfection…and doesn’t get turned upside down in the new supernatural comedy film, Good Fortune. This film marks Ansari’s official directorial debut after 2022’s Being Mortal was scrapped by Searchlight Pictures.
I was sold on this movie just by the premise alone when I saw the trailer for it in front of the John Wick spinoff, Ballerina earlier this year. Keanu Reeves, hot off the John Wick movies and voicing the edgy, Shadow the Hedgehog in the recent Sonic movie as a bumbling angel trying to help a lost soul played by Ansari and an It’s a Wonderful Lifemeets Freaky Friday-ish plot where Ansari switches lives with a successful Seth Rogen (Superbad, This is the End, The Studio).
The film is essentially a social satire on the rich VS the poor, but not in a way where it constantly hammers the message into your head. It remembers to be a comedy first and My God (No pun intended), this movie is really, REALLY funny!
I laughed quite a bit during this movie and all of it comes from the performances by Reeves, Ansari, and Rogen. I literally could have just watched them sitting in a room, talking to each other, and cracking jokes for 90 minutes and come out happy.
The film follows Arj (Ansari), a down on his luck man struggling to make ends meet through various odd jobs (One of which is standing in line for 2 hours at a cinnamon bun shop for another person) and sleeps in his car. His life suddenly changes when he meets a well-meaning but rather inept Guardian Angel named Gabriel (Reeves) with small wings and mostly just stops people from texting and driving.
Gabriel proposes a one-week experiment where Arj switches lives with wealthy venture capitalist, Jeff (Rogen) in order for him to see how good he actually had it all along. That’s not at all what happens as Arj loves the life of luxury and doesn’t want to go back to the way things were thus leaving all three of them stuck in this alternate reality.
The film also stars Keke Palmer (Hustlers, Nope, One of Them Days) as Elena, Sandra Oh (Sideways, Grey’s Anatomy, Turning Red) as Martha, Stephen McKinley Henderson (Lincoln, Dune (2021), Civil War) as Azrael, and Sherry Cola (Turning Red, Shortcomings, Joy Ride) as Linda.
Overall, Good Fortune is an incredibly funny comedy that delivers plenty of laughs while also having a fascinating premise and an equally bold message. The movie takes the “Money can’t buy happiness” moral and twists it around where it’s like money can’t buy happiness, but it can help you live comfortably in a miserable life which I think is a really clever take on that message we’ve heard a million times.
On top of that, Seth Rogen’s character learns the lesson of hardship when he’s switched with Ansari’s life and how the lower class people working their asses off for long shifts and barely making enough money to survive affect the wealthy. Honestly, it makes me wish more investors, moguls, and businessmen in real life would learn the exact same lesson as Rogen in this film.
The performances by the three leads are all hysterical and just the team-up alone of Keanu Reeves, Aziz Ansari, and Seth Rogen has so much comedic potential. Reeves is perfectly cast as a well-meaning but bumbling angel as if Ted from Bill and Ted died and became an angel, in an age where people know him best for Neo from The Matrix and John Wick, it’s great to see him in a movie where he can showcase his comedic talents again in the most Keanu Reeves way possible.
Aziz Ansari and Seth Rogen are also very funny though that’s kind of a given, but they work very well off each other and easily the best aspect of the movie are the scenes where they’re interacting with Keanu. Like I said, these three are so funny that when you put them together in a room, comedy magic is created.
One thing I found very interesting about the film is that the first half focuses on Aziz Ansari and Keanu Reeves, but then after Ansari switches places with Seth Rogen the second half revolves around Rogen and Reeves struggling to get by. The marketing really makes it seem like Ansari is the main character throughout, but in actuality it’s about Ansari and Rogen and you get to see the story from both their perspectives.
Good Fortune is a hilarious and downright smart comedy with relatable characters and equally relatable situations. It brings the belly laughs and a clever insight on the workplace world that’ll make you laugh your way up to Heaven.
Thursday, October 9, 2025
Roofman review
ROOFMAN:
CHANNING TATUM TOYS R US CRIME COMEDY IS ILLEGAL FUN!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND MIRAMAX
Channing Tatum in Roofman
A criminal hides out inside a Toys R Us store in Roofman, a crime comedy from director Derek Cianfrance (Blue Valentine, The Place Beyond the Pines, The Light Between Oceans) based on the true story of real-life spree robber Jeffrey Manchester. Yeah, I was onboard for this movie when I heard the premise and saw the trailer though I know nothing about what actually went down.
It looked like a fun, quirky comedy with a silly albeit fact-based plot with Channing Tatum (21/22 Jump Street,Magic Mike trilogy, Deadpool & Wolverine) as a charismatic robber with a heart of gold and forming a relationship with Kirsten Dunst (Bring It On, Spider-Man trilogy, Marie Antoinette). That’s pretty much what I got and I quite enjoyed my time with this film.
It’s not really a movie that’s filled with twists and turns and you can easily figure out what kind of film this is just by the trailer. Nevertheless, I found this to be a very entertaining, funny, and heartfelt look at one of the craziest true stories you could possibly imagine.
The film follows Jeffrey Manchester/The Roofman (Tatum), a struggling father turned criminal who robs from various businesses and establishments (e.g. McDonalds…oh, and one Burger King too!) for the sake of providing for his children and ex-wife. But after a daring escape from prison, Jeffrey hides in a Toys R Us store for six months, disables the security cameras, and sets up a hiding spot inside the store where no one will find him.
However, Jeffrey begins to form a strong bond with one of the employees and single mother, Leigh Wainscott (Dunst) who is drawn to his charms and completely unaware that he is actually the criminal hiding in the store. Little does Jeffrey know that his double life is about to be turned upside down in a chaotic game of cat and mouse.
The film also stars Ben Mendelsohn (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Ready Player One, Captain Marvel) as pastor Ron Smith, Peter Dinklage (Elf, Game of Thrones, Avengers: Infinity War) as Mitch, Uzo Aduba (Orange Is the New Black, Steven Universe, Lightyear) as Eileen, Juno Temple (Black Mass, Unsane, Venom: The Last Dance) as Michelle, Emory Cohen (The Place Beyond the Pines, Brooklyn, The Bikeriders) as Otis, LaKeith Stanfield (Sorry to Bother You, Uncut Gems, Judas and the Black Messiah) as Steve, and Melonie Diaz (Lords of Dogtown, Fruitvale Station, The First Purge) as Jeffrey’s ex-wife Talana.
Overall, Roofman is a funny and surprisingly heartfelt heist that shows Derek Cianfrance’s talents as a comedic director without sacrificing his dramatic flair. This is a significantly lighter film than Blue Valentine and The Place Beyond the Pines, but it doesn’t shy away from heavy subject matter like divorce and desperately trying to provide for your family.
One of the things this movie does incredibly well is humanize the titular Roofman and despite him robbing people, the film doesn’t portray him like the “Bad Guy”, he’s just doing what he feels he needs to do for the sake of his family and Dunst and her kids later. Also, the guy is just so polite when he’s robbing businesses, doesn’t try to get violent, and calls 911 himself to get everyone out after his heist is finished, why can’t more criminals be like the Roofman? That’s a sentence!
Channing Tatum is perfectly cast in this role as he naturally has a ton of charm and charisma in almost everything he’s in. So, him portraying like a Robin Hood-ish burglar hiding in a Toys R Us seems like something he can do in his sleep.
Kirsten Dunst is also very likable as Leigh, the employee who Tatum befriends and falls for, not gonna lie, despite the circumstances, Tatum and Dunst have really great chemistry here. I love seeing them interact with each other and Tatum bonding with Dunst’s kids, it’s just so wholesome and adds to the film’s heart.
Peter Dinklage is funny too as the store manager who’s also a complete dick, typical miserable retail manager stereotype that I feel like a lot of people can relate to. He gets some laughs as a higher-up that you just want to punch in the fucking face when he says or does something douchey.
If you grew up in the 2000s or are nostalgic for Toys R Us, this movie is practically covered in “Member Berries” which honestly adds to the fun. Seeing old video games like The Simpsons: Hit & Run and The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures, the Tickle Me Elmo doll, Spider-Man merchandise (That totally wasn’t there because Kirsten Dunst was in the original Spider-Man movies!), plushies of Stitch and Sonic the Hedgehog on the shelves, etc. I felt like I was a kid again watching this film every time they showed the store merchandise…who secretly watched this R-rated movie while his parents were sleeping…or snuck into a movie theater.
Roofman is a very enjoyable film that delivers on laughs and feels, it’s certainly an unexpected movie from Derek Cianfrance, but it shows his talents in new ways we’ve never seen before. This is one gloriously crazy heist that’s worth coming back to and I most definitely will come back to it again soon.
A House of Dynamite review
A HOUSE OF DYNAMITE:
KATHRYN BIGELOW CRAFTS AN EXPLOSIVE THRILLER!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
NETFLIX
Idris Elba and Rebecca Ferguson in A House of Dynamite
It’s a race against time as the U.S. government fight to stop a nuclear missile from an unknown enemy in A House of Dynamite, the new film from director Kathryn Bigelow (Point Break, The Hurt Locker, Zero Dark Thirty) and her first feature film since 2017’s Detroit. I’m always excited and intrigued to see what Kathryn Bigelow brings to the screen, I loved The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty (Both of which were among my best films from 2009 and 2012) and I thought Detroit was a solid crime drama that touched upon relevant subject matter in an effective way.
Naturally, I was curious to see what she would do next which brings us to this movie released in limited theaters followed by a Netflix release soon after. Not sure why this film needed to be a Netflix project given that Bigelow is a pretty big name in the film industry, but I digress.
I went to one of the few theaters in my area that was showing it and…yeah, this is a damn good film. Do I like it as much as Hurt Locker or Zero Dark Thirty? No, but I was on the edge of my seat and invested in what was happening onscreen.
The film follows Captain Olivia Walker (Rebecca Ferguson-Mission: Impossible franchise, Doctor Sleep, Dune: Parts 1 and 2), a senior officer in the White House Situation Room and monitors threats in her country. But when an unidentified nuclear missile is launched by an unknown enemy at the United States, the race is on to determine who is responsible and how to respond.
The film also stars Idris Elba (Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pacific Rim, Molly’s Game) as POTUS (President of the United States), Gabriel Basso (Super 8, The Kings of Summer, Hillbilly Elegy) as Deputy National Security Advisor Jake Baerington, Jared Harris (The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, Lincoln) as Secretary of Defense Reid Baker, Tracy Letts (The Big Short, Lady Bird, Ford v. Ferrari) as General Anthony Brady, Anthony Ramos (In the Heights, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, Twisters) as Major Daniel Gonzalez, Moses Ingram (The Tragedy of Macbeth, Ambulance, Obi-Wan Kenobi) as Cathy Rogers, Jonah Hauer-King (A Dog’s Way Home, The Little Mermaid (2023), I Know What You Did Last Summer (2025)) as Lieutenant Commander Robert Reeves, Greta Lee (Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Past Lives, Tron: Ares) as Ana Park, and Jason Clarke (Zero Dark Thirty, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Oppenheimer) as Admiral Mark Miller.
Overall, A House of Dynamite is a tense and riveting thriller that takes a nightmarish situation and makes it frighteningly plausible. Sure, it’s nowhere near as bombastic as The Hurt Locker and is more tension-filled, but it is a masterfully crafted movie that is very effective from the start to its bleak conclusion.
I’m not usually scared of horror movies, but seeing a film with this sort of premise and knowing that events like this can happen and has happened in real life is terrifying to me. Bigelow understands the urgency of current events and events that could happen if we’re not careful and crafts gripping, nail-biting stories centered around them with this being no exception.
I was captivated, horrified, and on the edge of my seat throughout my viewing of the film and by the end, I was practically speechless and took a long time mentally processing it on my way home. This is a Netflix movie, but if you can, I strongly urge you to see this in a theater to get the full experience, not just because of seeing and hearing missiles flying on the big screen, but the collected audience reactions to things that occur.
The performances are great all across the board though the film jumps around between actors and characters spontaneously, but everyone brings their A-game. Wouldn’t expect anything less from a movie with Idris Elba, Rebecca Ferguson, Anthony Ramos, and Greta Lee (In the much better movie released this past weekend) among others in the leads.
The movie is also shot incredibly well with a lot of intense camera movements to better show how heavy the situations in the film are. Yes, Bigelow did this sort of thing with The Hurt Locker, but it worked well for that movie and it also does here too. Take notes, Michael Bay!
A House of Dynamite is a tense, gripping political thriller with an explosive blast that absolutely deserves your attention. It is a frightening and compelling experience that has a ton of relevance to today’s politics and I’m happy to report that with her first directing effort since 2017, Kathryn Bigelow hasn’t lost her golden touch.
Tron: Ares review
TRON: ARES:
A VISUALLY DAZZLING, NEON-FILLED LIGHT SHOW WITH A VERY AVERAGE THREEQUEL SURROUNDING IT!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: ** ½ out of 4
DISNEY
The programs enter our world in Tron: Ares
The digital world of the Grid is back in Tron: Ares, the third installment of the Tron film series after the groundbreaking 1982 original which revolutionized computer animation and its 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy. I really like the first Tron movie and will gladly call it a game-changer in visual effects especially for the time it was made with a unique look, fascinating themes and ideas that still hit home today, and decent characters, not a perfect film but rightfully deserves to be considered a landmark in filmmaking.
The 2010 sequel, Tron: Legacy I also enjoyed a lot though it’s nowhere near as groundbreaking as its predecessor. It’s a fun popcorn movie with dazzling and flashy action scenes, a plot that does expand upon the world and ideas of Tron, and Jeff Bridges going up against himself, great 3D movie experience (This was also around the same time James Cameron’s Avatar was all the rage).
Now we have this third film with Joachim Rønning (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Maleficent: Mistress of Evil, Young Woman and the Sea) in the director’s chair and starring the Hollywood punchline himself, Jared Leto (Dallas Buyers Club, Blade Runner 2049, Morbius). It’s no surprise that I’m not a Jared Leto fan as I personally think he’s too full of himself and often gets carried away with his method acting so, I wasn’t exactly onboard for him leading a Tron movie especially when I was hoping for a direct continuation of Legacy.
But the trailers looked promising and I really dig the idea of the Tron world entering ours which had a lot of potential given today’s obsession with AI. Even with Leto’s involvement, I was able to excuse that because I thought this was a solid premise for a Tron movie and even if it pales in comparison to the other two, I just love this franchise’s world.
The good news is Tron: Ares is a visually stunning movie to watch on the big screen and the ideas it does explore are interesting…the film itself however is a mess! I’m not calling this movie terrible or anything, but this third adventure on the Grid left me feeling rather empty and indifferent by the end.
The film is set 15 years after the events of Tron: Legacy and follows a program named Ares (Leto) who is brought from the Grid and into the real world (For only 29 minutes at a time) by Dillinger Systems CEO, Julian Dillinger (Evan Peters-Invasion, Kick-Ass, X-Men franchise) to retrieve a permanence code (A code that will allow Ares to stay in the real world longer than 29 minutes without facing deresolution) created by programmer, Kevin Flynn with his only lead being ENCOM CEO, Eve Kim (Greta Lee-Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Past Lives, A House of Dynamite). However, Ares begins to evolve and grows a conscious as he and Eve team up to find Kevin’s permanence code and stop Julian’s plan while another destructive program named Athena (Jodie Turner-Smith-The Last Ship, Queen & Slim, Murder Mystery 2) enters the real world to hunt Ares so, they have to stop her too.
The film also stars Hasan Minhaj (The Spy Who Dumped Me, No Hard Feelings, It Ends with Us) as Ajay Patel, Arturo Castro (Broad City, Narcos, Weird: The Al Yankovic Story) as Seth Flores, Gillian Anderson (The X-Files, The House of Mirth, Sex Education) as Elisabeth Dillinger, and Jeff Bridges (The Big Lebowski, Iron Man, True Grit (2010)) reprising his role from the previous films as Kevin Flynn.
Overall, Tron: Ares is absolutely impressive on a technical level and does deserve to be seen on the big screen, but the film itself leaves a lot to be desired. The setup is great and lends itself to a lot of possibilities, the programs and machines from the Grid entering the real world and showing how the two worlds interact with one another, unfortunately the movie doesn’t really do much with this premise.
Usually when a program, light-cycle, or one of those flying ships from Tron enters the real world, it’s mainly just an excuse for an action sequence which are spectacular, but for a film with this kind of premise, it pains me to see them barely scratch the surface with this. The world we live in now has AI as both an exciting and terrifying invention and compared to other movies like Ex-Machina, Companion, or the first M3GAN where they did something really clever and creative with a premise revolving around artificial intelligence and how far we should go with it, Tron’s take on it was disappointing.
Leto and Lee to their credit aren’t phoning in their performances nor is the former being an obnoxious schmuckhead, but their characters aren’t that endearing unfortunately and the dialogue is bad. Sure, Tron: Legacy had some cheesy dialogue, but the charm of characters like Sam, Quorra, and Kevin carried through the silly moments, this is bad MCU-level dialogue where side characters are annoying and constantly trying to make jokes or quips and none of it lands.
The soundtrack by Nine Inch Nails is freaking awesome and even though I wasn’t exactly invested in the story or characters, their music accompanying these neon-filled visuals was almost hypnotizing. It works in a similar way Daft Punk did with Tron: Legacy and just like that movie, I went and got the soundtrack on iTunes after seeing it, it’s good stuff.
Aside from stunning visuals, a kickass score, and a few interesting ideas being explored, Tron: Ares is a pretty disappointing third adventure on the Grid that wastes its fascinating premise on action scenes, obnoxious humor, and dull characters. It is still worth seeing in theaters and especially IMAX but coming off of the 1982 Tron and Tron: Legacy, we have a long way for these artificial programs to gain a human touch.
Thursday, October 2, 2025
The Smashing Machine review
THE SMASHING MACHINE:
SORRY HULK, BUT DWAYNE JOHNSON’S THE NEW SMASHING MACHINE IN TOWN!
By Nico Beland
Movie Review: *** ½ out of 4
A24
Dwayne Johnson in The Smashing Machine
ROCK SMASH! Okay, got that out of the way…anyway, Dwayne Johnson (The Scorpion King, Fast & Furious franchise, Jumanji 2 and 3) transforms himself into MMA fighter, Mark Kerr in The Smashing Machine, the new film from A24 and director Benny Safdie (Heaven Knows What, Good Time, Uncut Gems). I’m no mega-expert on the Safdie Brothers’ work, but I loved their movie, Uncut Gems and hailed it as one of the best films I saw in 2019 so naturally I was curious to see what they would do next and in this year’s case we’re getting two movies from each of them with Josh Safdie’s Marty Supreme coming out this holiday season.
I don’t know anything about the real Mark Kerr or UFC in general, but what really drew me to this film aside from the director was that this was if I’m not mistaken, Dwayne Johnson’s first time giving a dramatic performance which I’m not against. Of course, I enjoy him as the Scorpion King or as Hobbs in the Fast & Furious movies, but actors usually known for lighthearted and goofy roles can go beyond what their audiences expect from them like when Jim Carrey and Adam Sandler transitioned from comedy to drama.
I had plenty of confidence in Johnson’s transition to drama as he seemed very passionate about this project when it was being made so, I gave him the benefit of the doubt, watched the film, and…wow! This is a really, really good movie though I don’t like it as much as Uncut Gems, but I was captivated throughout and mesmerized by Johnson’s uncanny performance as Kerr.
The film is set between 1997-2000 and follows mixed martial artist, Mark Kerr (Johnson) reaching the peak of his career, but soon faces several challenges along the way. He has a complicated relationship with his girlfriend, Dawn (Emily Blunt-Looper, Edge of Tomorrow, Oppenheimer; who had previously worked with Johnson on 2021’s Jungle Cruise), he’s addicted to opioid and goes through rehab, and faces all the physical and mental pains of preparing for the fight of his lifetime at the 2000 Pride Grand Prix.
The film also stars Ryan Bader as Mark Coleman, Bas Rutten as himself, Oleksandr Usyk as Igor Vovchanchyn, Satoshi Ishii as Enson Inoue, James Moontasri as Akira Shoji, Stephen Quadros as himself, Cyborg Abreu as Fábio Gurgel, Andre Tricoteux (Once Upon a Time, Deadpool, Warcraft) as Paul Varelans, and Marcus Auréllo as Mestre Hulk.
Overall, The Smashing Machine is a compelling and gritty sports biopic and a tour de force for Dwayne Johnson in the same boat as Brendan Fraser from The Whale (I just realized I went with another Mummy actor right there). I should make this clear, don’t expect this movie to focus entirely on the matches, they are in there, but the film focuses more on the domestic issues between Kerr and his girlfriend.
It’s less like a sports biopic and more of a relationship drama which might throw people off if they only saw the trailers. The lack of fighting in the ring didn’t bother me too much as the relationship aspect of the film is interesting and both Johnson and Blunt are powerhouses here.
Dwayne Johnson is incredible in this movie as he’s almost unrecognizable with the hair and prosthetics on, sure he is playing a mixed martial artist given his wrestling background and portrays the charismatic sports star aspect well. But he is scaringly good in the dramatic and heavy moments whether it’s a conflict with Emily Blunt or his character’s struggles with addiction and rehab, he is simply fascinating to watch here in a very against-type performance.
Emily Blunt is also a standout as Dawn who constantly goes back and forth between loving and hating Mark, she’s there for emotional support while also not having any of Mark’s shit at the same time. Again, I don’t know anything about the real person, but I thought Blunt did a magnificent job as usual in this.
For the most part, I was invested in what I was watching, but I will admit there are times where the film drags not to the point where it became a complete slog, but I did start to check out a bit when there wasn’t any relationship tension or fighting in the ring going on. Definitely not like Uncut Gems which was a tension-filled rush from start to finish with absolutely zero low points during that film, but the occasionally slow pacing didn’t ruin the movie for me.
Despite a few punches to the face, The Smashing Machine is a solid sports biopic and relationship drama with a remarkable Dwayne Johnson performance that hopefully will lead to more acting roles like this from him. Honestly, whether you follow MMA or not, this film is worth checking out at least once on Johnson’s performance alone because he really is what makes the movie.
Sorry, Bruce Banner, but The Rock stole your thunder as the Smashing Machine!
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