The Smashing Machine Showcases The Rock Like We've Never Seen Him Before

Warning: This article contains spoilers for "The Smashing Machine."

Is the hierarchy of power in the 2026 Academy Awards about to change? Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson sure hopes so, if his dramatic about-face pivot in "The Smashing Machine" is anything to go by. The awards season hopeful, from writer/director Benny Safdie, represents the first step in Johnson's extremely calculated plan. Up until recently, he's been content to leverage his WWE star power for a steady string of blockbusters throughout the last several years. He helped reinvigorate the "Fast & Furious" franchise, served as the leading man on several genre movies in which he wore indistinguishable outfits of khaki and grey (to the point of becoming fodder for memes), and even flirted with staging a coup on DC and have "Black Adam" lead the superhero universe into a new age. All of this has led us here: The Rock starring in an A24 movie from a Film Twitter fav with his sights set squarely on gold.

Based on early reviews, as /Film's own Bill Bria laid out here, "The Smashing Machine" appears to have been just what The Rock ordered. Rather than playing yet another vaguely charismatic hunk in an assembly line of them, Johnson's role as mixed martial artist Mark Kerr brings a whole new flavor of the wrestler-turned-actor to the forefront. Gone are all those flattering muscle suits, quippy one-liners, and (alleged) "no-lose" clauses in his contract stipulating that he come out on top of every fight. Instead, this biopic practically forces him to put his ego to the side and unleash his most vulnerable performance yet. Is this the dawn of a new era for Dwayne Johnson? That remains to be seen. For now, all we know for sure is that we've never seen him quite like this before.

For a guy who clearly spends an inordinate amount of time on curating his brand and public image, it's no coincidence that Dwayne Johnson chose a role like this in "The Smashing Machine." At a certain point, every major actor must decide what niche they wish to fill and what kind of star they want to be. On his prior trajectory, The Rock was running dangerously close to being known among mass audiences as the kind of performer whose name guarantees the opposite of quality ... with all due respect to the likes of "Red One," "Red Notice," and "Baywatch," of course. To his credit, however, it appears that Johnson himself saw this coming and purposefully skewed far outside of his own comfort zone.

He couldn't have done so more dramatically than by portraying someone like Mark Kerr. Based on the true story of the man who pioneered MMA/UFC fighting as an industry, "The Smashing Machine" depicts the figure's personal troubles as he attempts to fight his way to the very top of the circuit. Unlike The Rock's WWE personality, full of brash ego and even a recent turn into heel territory, Mark is a soft-spoken and mild-mannered athlete who keeps things bottled up inside until they violently explode out of him ... either in the ring or, tragically, during his many arguments with girlfriend Dawn (Emily Blunt). Benny Safdie's script, based on the 2002 documentary "The Smashing Machine: The Life and Times of Extreme Fighter Mark Kerr," requires that Johnson play the majority of the film in a minor-key note. Although fitting for such an internalized figure, this additional acting challenge (on top of the already-intrusive prosthetics and makeup) forces Johnson to underplay several moments of gravitas — a deliberate choice that compels audiences to actually lean in and pay attention to the nuances of his performance.

It's really only during his various fights that moviegoers will be reminded of The Rock they're so familiar with: a man of such brute-force strength who knows exactly how and when to use his physicality to play to the cameras.

Will this transformative turn in "The Smashing Machine" be enough to win over skeptical voters and recruit them to the Dwayne Johnson cause? It's far too early to say, as much of this will depend on how audiences actually respond to his turn and the movie overall. A24, the distribution studio behind the production, obviously intends on rolling out the red carpet and doing everything they can to push this firmly into the conversation — the end-of-year release date, the marketing highlighting the "prestige drama" merits of the story, and what's sure to be plenty of behind-the-scenes schmoozing on the part of Johnson are all strategic aspects to nudge this across the finish line.

What we can say, however, is that the star appears to be setting up a new phase of his career. Not too dissimilar from Tom Cruise taking a much-needed break from the "Mission: Impossible" movies and getting back to his roots with an upcoming Alejandro Iñárritu film, Johnson may be hoping to change the narrative that has cropped up around his recent work. Known primarily among general audiences as the guy who headlines crowd-pleasing junk food fare, Johnson's pivot to something as serious and respected as a biopic speaks volumes about where he wants to go next. He's gone on record regretting his emphasis on chasing box office profits above all else, and he even has a Martin Scorsese film in the cards co-starring "One Battle After Another" lead Leonardo DiCaprio and frequent screen partner Emily Blunt. Yes, we're going to have get through that live-action "Moana" remake first, but who says progress has to be linear?

Regardless of how "The Smashing Machine" performs, The Rock is positioned nicely to put, well, The Rock behind him. Should all go according to plan, that pesky "wrestler-turned-actor" caveat may very well be a thing of the past. From this point onwards, expect Dwayne Johnson to take a page out of Dave Bautista or John Cena's playbook and continue proving to the world that he can be more than what we've come to expect.

"The Smashing Machine" is now playing in theaters.