morrison-dylan-fan About four years ago,I read a review in a pro-wrestling magazine called Power Slam,praising a film called The Smashing Machine.Sadly,I always kept pushing the film back,thinking "Ill pick it up one day",even though I am a big fan of the fantastic Mickey Rouke film The Wrestler (in interviews,the makers of The Wrestler,have said that this was one of the main inspirations for the film.)Thankfully,with my best friends birthday coming up very soon,I suddenly remembered this film,so I decided that as soon as the DVD arrived in the post,that I would sit down and watch the film.The moment the end credits started,my instant feeling was one of speechlessness.The outline of the film:The film looks at the highly-rated Mixed Martial Artist (MMA) Mark Kerr,who goes to the world biggest MMA company (Pride).When Pride announces that it wants to decides an undisputed champion,by holding a tournament.One of Kerrs friends (Mark Coleman)decides to come out of retirement (he badly lost in his last MMA fight a few years ago)to try and win the championship,and the $200,000 prize money.Whilst most of the fighters are focusing on battling their rivals and winning the cash prize.For Kerr,the toughest rival that he must beat are himself and his own demons,that are eating his life away.With his girlfriend having trouble dealing with her drinking problem,and Mark having a terrible addiction to dope,that he is shown shooting himself up,whilst also being addicted to painkillers,that leads to him being rushed to hospital,when he ods.View on the film:The first thought that hit me like a knock-out knee to the face,was the raw,open wound feeling of what Kerr had surprising given the documentary filmmakers permission to film.Which included some of the most distressing scenes that I have seen in any film.With the painfully agonising long take,of Kerr sliding a needle into his veins,to his friends rushing to be at the hospital,when Mark frighteningly almost reaches the bottom of the downward spiral.Impressively,Directors/camera men John Hymans and Steve Schleuter make sure to not show any of the people in the film as glowing heroes or boo! hiss! villains.Instead they are mostly shown as good,though very flawed people.With even Kerrs girlfriend not being corned into the clichés hanger-on role (also known as the Yoko role)but getting shown as a likable,but very confused girl.For the MMA fights,the makers wisely decide not to fill the fights with rubbish "edgey" radio-rock and MTV style jump-cuts,instead they use some well-filmed views from the ringside,with a soft ambient soundtrack that even includes moments of silence!.Though a lot of the film is very dark,it does thankfully have an optimistic side,with the return of Mark Coleman,whose strong friendship for Kerr shines in the film,which makes his trophy raising moment,almost impossible to not smile to.Final view on the film:A stunningly made documentary,of an absorbing story,that is easily one of the best films made in the last ten years.

BunkhouseTito This was an excellent documentary on a typical fighter and the trials and tribulations one must endure to not only compete, but to gain a certain level of success as well. In this case, Mark Kerr was the subject and we are showed quite a few of his ups and downs in his career, both personal and professional.The Smashing Machine also brought the average joe into what is going on behind the scenes, the press conferences, the relationships with the other fighters, etc. We are shown that Mark Kerr and Mark Coleman are good friends, who train together and are also willing to step into the ring, octagon or whatever and fight it out with each other as well. At times, this actually seemed to drift away from Kerr and more onto Coleman, who started to become more interesting than Kerr later on in the movie.We are also given a look at some intense training with Kerr and Bas Rutten. This was probably the best part of the documentary, as I was most entertained by the scenes with Kerr and Rutten.Although I enjoyed The Smashing Machine immensely, I would have chosen someone other than Kerr to feature. Personally, I would like to see how someone like Randy Couture, Tito Ortiz, Ken Shamrock or any of the other bigger names in Mixed Martial Arts go about their daily business and training. I'm sure it would be just as enthralling, if not more. 8/10

gtbaddy I rented the DVD of "Smashing Machine" because I remembered Howard Stern talking about how good it was on his radio show a few months back. Just to preface where my opinion is coming from, while I am interested in martial arts and have seen a few of the UFC specials on Pay-Per-View years ago, I am by no means an active fan who is current with these events or the fighters.Before watching, I was a little worried that this movie might of been geared towards the fans, and since I had never even heard of Mark Kerr I thought it might be uninteresting. Glad to report I was wrong... I thought this movie was fantastic. It was partially a profile of Mark Kerr and partially showing the ins and outs of the Pride Fighting events. It was odd to see that these people that go in the ring and beat the life out of each other are just regular guys who go home to a family. I would recommend this movie to anyone that is interested by martial arts or fighting, I thought it was a great watch.

sr4nier A compelling and poignant piece on the life and times of ultimate fighter Mark Kerr. Every fan and non-fan of this great sport should watch this. Kerrs' rise and subsequent fall and eventual comeback was both exciting and sad.The man himself is an enigma in the sense that outside the ring, well quite frankly, I don't think you could meet a nicer person. Inside the ring however, he at one point was literally the "baddest man on the planet".As dominant as anyone who ever competed. In his prime, complete power and destruction was what he brought to the events he competed in.