Johnson undoubtedly exhibits a facet on this sizzle reel we haven’t seen from him in over a decade. Right here is the daring and eccentric character actor who might steal scenes from John Travolta in standard studio fare like Be Cool, and be the center of the extra enigmatic Southland Tales. He even allowed himself to turn out to be the clay with which Michael Bay would paint his scathing portrait of American greed and conceitedness in Ache & Acquire.
For the reason that starting of his pivot from wrestling to movie performing, Johnson has confirmed to have deep swimming pools of charisma and a extra ambiguous reserve of expertise that has solely been often tapped. But there’s a purpose Arnold Schwarzenegger appeared to designate him inheritor obvious, even when in lighthearted if energetic schlock like The Rundown.
Johnson has chosen to not deeply faucet into that expertise over the past 12 years, nevertheless it was there faintly when attending to riff on Large in Jumanji, and it might have been there when performing reverse abilities like Emily Blunt. Certainly, the pair labored collectively in 2021’s Jungle Cruise, a by the numbers studio product that requested Johnson and Blunt to, in principle, modernize Bogie and Hepburn, however in fact amounted to glorified solid members on a theme park journey.
But on this new Smashing Machine trailer, the pair counsel tangible chemistry when Blunt’s Daybreak tends to a wounded boyfriend with empathy but additionally a guarded weariness. Johnson and Blunt each seem out of their respective milieus within the setting of gritty drama or grittier health club. Granted, we’ve seen Blunt adapt between disparate roles and genres earlier than—together with reverse Benny Safdie in a fairly completely different biopic, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer—however having actual, pained sparks with Johnson marks one thing new. With a bit of luck, it’ll hit as arduous as Kerr within the octagon.
A24 releases Smashing Machine on Oct. 3.
