In the dim light of a small gym, sweat hits the floor as Mark Kerr (Dwayne Johnson) trains like a man possessed. The film dives into his life, a powerhouse wrestler turned MMA fighter, whose greatest opponent isn’t in the ring but within himself.
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We watch him rise through the brutal early days of mixed martial arts, his face often swollen, his spirit bruised but unbroken. Outside the cage, his relationship with Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt) begins as a story of devotion and ends as a heartbreaking struggle against addiction and fame.
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Mark wins, loses, bleeds, and survives, the camera never looks away. The film cuts between roaring arenas and quiet hotel rooms where he battles painkillers and loneliness. He trains under Bas Rutten, fights through broken bones, and even when he wins, he feels hollow. His moments of victory are short-lived, replaced by the need for another shot, another fight, another chance to matter.
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In one haunting sequence, after a loss, Mark stares into a mirror, bruised and trembling, asking who he’s really fighting anymore. Dawn leaves, unable to watch him destroy himself. When he finally enters rehab, he has to rebuild his strength from the ground up not as a fighter, but as a man trying to live without violence as his only language. The ending brings him back to the gym where it all began, not as a champion, but as someone who’s learned what survival truly means.
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Director: Benny Safdie
Cast: Dwayne Johnson, Emily Blunt, Oleksandr Usyk, Ryan Bader
Runtime: 2h 12m
Watch trailer here
