Plenty to Like, Plenty to Dislike

One of my all time favorites.

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

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

This film was first and foremost, a beautifully choreographed work of humanity, featuring blood, violence, drugs, sweat, tears, drama, pain, love, enthusiasm, and pure adrenaline pumping action. Mark Coleman is seen in the last scene of the film in the Championship match as the undetermined underdog of the film made so because of his old age, and a long-time friend of Mark Kerr, the lead character of this documentary expedition. Coleman is pitted against the man who gave Mark Kerr his first loss of his career in a fascinating, moving, enrapturing and brilliant explosion of violence and desperate animalistic passion. The scene is quick and tense. The camera pans and cuts to Coleman in the ring and to Kerr who had just lost his initial fight and is having his chin stitched. This juxtaposition is forceful and the brutality experienced by the loser in the ring, not Coleman, captured through the camera's lens structured close enough to catch the blood feeding off the fighter's faces. Coleman repeatedly knees his opponent in the head from behind and his opponent panicked, in severe pain, and trapped, with only a weak arm to shield from his opponent's aggressive blows, chooses, through utter disparity to tap out, which is a rare UFC decision. His opponent does so and Coleman springs to his feet with avid and enthusiastic delight, for not only winning 200,000 dollars in cash for his wife and kids but also for winning the respect of those who doubted his return to victory. 9 out of 10.

I won't describe this movie, since you've probably figured out what it's about by now, but I will say one thing that REALLY stood out. When you watch thismovie, because it was so brilliantly edited, you will feel like it is a legit hollywood film, and not a documentary. The timing of the cuts, the music, the mood, all make this documentary feel more like an amazing Rocky-type movie. Whatseems most hollywood of all is the story, the rise and fall of a hero... all the helping characters and evil villains he runs into along the way... and it's all REAL. There is one scene where this guy that he is going to fight, who is the size of godzilla, is with all his evil little cronies and they're laughing it up in a huge pool like a bunch of villains would in some movie. The movie had it's own Ivan Drago type (from Rocky 4)... you know the Russian champion who nobodycan beat because he's so tough. It was just really cool. So if you see this, think about what I've said, and you'll notice right off the bat!!

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.