LIDO, Venice, Italy – The violence, both in the ring and at home, is crushing in “The Smashing Machine,” a biopic of UFC fighting champ Mark Kerr whose highs and lows weren’t all in the Cage.

Dwayne Johnson has scored sensational reviews for his transformative performance as Kerr and in this brutally masculine environment, writer-director and producer Benny Safdie (who won the Silver Lion Best Director prize at last month’s Venice Film Festival) gives equal time to Kerr’s bouts – emotional and physical – with his volatile partner Dawn Staples (Emily Blunt).

Blunt, 42, took a break from the Manhattan filming of “The Devil Wears Prada 2” with Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, to join Johnson, 53, for the Venice premiere. She is reprising her scene-stealing role of Emily Charlton, fashion mag

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