Movie Review : The Iron Claw (2023)
Any wrestling fan will tell you : the Von Erich family story was begging to be made into a movie. In the early-WWF era, they were as important as they were cursed, like kayfabe Kennedys. I didn't see The Iron Claw in theatres because it was the Holidays and I had other things to do, but I was bummed out the only thing non-wrestling fans got out of it was a meme of Zac Efron crying in the grass with a weird haircut. So, I watched The Iron Claw over the weekend and kind of got it. Well, somewhat.
The Iron Claw tells the story of the Von Erich family, four badass Texas brothers with a batshit crazy, emotionally abusive father (Holt McCallany) who trains them to become pro wrestlers. The old man holds a serious grudge over never being crowned NWA champion in his time, so he's jockeying to get his sons a shot at the title. He initially sets up his elder Kevin (Zac Efron) for the strap, but after an unconvincing showing against Harley Race (Kevin Anton), his dad starts hurrying his other sons into the business.
The Least Spectacular Pro Wrestling Movie You’ve Ever Seen
Now, I wouldn't want you to believe The Iron Claw is a bad movie. On the contrary, it's heartfelt and impressionistic in a Fassbinderian way. It's just full of really odd stylistic choices for such a tragic story. For example, there's little to no wrestling in the movie and a focus on the fatality striking the Von Erich family, but always with a polite distance to their trauma. None of the brothers die on screen and you only see Kerry (Jeremy Allen White)’s body. It's respectful and whatnot, but not very dramatic.
All of the cast does an amazing job at contextualizing and communicating the weight of this bizarre curse that has afflicted the Von Erich family. Zac Efron gives his performance yet as the big lug with severe daddy issues who's too sensitive for dog eat dog business of professional wrestling. Sean Durkin also manages to properly frame the desolate lifestyle of local pro wrestlers trying to make it. The locker room scenes are particularly gripping with their spare set design and their suffocating stillness.
But there's not a lot to work with, does it? The Iron Claw has a tone problem. It goes for The Wrestler's gritty realism, but it's too polite to go where it hurts. By cutting most of the wrestling out of the movie, Durkin also cut the kayfabe elements, like having to play a role for thousands of people and go back to your life. Keep up a larger than life persona. It makes it seem like the Von Erich brothers were only physically damaged from wrestling, but I don't believe it was the case. The Iron Claw needed good wrestling scenes to get scope.
But it is good?
I’m being extremely critical because I think The Iron Claw could've been a much better film than it turned out to be, but I kind of liked it. It's a character movie about generational trauma and an abusive patriarch sucking the life out of his sons. That story i being told much more than the story of the Von Erich brothers or pro wrestling in the territory era. It would've held it own had it been a 100% fictional story told about brothers and their fucked up working on a farm in Oklahoma. I just don't know who would choose to watch it.
Outside of wrestling fans, I mean. You have to be a pretty big storytelling nerd to appreciating a CGI amputated Jeremy Allen White emoting alone in kitchen, Zac Efron crying on the grass with a weird haircut or the Von Erich boys just sitting on a porch with the weight of the world on their shoulder after David's passing. Don't get me wrong, I am a storytelling nerd and I loved these three scenes, but if you'd whine only about nothing fucking happening in this movie, I would understand where you're coming from.
*
Not gonna lie, The Iron Claw felt like a pale rendition of one of pro wrestling's most tragic stories. It has a tremendous cast that carries a meek screenplay and a handful of knockout scenes, but I didn't think it added up to more than the sum of its parts. I started this reviewing pondering a score higher than what I'm going to actually give, but sometimes I figure things out as I go along. I'm glad that I saw The Iron Claw once, but I don't feel the need to come back to it. Too bad for Zac Efron, I hope he gets a shot at a better film.
Also Jeremy Allen White looks ridiculous in this movie. He's like 5 inches shorter an a hundred pounds lighter than everybody else.
