The Iron Claw

It would be a cliche to point out that the best films about wrestling use the sport as a metaphor for the internal struggles going on outside the ring. In other words, the emotional gravity of the characters and story is every bit as punishing as the drama that unravels inside the ropes. The Iron Claw carries on these themes, and while it doesn’t quite measure up to Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler or Bennet Miller’s Foxcatcher, Sean Durkin’s latest film still delivers a raw emotional punch. One of the most tragic, heartbreaking, and devastating family tragedies is revealed in Durkin’s third feature. A powerful and shattering study of a great family dynasty is always dramatically involving and compelling to watch. Even though it has some pedestrian and verbalized moments that feel like a compromise for Durkin’s atmospheric style, Durkin still injects his brooding style into the story, resulting in a film that feels visceral but never too grueling, as there is great empathy to be found. With an outstanding cast and a rich perspective on sports history, it will not only appease wrestling fans but it should satisfy any casual moviegoer looking for an involving drama as well.

Up there with the Hart’s and Anoa’i families as one of the most iconic wrestling family dynasties ever to live, the Von Erich wrestling family has built up a reputable legacy over the years. There was even an ESPN 30 for 30 Special that dove deep into the families’ accomplishments and tragedies, and Durkin also reflected the saga by also showing the political side of the wrestling world, which is plagued with egocentrism and nepotism.

Courtesy A24 Films

Like Durkin’s first two features that he also wrote and directed, titled Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest, The Iron Claw is also a film about a family in crisis. Martha Marcy May Marlene was more about cultish loyalty, and The Nest was about a family in decay from Reagan-era materialism. The Iron Claw is about a traditional family working hard towards the American dream, where many of the brothers find ringside triumphs, that eventually gets beaten down and stripped down from many opportunities due to rampant competition in the wrestling world and other sudden, unforeseen tragic events. Durkin yields the tragedy and fills the narrative with struggle, destruction, and ruminations on brotherhood and the tensions that arise between fathers and sons.

The saga begins with Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron), where we see him warming up in the ring, and he discusses in a voiceover how his family is cursed. The film cuts to a flashback of Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) in his prime days wrestling in a very intense, bone-crunching match where he defeats his opponent with his signature move, called The Iron Claw. You can see that Fritz is a very strong and powerful wrestler, but he never gets the opportunity to become the world champion that he longs for. He tells his sons that it’s due to a family curse and other forms of nepotism outside of his control. We are also introduced to Doris (Maura Tierney), Frit’s wife. The clan’s mother maintains her encouragement throughout, but you can sense she is emotionally drained. We cut to the late 1970s, and we see Kevin Von Erich begin to peak in his father’s World Class Championship wrestling. The fans love his agility and movies, but he struggles with his mic skills and promotions.

Courtesy A24 Films

Kevin ends up getting a match with the current NWA World Champion Harley Race (Kevin Anton). It is a non-title match, but it also happens to be the number one contender match for the championship. Kevin happens to win or even wrestle well; he will get another opportunity to challenge Race for the title. Of course, Race is the heel, and he wrestles stiffly, which leads to Kevin taking an unexpected bump outside the ring from Harley Race. Younger brother David (Harris Dickinson) ends up upstaging Kevin due to his mic skills, comes to his rescue, and soon forms an alliance and tag team partnership with his brother. The Von Erich family grows even deeper in 1980 once Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) returns home from Texas after President Jimmy Carter boycotts the 1980 Summer Olympics in the Soviet Union due to human rights violations and the invasion of Afghanistan.

Kerry is also athletic; he was ranked in track and was supposed to compete, and he was persuaded by his father Fritz to take on wrestling. Even the much skinnier Mike (Stanley Simons), who is more into the arts and playing music, ends up getting an opportunity in the rings. You see a brotherly bond in the film that is both loving and supportive of each other, yet Fritz remains a very domineering father who often pressures the brothers to stay persistent. Is he doing this for determination or ego? He says he wants to live out the family name so he can bask in his son’s achievements. It’s almost as if he is using his sons as props to weaponize past disagreements with other promotions due to his regrets and lost opportunities.

Regardless, the Von Erich family has become a triumphant force, moving up ranks in the PWI 500, selling out shows, and getting ESPN deals. They are about to begin to become the cream of the crop in the North American wrestling world. There is a very effective montage in the film by editor Matthew Hannam where Durkin stages the visuals to Rush’s Tom Sawyer, where you feel the energy of the brothers’ passion for the sport of wrestling and how they achieve these successes through their brotherhood.

Courtesy A24 Films

Of course, there is pain and loss that occur in the aftermath. The Von Erichs attempt to stay strong, and they attempt to overcome the adversities, and some do, but the emotional trauma begins to be too overbearing to counterbalance. Kevin has a great support system with his wife Pam (Lily James), who takes the last name of Adkisson to prevent their newborn child from being plagued with superstations. Other problems arise as Mike throws up blood at their wedding and brushes it off as just a stomach bug that will go away. He is the first of the brothers to die, and the family begins to slowly fall apart, both psychically and mentally.

As the film progresses, it becomes clear that Durkin’s story once again becomes one about a fractured family. Durkin’s film rethinks the wrestling film in different ways than Foxcatcher, which used the agony on the mat with political subtext in ways that the wealthy and capitalism co-opt American institutions. In many ways, one can say there is subtext in this as well, but it’s closer in tone to Aronofsky’s The Wrestler in that it explores the brutal reality of the wrestling world and the toll it takes on individuals and livelihoods. While not as visually impressive as Durkin’s first two films, he still brings an immersive quality to the story that delivers the dramatic momentum that is needed for the narrative.

Hopefully, The Iron Claw becomes the hit that it deserves to be. It will depend largely on how well Zac Efron can be accepted by the majority for carrying out a dramatic role. He is best known for mostly being in comedies like Neighbors, Dirty Grandpa, and Hairspray, along with his role as Ted Bundy in the Netflix crime drama Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil, and Vile. Here, Efron takes an emotionally charged role that is also very important and brings an onscreen radiance with some genuine emotion and empathy. The closing scene is perhaps overly verbalized, but it was still undeniably moving. It’s a very commanding performance, one that allows him to dive deeper inside himself than in other roles he has played before. There’s something very accomplished about The Iron Claw, and Durkin, Efron, and the hard work from the impressive cast lift the story from ever feeling exploitative or emotionally manipulative.

THE IRON CLAW opens in theaters Friday, December 22nd, 2023.