R 2023 Sport/Drama 2h 12m
Professional wrestling can be a lot of fun. I watched AWA wrestling as a kid and go to a couple wrestling events a year as an adult. It’s like an athletic soap opera and it’s a blast to play along with its heroes and villains. The Iron Claw is based on the true story of the Von Erich wrestling family of Texas in the 1970’s-80’s. They wrestled primarily in the World Class Championship Wrestling (WCCW) league so I didn’t see them when I was a kid and I was unfamiliar with their story as an adult. Their life outside the ring had even more drama than in it.
Fritz Von Erich is the family patriarch and the first generation wrestler. He failed to achieve the wrestling greatness he felt he deserved and he pushes his children to be world class wrestlers as vindication. He openly ranks his sons from favorite to least favorite—noting that the order can be changed based on their effort. Because the oldest son died as a child, the family believes there is a curse upon them. Based on the family story, they might be right. In the film Fritz and his wife have four adult sons and each has demons to fight; in real life, the family had a sixth son who also had a tragic life but apparently even Hollywood thought that was too much for one family.
The world of wrestling can be entertaining to its audience but it is hard work and high pressure for the wrestlers. No one feels this pressure more than Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) who, like his brothers, also feels the added pressure from his father. Efron’s transformation for the role is incredible and he is nearly unrecognizable as Kevin; he is a contender for the Worst Haircut award but the muscle mass he gained is remarkable. This is the best role of his career. Physically he looks like he could step in to a real ring and emotionally he was able to really inhabit the character. It’s a tough character to play. He is a bit quiet so Efron has to convey quite a bit with less dialog. Kevin just wants to be with his brothers but life events push him to a breaking point. Holt McCallany does a great job as Fritz; it would be easy for the character to be a villain but McCallany brings enough depth to the character that he is more misguided than evil.
The movie’s wrestling scenes are well shot. Since professional wrestling is scripted and doesn’t need to look “real,” the accomplishment in the movie is that it looked like all of the actors did their own wrestling moves which is impressive.
Although wrestling is at the center of the movie, the movie is not about wrestling. It is a drama about a family whose business is wrestling. One need not be a wrestling fan to appreciate this movie. However, this is also not a feel good sports movie where you are cheering Rocky on to victory. It’s more like watching a variation of Dead Poet’s Society focused on Neil and his family; this is a solid drama and you are just hoping that somebody in the movie stands up to Dad and maybe gets a happy ending.
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