The Iron Claw

This review may contain spoilers!

 

The Iron Claw is a wrestling biopic following the lives of the Von Erich family, a dynasty of wrestlers who spent their lives attempting to break further and further into the wrestling world while facing exceptional tragedy. This is a very powerful film and one of the best biopics I have seen in a very long while. It highlights a family that is extremely tightly-knit, forged by a bond of brotherhood and family duty to one another. At the top of this film we see the Von Erich brothers as something kind of beautiful and aspirational; they are caring and work doggedly hard to protect one another. But the chink in the armour is Fritz Von Erich, the patriarch of the Von Erich family. This is a man who presides over his family with a stony dedication to the goal of triumph, he is indifferent to breaking or bending and despises percieved weakness. This family is often devastated as a result of the unrealistic and unforgiving expectations laid out by Fritz Von Erich; and the film does not shy away from the loss created as a result. Watching through Kevin Von Erich's perspective was so crucial because it takes the audience on the journey of learning how the family thinks, how inescapable that life is and that moment of grief by the end of the film where we are allowed to feel openly sad alongside Kevin. I also really did enjoy the way this film placed the period setting and the world of wrestling at this time, it was stylistic but in a way that non-wrestling fans could also find themselves learning and appreciating.

 

I loved how dynamic this film looked, every scene was treated with such importance when it came to style that it was such a pleasure to watch. I loved how the wrestling action was shot, it shows how full hits were pulled while also highlighting the physical damage that actually is achieved; the camera also takes you all across the ring and got insanely creative with some of those angles. I also love when the camera apuses on moments of grief and melancholia, slow lingering fatalistic frames that weigh up the pain being carried around more succinctly with visuals than with dialogue. The editing is very slick and almost glides between shots, yet sets a hurtling pace in scenes of high intensity or danger. The score is exuberant and joyful at first but grows dark and mournful at the narrative progressives. I was also entirely enraptured by the soundtrack with a number of great tracks from that time period but the track that stood out for me the best is the one that played during the credits: 'Live That Way Forever' by Richard Reed Parry, Little Scream and The Barr Brothers.

 

Holt McCallany, who played Fritz Von Erich, is one of my absolute favourite performances of this whole piece; McCallany crafts a pretty merciless taskmaster who rules his family like a bully and a tyrant. Maura Tierney, who played Doris Von Erich, is a more quietly eccentric performance that works very well; Tierney's depiction of a spiral into grief for Doris is well executed. Harris Dickinson, who played David Von Erich, is probably the most playful and charismatic of the Von Erich sibling ensemble; Dickinson's line delivery is incredible and you can really see how he gravitates to showcasing the best ring presence of the family. Stanley Simons, who played Mike Von Erich, is a bit more outside the box when compared to the more wrestling centred performers and that works to his strength; Simons gets to have fun with being more of a smart mouth and he leans in nicely to Mike's passion for music. Lily James, who played Pam, demands attention as this intent flirt who knows the man she wants; James portrays a love that is fierce  and fast and ultimately very strong over a string of tragedies. Jeremy Allen White, who played Kerry Von Erich, is the Von Erich who seems fated towards self-destruction; watching Allen White portray the conflict and total breakdown of Kerry in the second and final acts hurt like hell.

However, the best performance came from Zac Efron, who played Kevin Von Erich. This is a truly moving leading role for Efron and he handles it with such care and responsibility. When first we meet Kevin Von Erich he is a truly massive physical presence, extremely fit and imposing visually but the personality presented is a lot more down to Earth. Efron highlights the awkwardness of Kevin both in front of the camera and in a social setting beyond his family. It is clear from the go that this is a figure with self-confidence issues who is very dependent on his father's validation for a sense of worth. Yet the charisma Efron shares with his on-screen brothers is very special and where he comes to life, you feel a strong sense of sibling energy here that is truly the backbone of this movie. I loved moments like watching Kevin bumble his way into a relationship with James' Pam, or quietly inquire after his brother's health or even urge his Mum to ask their Dad to stop being so tough on his brothers. Efron plays a bit of a guardian here, one who falls apart a bit more every time he experiences loss. That breaking point moment in the scene with Ric Flair (Eisenberg) is terrifying and full of rage, portrayed intensely by Efron. I loved that final act too, the final condemnation of his father and that open display of grief in front of his children. The movie was a powerful one and a real pinnacle moment for Efron as an actor.

I found The Iron Claw a film that was almost entirely excellent but it was really varied and inconsistent with the presentation of sub-plots and some characters. The film had a decent story to tell in two of the brothers, Mike and Kerry, but Mike's screen time was quite inconsistent while Kerry took a long time to be properly introduced to the plot. I also felt the Pam and Kevin storyline suffered from similar issues, at times it was front and centre and then there were very long stretches where Pam didn't even so much as appear. A little more focus on how to make these small branches wind in neater would have been nice.

Aaron Dean Eisenberg, who played Ric Flair, felt like a comedic piece of parody that didn't sit well in this dramatic biopic; Eisenberg's attempts to really oversell that he was Ric Flair nearly took me out of one of the most important moments in the feature.

There is no doubt in my mind that this will go on to be one of the heights of Zac Efron's career in the best possible way. I would give The Iron Claw an 8.5/10.