A great deal of the history of professional wrestling has been defined by the egos of its performers dictating what happens in the ring, mainly through big stars such as Hulk Hogan refusing to be beaten by certain opponents. But one of the most harmful egos behind the scenes belonged to Fritz Von Erich. The Iron Claw centres around the legendary Von Erich family.
Content warning: Mention of suicide
Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) is the patriarch, he is a man with a chip on his shoulder and he takes it out on his four sons: Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons). He creates and feeds competition between them, putting the weight of the family’s legacy on their shoulders and coaxing them into the wrestling industry following his own failure to reach its pinnacle. This environment of toxic masculinity Fritz creates for his sons is at the centre of The Iron Claw, showing the tragedies that ensue makes it clear that this is a dangerous attitude to perpetuate in younger generations.
If you’ve heard about The Iron Claw, chances are it’s because of the film’s performances. This is for good reason as the ensemble cast here is as good as you’ll see all year. Zac Efron is at the centre of the emotional conflicts, as Kevin’s girlfriend Pam (Lily James) says to him, that he has “older brother syndrome” – he feels he must look after everyone. Kevin feels like he is always on the cusp of confronting his emotions healthily, he’s a complex character that Efron absolutely nails.
Jeremy Allen White channels the same brand of intensity that defined his performance as Carmy in The Bear, as Kerry likely went through the most physical pain of any Von Erich brother. White conveys this both explicitly and implicitly with his face and his voice. There appears to be less praise for Harris Dickinson, which surprises me because, despite his relatively short screen time, the charisma he showed cutting wrestling promos really left an impression on me. It never felt like he was putting on a persona, it all felt authentic, which was in stark contrast to Kevin.
How well-defined and likeable the characters were made the tragedies suffered by the Von Erich family feel truly devastating. There were two moments where instead of feeling like I had been punched in the stomach, it felt like I had gone into shock for a split-second despite knowing the real-life story The Iron Claw is based on before watching it. However, I do think these moments could have been given more time to breathe; they happened, and then the film moved on a bit too quickly instead of letting the audience take in the gravity of what had just occurred.
The film’s biggest misstep for me was the complete omission of Chris Von Erich, the youngest of the six brothers, who shot himself at the age of 21 after experiencing depression following a combination of grief and injuries sustained while wrestling. Writer and director Sean Durkin said that he left Chris out of the film because “It was one more tragedy that the film couldn’t really withstand.” I think this is disrespectful to Chris’ life and poor biographical practice to cherry-pick real-life events over concerns about whether a studio will fund it or audiences will be too saddened by it.
Despite this, The Iron Claw is a great film and while the story is brutally depressing, hope often shines through, and I think the more light-hearted moments of the film are the ones that will stick with me.
4/5
The Iron Claw comes to cinemas on February 9 2024
