The Iron Claw

The Iron Claw is a devastatingly delicate film, drawing you into this world of wrestling and tragedy to a degree that's hard to achieve without feeling too overbearing at the same time. Just as you’re having fun with this family of brothers, you’re driven 100 mph into a brick wall as everything begins falling apart all around you. This is an incredibly sharp and focused feature from Sean Durkin, who builds this beautiful ensemble of a family that just enjoys spending time with one another, ensuring that as everything begins falling apart, you can't help but feel broken for this family.

Telling the story of the Von Erichs is incredibly tough. The film could toe the line of tragedy porn from time to time, but it’s incredibly hard not to tell this story without getting close to it. You cannot write a story more tragic than what this family experienced: in fact, the script had to cut out an entire brother in order to seem more believable. But the film is kept from feeling too heavy-handed in its tragedy and remains grounded by doing a fantastic job at showing the love this family shared and the fun this family had in the wrestling world.

The rumors are true. Zac Efron is magnificent as an increasingly distraught Kevin Von Erich as his family undergoes multiple tragedies in a short period of time. Transforming into the character like I've never seen from him before, it’s hard not to feel his pain and suffering through the theater screen. Every emotion is visibly evident on his face and body, whether it's happiness, sadness, pain, or discomfort. Efron makes sure you see and feel every emotion. 

Harris Dickinson and Jeremy Allen White are equally impressive as the brothers David and Kerry Von Erich respectively, going through the struggle of living up to their father’s dreams and fighting their inner battles. White in particular goes through the unimaginable tragedy of struggling with drug abuse and the amputation of his leg, and the pain you can hear in his voice is absolutely heart-wrenching. Holt McCallany is also incredible as their relentlessly controlling father Fritz Von Erich. As someone who was also once a wrestler, Fritz wanted his kids to be more successful than him. As a result, he was heartbreakingly ruthless in the way he exploited his kids for the wrestling world. The way Holt portrays this intensely stoic person going through an agonizingly painful period of life is just so magical to watch unfold despite the despair of the story.

Some areas where I think The Iron Claw struggles are its runtime and lack of screentime for the women in the family. The film really could’ve used another 20-25 minutes of runtime, as it flies by in the best of ways but also needed more time to breathe and build to each critical story point (especially in the second half of the film). The thing that really bothered me, though, was the lack of substantial scenes involving the brothers’ mother Doris Von Erich (Maura Tierney) and Kevin’s wife Pam Adkisson (Lily James). We learn at some point that Doris loves to paint and painted her dreams for the family, but it’s used in a payoff near the end of the film that feels somewhat hollow due to how painfully underutilized her character is throughout the film. Despite a multitude of tragedies happening around her own family, we rarely get to see how it's affecting her and how she is coping with the pain. We do see a little bit of Pam struggling to raise the kids after Kevin becomes increasingly distant throughout the tragedies, but some of it falls flat. Had the film focused more on the beginning and building of their relationship, we could have understood the pain she was going through much more clearly.

Where this film succeeds, however, is in beautifully constructing the family dynamic and the love between each member. Without the love and resiliency between each family member, none of the film would work in tandem together. As tragic and harrowing as their lives were, their story needs to be told, and the way the film is crafted gives this family the grace, glory, and empathy that they so rightfully deserve. 

8/10