The Iron Claw (2023) is directed by Sean Durkin and stars Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Holt McCallany, Lily James, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, and Stanley Simons. The film follows the tragic true story of the Von Erich professional wrestling dynasty. Led by their father, Fritz (McCallany), the four Von Erich brothers are faced with immense pressures both inside and outside the ring during their rise to popularity in the early 1980’s. Fritz raises his boys under the creed that if they are the toughest and strongest, nothing can hurt them. Seen through the eyes of the oldest brother, Kevin (Efron), the film follows the family as they are faced with horrible tragedies that seem to occur one after another. As Kevin and the others become convinced their family is cursed, they realize that strength may not be the only thing that keeps a person safe. 

All the performances here are pretty much top notch. Zac Efron proves to be a capable leading man, and is well-cast for the role. I really bought this persona of a guy who’s more than capable in the ring but sort of clueless in real life. That being said, the character never comes off as stupid, only sheltered. The same can be said for his 3 siblings. There’s a nice balance here of attributing both the brothers’ success and eventual downfall to their mentally/physically relentless upbringing. The main source of this mental/physical pressure is their dad, Fritz. McCallany gives a notable performance, but it’s a character we’ve seen before. He’s the dad who couldn’t find athletic success when he was a young man. In turn, he pressures his sons to achieve what he could not. Though, we are always able to see that this is done because he loves his sons. Misguided, yes. But done out of selfishness? I don’t believe so. The man wants to give his sons a good life, and the only he knows how is through athletic success. The audience could easily see this as an attempt by Fritz to live vicariously through his sons, but I think his actions/philosophy are a bit more nuanced. No matter how misguided his actions seem and no matter how awful the outcomes, it’s clear that Fritz always intends the best for his sons. Fritz could easily be seen as the closest thing to a villain in this story, but he’s more of a tragically misguided father. 

Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich gives a performance that is able to match the strength of Efron’s. It’s unfortunate though that this character doesn’t receive the advantage of having the story told through his eyes. In turn, I felt that we don’t receive as much insight into the character’s psyche as we should have. The same can be said for the other two brothers played by Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons. Lily James is good here as Pam, Kevin’s eventual wife. She gives a nice level of energy to the character, but once again suffers from the fact that we’ve seen this kind of character a countless number of times. They meet, fall in love, get married, have kids, argue about life, disconnect, reconnect, and live happily ever after. Maura Tierney as Doris, the matriarch of the family, is effective. Her performance is subtle and she’s able to physically express her pain throughout all the tragedy. Though, I don’t think there’s as much depth here as there should be.

The film is really well-directed by Sean Durkin, but I don’t feel as if all of his choices were best. Durkin makes the choice to cut away from almost all moments of tragedy. We only see the aftermath. I understand the intention here of keeping the focus solely on how the events affect the rest of the characters. The thing is, in a movie where tragedy is so integral to the story/themes, it seems odd not to show any of it. It almost took away an element of tragedy. It’s Interesting, because reading about the real life story was sadder than watching the actual film. Maybe it was just because that was my first time experiencing it, but I still couldn’t help thinking that there was something in the execution of The Iron Claw that kept me at arms length. I’m torn, because this emotional callousness is also one of the themes explored in the film. When tragedy occurs, some of the characters respond with what seems like denial. This refusal to show tragedy reflects how the characters respond to it. That all being said, showing these tragedies would’ve still achieved some much needed gut punches that the film surprisingly lacks. 

One of the film’s biggest issues is that it lacks any kind of original structure. The film plays things really safe in terms of genre expectation. If you’ve seen any biopic, you’ll mostly understand how everything is paced. It feels like it covers an extended period of time and ends with your typical written explanations of what came after in real life. That all being said, this hurts the film less than it would hurt other films that suffer from the same things. That is partly because the immense tragedy of this story makes it so worth telling. If I’m going to get a true story that follows a typical structure, at least make sure that true story is worth telling in movie form. Hollywood lately has seemed to suffer more and more from telling real life stories that quite frankly aren’t naturally exciting enough to warrant a good film. 

Overall, the film succeeds at being consistently paced and telling a story worth being told. Not all of director Sean Durkin’s choices succeed, but none of them are so misguided that they ruin the film. Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White give great performances not only in their dialogue, but also in their physicality. These two are double B, buff. It’s a shame that none of the wrestling sequences feel important in any way. I wished these sequences could have been tied better to the moments outside the ring. The film explores brothers, fathers & sons, failure, tragedy, strength, and the ability to overcome in the face of great obstacles. Even with its flaws, The Iron Claw is a film that’s hard not to like. The film champions the idea that if you have people who you love and people who love you, that’s the source of true strength. B