The Iron Claw: Film Review
Zac Efron gives the best performance of his career in The Iron Claw and it’s baffling that he hasn’t been in the awards conversation.
Sean Durkin‘s drama tells the story of the legendary wrestling family, the Von Erichs, from the late ’70s until the early ’90s. It is told through the eyes of Kevin (Efron), who believes his family is cursed. It follows him and his brothers and fellow wrestlers – David (Harris Dickinson), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) and Mike (Stanley Simons) – as they navigate a series of tragedies while trying to be the best in the ring.
If you know nothing about the Von Erich family, don’t Google it and spoil the story. It is incomprehensible to me that one family endured so much heartbreak and tragedy. In fact, one family member was removed from the film altogether because Durkin felt there was one tragedy too many.
However, if you are in the know, you might feel miffed by the liberties Durkin has taken with the facts. It is largely faithful to the story but the timeframe is shortened and a lot of details are missing (wives, children, arrests etc). I appreciate that the narrative could have become too cluttered so Durkin stripped it back to focus on Kevin. Also, he had to pack a lot into one feature (which is already 2 hrs 12 mins) and needed to let it breathe in between tragedies so he couldn’t incorporate it all. But while I know it’s a drama, not a documentary, I wish I didn’t have to read up on the story afterwards to understand it better.
There are lots of wrestling scenes but I would not call it a wrestling movie. It is a drama about the unbreakable love between brothers and the fights push their story forward. It’s also an effective exploration of toxic masculinity. The boys are raised by their pushy father Fritz (Holt McCallany) to believe crying and expressing emotions make them weak. He doesn’t let them grieve – they must bottle it up and keep on fighting – but their repressed feelings manifest eventually themselves in different ways.
I went in expecting to need tissues throughout but it only got me at the very end. I felt emotionally detached from the story for the most part, which is odd considering the subject matter. This is possibly because Durkin didn’t amp up the drama and cut away from some of the big moments and showed the aftermath instead. It could also be down to the boys having to keep their emotions inside and not reacting to the tragedies in the expected way.
Efron has tried serious roles before (remember Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shocking Evil and Vile?) but The Iron Claw feels like the first time he’s being taken seriously. The physical transformation is staggering – he looks like an action figure. But I was more impressed by the emotional side. Poor Kevin gets put through the wringer but is expected to keep calm and carry on – and it gets to the stage where he simply can’t. Efron’s final scene is so emotional that I couldn’t cope.
His supporting co-stars were all amazing (shout out to Maura Tierney) and I hope this gives Dickinson more exposure to US audiences because he’s brilliant. However, it felt very weird that he was cast as White’s older brother when he’s a few years younger. This casting choice really distracted me.
The Iron Claw didn’t quite reach the heights I had been expecting, given the hype, but it’s still an incredible family drama with an impressive performance from Efron.
In cinemas from Friday 9th February