The Iron Claw (2023)

There aren’t that many times when I go into a film based on real people or events and are familiar with what is going to happen. Senna (2010) was probably the only other time I can remember but as a wresting fan (mainly of 80’s and 90’s stuff), I knew about the Von Erich’s and how the story of this wrestling family is one of tragedy.  The story tells of the Von Erich’s who started out in Texas and Fritz Von Erich’s attempt to achieve his dream of having the NWA World Title in the Von Erich family.

The plot shows each brother and what happens to each of them. David who appears to be the most talented brother dies of enteritis in Japan. Kerry initially suffers disappointment after not being about to compete at the 1980 Olympic Games before losing his foot in a motorcycle accident and to compound the sad turn of events, he ends up taking his own life after leaving the WWF (now WWE). Mike is the one brother who doesn’t seem to want to peruse a career in sport and seems happy enough to become a musician but ends up in the ring and after injuring his shoulder ends up in a toxic shock induced coma and wakes up with brain damage. It’s not very long before tragically he takes his own life. It’s a this point that the viewer can be left with no doubt the emotional toll this ‘fake’ sport can take on the body and family.Zac Efron continues to do a good job in shaking off the squeaky clean persona he earnt from his high school musical days. He clearly put in the effort because he looks like a wrestler. He manages to do a good job of carrying a lot of the emotional weight of this film and one of the things I liked about this film was the dynamic between Kevin and his dad Fritz. 

The lack of willingness to help from Fritz is one of the things that the film gets right about the real Von Erich family, Fritz seemed like he was a wrestling promoter first and father last. When Kerry phones Kevin in an cry for help, Fritz seems unwilling to help instead putting the only on Kevin to be the one who saves the day. Jeremy Allen White was very good as Kerry. White seems to be making the most of his new found fame after impressing people in ‘The Bear’ and although he is one of the more familiar names, he doesn't try to outshine Efron and his performance is restrained. Holt McCallany is very good as Fritz and comes close at times to stealing the show. Even though he is so distant from his own children it is very hard to hate Fritz and that is down to McCallany. Lily James does well with what is a very limited role as Pam but she is always dependable. Maura Tierney puts in another good performance as Doris who has some great scenes and deals with the sad scenes is a heartbreaking manner.

I had high expectations with this film because even in 2024, wrestling is still thought of as this fake sport but in reality out of the four brothers, only one is still alive and made it past 35. (Kerry was 33, David was 25 and Mike was 23). This film is important to show non-wrestling fans that his sport does have a cost as high as any other sport and like the 2008 movie ‘The Wrestler’ shows the dark underbelly of the sport. Definitely worth watching even if you don’t watch wrestling.