Review: “Iron Claw”★★
The Iron Claw has scored a major achievement for an R-rated film. A24's new drama, written and directed by Sean Durkin, follows the breakneck rise and tragic fall of the Von Erich brothers' wrestling dynasty in the 1980s. The cast includes Zac Efron as Kevin Von Erich, Jeremy Allen White as Kerry Von Erich and Harris Dickinson as David Von Erich, along with Maura Tierney, Lily James, Stanley Simons and Holt McCallany.
The film based on true events begins in the early 1980s the Von Erich brothers were stars of the Texas wrestling circuit, a period that is recreated in the film with a glowing sheen, as if the entire story were taking place inside a giant tanning booth. And at least for a while, it seems that Fritz's stubborn ambition (born of a long-perceived slight in his own career) to have his boys all be champions seems attainable.
Kevin, the self-proclaimed protector of his younger siblings and occasional narrator of the film, seems to be the clear contender to take home the belt. But then, his brother David (Harris Dickinson) steals his thunder with his performances in post-fight interviews. Kerry (The Bear's Jeremy Allen White, incredibly enthusiastic and giving new meaning to Original Beef of Chicagoland), was going to be the family's first Olympic athlete-"he's training to throw the discuss for the U.S. team" - "until the Americans withdrew from the 1980 Moscow Olympics.”
Individually, as characters, they are not especially compelling; they certainly have less texture and complexity than the protagonist of another 2023 wrestling film, Cassandro, the Gael Garcia Bernal-starring portrayal of real-life gay wrestler Cassandro the Exotic. But Durkin draws our attention as much to the dynamics between the characters as to the characters themselves: the way the love between the brothers miraculously prevails, despite Fritz's divide-and-conquer strategy of pitting his boys against each other.
Early in the film, over dinner, Fritz lists his sons' current rankings from favorite to least favorite, accompanied by a reminder that positions can always change. McCallany, square-shouldered and square-headed, usually plays tough guys, but he's always had a good comic vis, and his performance in that moment is funny, appropriate for times that are still optimistic. The iron claw allows Fritz's degree of corrosiveness to emerge slowly, though some of it is evident even then in how hard he is on Mike, the youngest and smallest of the four. Fritz tells his sons that nothing can hurt them if they become the toughest, strongest and most successful, though all they seem to do is get hurt as their father pits them against each other, always having a favorite son who he hopes will go on to become the heavyweight champion of the world. Kevin works the hardest, but when he is unable to get up fast enough from a brutal knockdown during a major bout, Fritz defers to David, who is better in interviews and on the microphone during fights. Later, it is Kerry who becomes the favorite son after his Olympic dreams end with the U.S. boycott of the 1980 games and he returns home and joins the family business. In the role of his devoted and desiccated mother, Doris, Maura Tierney simply shrugs off the increasingly ugly dynamics of the household.
The Von Erich saga is too vast and bizarre to contain in a single film: among the details The Iron Claw omits is that Fritz was born Jack Adkisson but changed his name to present himself as a Nazi heel in the ring, a decision that became the source of the supposed curse that hangs over his family. But by simplifying its story to emphasize the tragedies that accumulate over time, the film risks reducing its characters to martyrs who suffer and die in the name of toxic masculinity. Durkin is a gifted filmmaker who tends to approach his characters from a distance: there are moments in all three of his features where the people on screen look like still-moving insects being methodically pinned to a board. In The Iron Claw, that restraint is calculated. The film hovers above the sincere innocence of Kevin, through whom most of the action is channeled, a distance that is further underlined by Durkin's decision to give his film the rich yellow tint of an aging photograph. But then, at the end of The Iron Claw comes a sequence that departs from all of the above and unabashedly plunges us into Kevin's mind in a moment of intense grief. It's heartfelt, corny and absolutely devastating, and it makes you long for a film that wasn't so intent on keeping its tragic protagonists at arm's length.
Ultimately, The Iron Claw ranks relatively low on the overall domestic box office chart for the year. Roughly 75 2023 films have passed the $20 million milestone, from The Pope's The Exorcist ($20 million) to the smash hit Barbie ($636.3 million), and The Iron Claw could very well fall below the Top 50 by the end of its run. However, as an adult film, its prospects are much better.
