In the early Eighties, the Von Erichs (Kevin, Kerry and David) were one of the most exciting and popular factions in wrestling.
Based out of Dallas, Texas, the Von Erichs (Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, and Harris Dickinson) were the stars of their father Fritz’s promotion, World-Class Championship Wrestling.
Just when it look like the brothers were set to become the kings of the ring, tragedy struck…
This movie left me a bit cold.
I had seen the Dark Side of the Ring episode on the Von Erichs, so I was familiar with their story. That familiarity made certain scenes feel like madlibs, and certain foreshadowing come off a little obvious.
Part of that is my problem, but the second half of the film feels a little more like a series of vignettes, as we cover a greater span of time.
The first half of the movie, covering the Von Erichs being drawn back to their father’s wrestling promotion, and Kevin’s romance with Lily James’ Pam, is stronger.
We never leave Texas, and we barely leave the Von Erichs’ domain (the ranch and the ring). We get a sense of the family’s close-knit ties, but also a sense of insulation and claustrophobia.
At times, it feels obvious in hitting its themes, and the way the characters talk to each other. However, these are characters who either cannot talk or are incapable of not speaking their minds.
None of the brothers’ deaths are shown - the film’s strength lies in the way it shows their absence, and lets that fester through the family’s dynamic.
While it is not the focus, the film does a solid job of highlighting certain aspects of pro-wrestling (they shoot the scenes in wide shots that show off the physicality while also getting close enough to show the way the performers choreograph the match).
What the film is more interested in is the family’s focus on physical health as the benchmark of success, and the way in which that focus on the body affected Mike (Stanley Simons) and Kerry (and the unseen Chris) when they experience life-changing injuries.
The performances are good - despite the lack of screentime together, the actors have solid chemistry with each other. Zach Efron anchors the movie as the sensitive, emotionally inarticulate Kevin.
The other brothers do not get a lot to do - most of their impact is collective. What they all do is reflect the different ways that Fritz has made them incapable of dealing with the situations they find them in.
The Bear’s White gives Kerry a live-wire, simmering rage behind a superficial calm. As his brothers die, and he loses his foot, he lets the facade fall.
Holt McCallany is effectively one-note as Fritz, an egotist who only sees his sons as extensions of himself.
The film has many strengths, but there was a tipping point where it felt like the movie’s grip on the story becomes less sure.
As with most biopics, its scope is too wide for a feature runtime so it starts to feel compressed.
It plays like a disaster movie, imbedding the viewer in the family and their dynamic - and then David (Harris Dickinson) dies.
To an extent, the pace of the brothers’ spiral of tragedies after David’s death is an effect of the story. It is also the film trying to present the ways in which tragedy and grief compound.
That need to compress is overt in one respect - youngest brother Chris is absent from the movie entirely. Perhaps the filmmakers felt that another death would have made the movie oppressive and left viewers emotionally exhausted. Still, for a film about athletes doomed by their obsession with physical prowess, to ignore the one brother who struggled the most to fit the family mould, it feels off.
There is one scene near the end that I cannot get my head around.
After Kerry dies, the film cuts to the dead Von Erich Brothers reuniting in the afterlife, and embracing their eldest brother Jack Jr., who died as a small child. Cutting back to Kevin with Kerry’s body, the scene feels wrongheaded. Is it Kevin’s imagination? Is it meant to emphasise the brothers’ freedom from Fritz and their own pain?
It strikes an off note, particularly since it is intercut with Kevin crying beside his brother’s body. They are free, while he is abandoned.
The Iron Claw is not a bad movie. It has many fine qualities, but I left it with the gnawing sense that something had been left behind. Maybe the family’s tragedies are cumulatively too powerful for a dramatic framework.
I look forward to watching it again, but on this first watch, it felt too condensed.
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