This true-life drama explores the legacy of an American wrestling dynasty.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s the third film from Canadian-American writer\/director Sean Durkin, after 2011\u2019s excellent Martha Marcy May Marlene and 2020\u2019s lesser-known The Nest, and promises much in the way of muscle-bound tragedy.<\/p>\n
Originally from Texas, the Von Erich family became regional sporting heroes, but a series of untimely deaths led to the rumour they were cursed.<\/p>\n
The Iron Claw refers to their signature wrestling move, but also suggests those at the mercy of a higher power.<\/p>\n
The film begins in Raging Bull territory, as patriarch Jack \u2018Fritz\u2019 Von Erich (Holt McCallany) loses a 1967 National Wrestling Alliance (NWA) World Heavyweight Championship match in crisp black and white.<\/p>\n
Outside the arena, we meet his long-suffering wife Doris (Maura Tierney) and two sons. \u201cI will be the NWA world champion and nothing will hurt us again!\u201d he swears.<\/p>
Cut to 1979, and Kevin (Zac Efron), the oldest surviving Von Erich son (his brother Jack drowned aged six), pumps iron in their Texas ranch.<\/p>\n
Heading down to breakfast, he passes a crucifix on the wall and his dad\u2019s gun cabinet.<\/p>\n
\u201cEver since I was a child people said my family was cursed,\u201d he tells us in voiceover. \u201cMum tried to protect us with God, pop tried to protect us with wrestling. He said if we were the toughest, the strongest, the most successful, nothing could ever hurt us.\u201d<\/p>\n
But repeating it doesn\u2019t make it true. Kevin is now the NWA star, with Jack his demanding coach, and his other brothers \u2013 Olympic hammer hopeful Kerry (The Bear\u2019s Jeremy Allen White); charismatic David (Triangle of Sadness\u2019s Harris Dickinson) and music-loving Mike (Stanley Simmons) \u2013 snapping at his heels.<\/p>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/3\/2023\/12\/The-Iron-Claw-8a3bfeb-e1704209298134.jpg?quality=90&resize=619%2C413\" "\\"The")
\n<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture>\n<\/div>After listing the order of his favourite sons, Jack proclaims, \u201cThe rankings can always change!\u201d And change they do.<\/p>\n
When Kevin fails to become world champion, David is next up, and so on. Jack is the kind of man who has points to score against the world but ends up scoring them against his own family. McCallany makes a strong impression, even if the role feels a touch underwritten.<\/p>\n
While wrestling doesn\u2019t hold quite the same mystique outside America, Durkin evokes the heady atmosphere of the matches so well you can almost smell the cigarette smoke.<\/p>\n
He doesn\u2019t shy away from the sport\u2019s contradictions, either. Though largely an act, it takes great personal toll on its participants \u2013 something explored in more detail in Darren Aronofsky\u2019s The Wrestler. Witness poor Kevin shivering in pain on the concrete floor as victory, however rehearsed, eludes him.<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the performances are good, the country-rock soundtrack evocative, and the scenes in which the brothers goof about in the sunshine make you genuinely hope they\u2019ll succeed. History, however, had other ideas.<\/p>\n
Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n While all this should be enough to make a compelling movie, the scriptwriting is, at times, so heavy-handed it feels like Durkin\u2019s wielding an iron claw of his own.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Olympics was taken from you the way football was taken from me!\u201d Jack tells Kerry, when it is announced that, for political reasons, the USA will not be competing in the 1980 Moscow games.<\/p>\n Kevin\u2019s wife Pam (Lily James), meanwhile, is introduced as a plucky independent woman, then fobbed off with lots of expositionary dialogue. \u201cDid your folks not teach you to ask questions?\u201d she asks the awkward Kevin. The same could be said of the film, which sets up far more than it pays off.<\/p>\n Further research reveals that there was another Von Erich \u2013 the youngest, Chris \u2013 who killed himself aged 21<\/a>, and doesn\u2019t feature in the film at all.<\/p>\n\n