THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
Sports are known to bring out the best and worst of you, mentally and physically because it would allow us to know our own limits. A24’s The Iron Claw is a fine example of showing what happens when finding limits that don’t need to be surpassed.
PLOT
The 2023 film chronicles the life of the infamous pro wrestling family known as the Von Erichs: The patriarch Fritz who went from wrestler to owner of World Class Championship Wrestling, his wife Doris and their sons, Kevin, David, Kerry and Mike. In 1979, Kevin & David are the first of sons to become wrestlers like their father, whereas Kerry would train for the Olympics and Mike aspires to be a musician. However, Kevin notices their dad is pushing the latter from his ambitions and when he shares what he's noticing with his mom, she only suggests for them to figure it out amongst themselves. After David debuts in a tag team match alongside him, the latter would meet a lady named Pam and start dating. In their first date, he would share their family has been cursed and started with the death of firstborn Jack Jr. who accidentally drowned at 6 years old. The two get along nonetheless for sharing the same aspiration on building families. Kevin would be booked for a match with NWA World Champion Harley Race, but it would end in a disqualification when the champ assaults the referee. Although Fritz would be disappointed, he would respect David's showmanship that occurred after the match. When the Summer Olympics boycotted in 1980, Kerry would have no choice but to come home and train with his brothers to wrestle as well. On the same day he came home, Pam meets the family and sneaks Mike out for a gig against his parents' wishes. In '83, David would be chosen by Fritz to challenge the new world champion, Ric Flair, in Japan. He would begin the tour after attending Kevin & Pam's wedding, but he would be unable to achieve the opportunity after dying from enteritis. Kerry would take his place and succeed in beating Flair for the title, but the reign would be short-lived when suffering a motorcycle accident that caused his right foot to be amputated. Despite the incident, he would still choose to wrestle with a prosthetic foot. Fritz would still try filling the void David left behind by training Mike. That would backfire as it would lead to him suffering from a shoulder injury and later gained toxic shock syndrome after recovering from surgery. Feeling the pressure, Mike would mix sleeping pills with alcohol and suffocate himself in a sleeping bag. This death would cause Kevin to distance himself from Pam and their firstborn Ross. Despite all the grief, he would go through with being Flair's next challenger but would ruin his chance to win the title when deciding to use his father's titular submission move, Iron Claw, for too long. Although Fritz would be disappointed of him getting disqualified, Flair respects him for giving a good show nonetheless. After this match, Kevin would be tasked to manage WCCW while maintaining his relationship with Pam and their sons (Ross & Marshall). Kerry would home for Christmas with the WWF Intercontinental Championship, but his father still makes high expectations when waiting to fight for the WWF Heavyweight Championship. This would cause him to have an outburst when he refuses to try out a new gun he bought him. When the holidays pass by, he would call Kevin and feel overwhelmed of the family curse. This would cause the eldest son to warn their dad something is wrong, but the patriarch doesn't show concern. When Kevin comes to check on Kerry, he had just shot himself with the same gun. He attempts to strangle Fritz for not showing compassion to save him but lets him go as it wouldn't bring him back. When bringing his brother's corpse inside, Kevin has a vision of Kerry joining the afterlife to reunite with his brothers. Some time after this tragedy, Kevin would behind the world of wrestling by selling WCCW to Jerry Jarrett and Doris would give up her housewife duties for her hobby of painting. One day, Kevin would play football with Ross & Marshall but would break down due to missing his brothers. His sons would cheer him up by telling him they'll be his brothers. The film would end in an epilogue revealing that the Von Erich family would be inducted in WWE's Hall of Fame, Class of 2009. As of 2023, Kevin & Pam had two more children (Kristen & Jillian), bought a ranch in Hawaii where their whole family live to this day.
THOUGHTS
I identify as a big wrestling fan who always watches WWE programming every now and then, as well as look up the likes of AEW, TNA & NJPW etc. However, I respect the history that has been done with programs just as old as WWF, like NWA and WCCW. Not everyone loves pro wrestling the way they love other mainstream sports like football, but it doesn’t take away it has its own commitment and is able to bring people together. Writer/Director Sean Durkin understood just that and succeeded in reflecting the said commitment to make genuine entertainment for everyone that would tune in. I even respect that pro wrestler Chavo Guerrero, who comes from his own wrestling family, not only played The Shiek in the first match we see to introduce Kevin, but also get involved in coordinating the choreography of each match to give an accurate representation of each wrestler’s style at the time. I don’t want to overrate the movie out of bias, but there was also quite accuracy in the makeup and costume design for the actors to embody each wrestler. Whether it was a tan, a certain wig or an accurate color pattern to the robes and tights, you can pick up on the aura they would bring to the ring. Now when putting aside the dedication to respect this iconic sport, I think the rest of this movie works as a whole because of its theme of the human spirit’s resilience to confronting the constant era of trial and tribulation that’ll allow us to exceed the expectations we have in having a satisfying life. What really makes the trip worth it is having a family that wants the best for you, but what can make it all questionable is when having a loved one or two that would think much differently about it. That is exactly what the Von Erichs were all about because they wanted to be proud of what they were doing but still wanted to be on the same page. A quiet family feud that got louder by the day is quite relatable because you understand your relatives better the older you get and the results won’t always be satisfactory. And I think each cast member that played each member of this iconic family did a great job in showing each case of conflict they were all feeling. As shown, it all started with a patriarch that didn’t know how to accept his own flaws. If you’ve seen archive matches of Fritz before or after this film, you know he lived up to being a tough as nails individual in the ring. However with no true success of his own to be proud of, he relied on his sons to do what he can do, overworking them and using them to do everything he couldn't. He never really cared what they wanted and always focused on being at the top of the food chain. With a bone chilling performance by Holt McCallany, the man confused all his pride with selfishness because he didn't want to give up on the dream. It's already bad enough to rank his children based on their own successes, but it would be visibly worse whenever he expected more. He would compliment Kerry for being Intercontinental Champion, but still expected him to also be a world heavyweight champion when the booking system is a lot more complicated in WWF than NWA. For those who are parents and identify tough love, you have to admit there wasn't any love when he allowed Kerry to compete with one leg and not check on him after Kevin called about him. Nothing was ever enough for him, which is why it was hard to love such a man. For that, I'm not even mad the film's epilogue didn't acknowledge his passing in 1997 from brain & lung cancer because his respect dissipated with every decision he made. Maura Tierney spoke volumes in her own right when it came to Doris. She was someone who fell in love very early and was willing to stay with someone willing to make sacrifices to get by. The challenge was how she does a fine job portraying her as one who could've stepped in but never did because instead of being afraid, she wasn't emotionally equipped to disagree with her husband on how to raise the kids. She trusted his authority and didn't see a reason to challenge him. But when loss after loss would occur, a part of her wishes things were different. Since she passed in 2015 of natural causes, I'm sure she was content to be at peace and free of her own pain. With each son, each one had their own difficulty in achieving said peace, which makes it a relief at least one got it. Zac Efron was incredible in the role of Kevin who was shown to be the most grounded of sons and grew up only knowing how to work hard thanks to his dad. What was always hard for him at first was not being an athlete for once and being human with his own responsibilities. The latter came to life when he met Pam. Lily James was amazing as she was so warm and was able to help Kevin break apart from his dad, let out the vulnerability he has deep down. They connected so well the second they relate to wanting something for themselves instead of others. She showed him there is no need to be perfect to be loved and there is no love better than having one to break you from your shell. Of course it was hard for them to stay together because it's hard to cope with all the tragedy that would happen back to back. He started keeping his distance because he thought the curse was real and didn't want them to feel his pain. But within the gap of Mike and Kerry dying, he knew it was time set his priorities and he did the right thing. He could've killed Fritz for what happened to Kerry but chose not to because it wouldn't bring him back. He even blew the title match with Flair because he accepted being NWA world champion wasn't what he wanted. The love for his family was always natural, but he caught on wrestling wasn't the only thing that mattered. So by the time he let out his tears for the first time without the presence of his dad telling him not to, he knew he succeeded in being his own man. Stanley Simons really played with my emotions as Mike. I was rooting for him to break apart from wrestling to make his mission serious on pursuing music, but tragedy forced him into something he shouldn't have been part of. The second he got injured, his upbeat attitude vanished and he lost his mojo to overcome the physicality. I don't condone him taking his life but I don't blame him for feeling how he felt as he couldn't stand being his brother's replacement. Had that given the wakeup call for Fritz, the family would've not been through worse. Jeremy Allen White pulled my heartstrings as well because as Kerry, we saw how he was someone who had his own plans. The Olympics was his way out and when that was taken from him, he was forced to make a change in order to succeed. He did fit right in with his brothers as a wrestler compared to Mike but despite all the talent, he couldn't help being reckless. With his biking accident being a setback, it didn't stop him from giving his all as he didn't want to make excuses of his predicament. As he got older, he felt incapable of being happy as he knew nothing would ever satisfy Fritz and he missed his brothers deeply. I didn't blame him for throwing a fit towards him during the holidays because that was his realization he'll never appreciate them. You want to be happy he reunited with his brothers in the afterlife, but you wish it was done in a more peaceful manner. The one death that actually did put me to tears was David. Harris Dickinson did a great job showing he was the first example on coping with the pressure to satisfy his dad when he never had to. He never enjoyed doing it compared to Kevin because he knew their dad's ranking system bothers them all and shouldn't go through it. The man went through his own pain like his brothers would follow and powered through until his body couldn't do it because he didn't want to bare with Fritz' disappointment. Whether or not the autopsy of enteritis came from his use of painkillers that Ric Flair publicly theorizes, what matters now is he was the first to find peace after all the pain. To be honest, I'm glad this film chose to not go forward with the loss of the sixth son Chris who died before Kerry. It works not just for runtime's sake, but the story is depressing enough as is and going forward would be very testy since it actually resembles what happened to Kerry. Moving aside the center focus of the story that is this family, it was quite interesting to see cameos of other iconic wrestlers. I actually chuckled seeing Maxwell Jacob Friedman have a brief cameo as the kayfabe cousin Lance Von Erich, having a tag match with Kevin. The casting is quite ironic because Lance has been criticized for his promo skills whereas MJF has been given high praise since he started appearing on AEW. Another pleasant surprise was getting a big cameo of the Von Erich's infamous tag team rival the Fabulous Freebirds. Getting other pro wrestlers Silas Mason, Danny Flamingo & Brady Pierce to play the trio of Terry Gordy, Buddy Roberts & Michael Hayes, the latter of which has been working with WWE since 1995 was a big deal because the rivalry is the backbone in showing pure excitement that can come from tag team matches. Like Lance, the cameo was quick but sweet. The most critical cameo I have to confess was Aaron Dean Eisenberg as Ric Flair. People have their issues towards this man due to controversial allegations that sparked in the 2020s. That is valid but I will not take away the incredible impact he has made as an athlete because being the first to be a world champion 16 different times is not an easy accomplishment, a record that would be tied by John Cena in 2017. What I disliked about Eisenberg as Flair is how he overdoes the promo and makes him overenthusiastic compared to how he was at the time. It pulls me out because I knew Flair's timing with enthusiasm was on point and never over the top like they want us to assume. What he does get right about him is when the cameras are off, the man kept the party going outside the ring. Even after is spilt all over his head, it ain't gonna stop him from living up to who he is: Jet Flyin', Limousine Ridin', Kiss Stealin' Son of a Gun. The best of the cameos has to be Harley Race. Kevin Anton was incredible in bringing to life the grittiest of wrestlers in the 80s who had no restraint no matter what the experience gap he had from his opponents. When you're in the ring with him, he'll make sure you feel his pain and Kevin sure did when they fought. In conclusion, The Iron Claw is one of the best sports dramas ever made for showing a deep lens on how much will pro wrestling can drive any one willing to take a chance. Whatever kind of sports fan, this must be checked off your watchlist as soon as possible.
If you or someone you know is struggling with depression or thoughts of suicide, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.
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