Family expectations can have a tremendous effect on shaping a person. Some parents may wish for their children to become doctors or lawyers, or to go into the family business, whatever that may be. But not everyone has the same instincts and natural talents for a particular field, and may end up postponing or sacrificing their happiness in order to fulfill someone one’s dream. The Iron Claw presents one particularly harrowing scenario, as a famed wrestler encourages his sons to follow in his footsteps, a journey that proves taxing and ultimately quite detrimental to their livelihoods.
Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) is a popular wrestler best known for his “Iron Claw” hold that forces his opponents to declare defeat. From a young age, he and his wife Doris (Maura Tierney) raise their sons with the expectation that they will train to become as good as – and better than – Fritz and bring home titles to give glory to the family name. Kevin (Zac Efron), David (Harris Dickinson), and Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) compete for their father’s affection as they train hard to make him proud, while youngest son Mike (Stanley Simons) prefers music to the sport that he knows he’ll inevitably be forced to take up because it’s in his family DNA.
This film is based on the true story of the Von Erich family, though there was a fifth son, Chris, whose existence is omitted from the film since it already runs a sizable 130 minutes. Wrestling fans may know the history of the Von Erich family, but it’s best for those unfamiliar to go in knowing as little as possible to properly attach to the toxic energy transmitted from Fritz to his children that demands excellence for the sake of little other than his own ego. He isn’t able to see his sons for the individuals they are, and while that does drive them to succeed, it also proves immensely damaging.
Because this film takes place mostly in the 1970s and 1980s, the look of its characters is crucial to its effectiveness. While Fritz has a clean-cut hairstyle, his sons sport intense wigs that truly evoke the times. The contrast of those lengthy locks with their ultra-ripped bare chests and excessive fitness regimes is potent and speaks to the psychological effects of carrying around that kind of weight and body type. It doesn’t look natural in some cases, which is the point, since this is the role these people have been assigned to play based on the family into which they were born.
There is an intensity to all the performances that make this film what it is, led by Efron as the focal point of the story. The High School Musical alum has come a long way since those days, and after delivering a chillingly personable turn as Ted Bundy in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, he retreats within himself to become Kevin, a man of few words who carries all the trauma of his family in the way that he walks and interacts with others. Dickinson and White, who are both seeing their profiles rise considerably with starring roles in Triangle of Sadness and The Bear, respectively, deliver commendably. The true standouts of the cast are Lily James as Kevin’s wife Pam and McCallany, who steps back into the ring after previously playing a boxer in FX’s short-lived and underrated TV series Lights Out.
The Iron Claw is an interesting third feature from director Sean Durkin, who has established no real pattern when it comes to genre or focus. His debut film, Martha Marcy May Marlene, was a grim look at a young woman escaping a cult, and his follow-up, The Nest, looked at the fragile relationship of a married couple. This is a family biopic, one that is committed to character and to understanding all its players as full people. While it does present a harrowing tale of brothers pushed to their limits, it sometimes feels as if this is a story being told from a removed outside vantage point rather than an intimate experience with this determined family of brothers.
Grade: B
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The Iron Claw premieres in theaters everywhere on Friday, December 22nd.