Sean Durkin released the movie “Iron Claw” to theaters December 22, 2023, generating $29.3 million at the box office. Over the weekend, I finally had the chance to go to the movies and watch this film, so today, I will be giving an honest review with no spoilers on what I thought about it.
The movie tells the true story of the Von Erich brothers and their family as they try to make their dad proud by competing in competitive wrestling. Although they appear to be a typical family, their father, Fritz Von Erich, has attributed their families bad luck to a generational curse that continues to wreak havoc in their lives. The father has put immense pressure on his sons to live up to being one of the top wrestlers because when he himself was in the ring, he was never able to achieve that dream fully.
To begin, the movie “Iron Claw” has a perfect cast of characters ranging from Zac Efron playing Kevin Von Erich and Jeremy Allen White playing Kerry Von Erich. Considering that wrestlers need to have extreme physical strength, this casting was truly perfect. In addition, I could feel the raw emotion between all of the brothers but especially Kevin and Mike played by Stanly Simons. When Kevin finally confronts his father at the end of the movie heartbroken, chills crept throughout my whole body from being able to feel the intensity of the scene. Another instance of this is when Mike is affected by the curse of the family and has his life flipped upside down. Although the film wasn’t focused on this character, I was able to fully feel the pain and suffering that he had to undergo.
The film opened up introducing Fritz Von Erich in a wrestling match before he retired and then went on to show the dynamic between him and his wife along with their first two boys. I thought this was a perfect way to start the movie because it gave some background into the father and why he acted the way he did throughout the whole movie. In this scene, it also shows him and his wife in the parking lot outside the arena getting into an argument because money is tight for them, and he had bought them a new car without even asking her. This moment made it so the audience had a better understanding of how Fritz was the dominant figure in the household, whatever he said was what the family was required to abide by.
Even though I did like most of the movie, there were definitely parts that were boring and were a little unnecessary, but the emotion that the movie evoked made up for it. The audience continuously saw the downfall of each brother and how the “family curse” had poisoned their life. One moment the screen had an exciting wrestling match between one of the brothers and their competitor and the next moment we saw how his life was completely shifted as he was being hospitalized. This caused my heart to break for the family because bad things just kept happening. Kevin even tried to tell his dad about one of the problems that his brother was facing and instead of the dad making sure he was okay, he completely ignored the situation and said, “That is between you and your brothers.” Quotes like this, truly make the audience feel enraged about how the dad treated his boys.
To end this review, the audience that “Iron Claw” mainly connects with are people from the ’70s and ’80s ,who were able to see the downfall of this family play out in real time, but this movie could honestly be for anyone even if you aren’t interested in professional wrestling. I would recommend this movie because I think it is important for people to be reminded that their life could be worse. This family kept being knocked down but continued going no matter what, so I think it is an inspiration for anyone to not give up in times of chaos and uncertainty.
This film is rated R, but I think mature pre-teens would be fine watching this movie. With all of this being said, I think everyone should go to the theater and watch this emotional whirl-wind of a movie.
My personal rating: 4/5
