The Iron Claw (15)

Former wrestler Fritz Von Erich is determined to train his sons Kevin, Kerry, David and Mike to each claim the world heavyweight title. The brothers are reunited after President Jimmy Carter decrees the US Olympic team will boycott the 1980 summer games in Moscow and discus thrower Kerry returns home to the family fold. As eldest child, Kevin is first in line to realise Fritz's dream but the sensitive scion fears his old man's iron-fisted insistence on perfection will cause the family to buckle.

LondonNet Film Review

The Iron Claw (15) Film Review from LondonNet

In April 2009, the Von Erichs were inducted into the upper echelon of professional wrestling, the WWE Hall of Fame, in the family’s home state of Texas. The only surviving member of the sport’s second generation, Kevin Von Erich, proudly accepted the award and in his speech, he alluded to the deaths of his father and brothers, attributed in some superstitious circles to a family curse. During the 1960s, patriarch Fritz Von Erich popularised a signature move called the iron claw which involved placing his hand over an opponent’s face and squeezing until they submitted. He passed the mantle and claw-handed move to five boys, Kevin, David, Kerry, Mike and Chris…

Writer-director Sean Durkin’s respectful and moving biopic excises youngest son Chris but still wallows in the tragedy that stalked the Von Erichs outside of the wrestling rings where they performed solo or as crowd-pleasing winners of the World Six-Man Tag Team Championship. A transformative lead performance from Zac Efron, who bulks up convincingly to portray Kevin, is the beating heart of the film. He balances raw emotion with imposing muscularity and is breathlessly convincing in physically demanding brawls that dissipate tension from the familial strife. Professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero, who appears briefly on screen, acted as consultant for these intense sequences.

Fritz (Holt McCallany) instils in his boys, from an early age, a requirement to be “the toughest, the strongest, the most successful – the absolute best”. The father is determined to train his sons Kevin (Zac Efron), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons) to each claim the world heavyweight title. The brothers are reunited after President Jimmy Carter decrees the US Olympic team will boycott the 1980 summer games in Moscow and discus thrower Kerry returns home to the family fold.

As eldest child, Kevin is first in line to realise Fritz’s dream but the sensitive scion fears his old man’s iron-fisted insistence on perfection will cause the family to buckle. Kevin’s unconcerned mother Doris (Maura Tierney) swats away meaningful discussion of the matter. Long-standing rivalry with a trio of preening peacocks known as The Fabulous Freebirds propels the Von Erichs into the spotlight and Kevin finds his soulmate and greatest supporter in girlfriend Pam (Lily James). The Iron Claw grapples with emotionally wrought subject matter and piledrives scenes of fraternal angst and reconciliation. Durkin revels in the theatricality of the sport before WWE applied a high-sheen gloss. “Isn’t it all just fake?… sorry, prearranged, written?” asks Pam.

The Von Erichs’ heartbreaking true story is richer than Durkin can shoehorn into 132 minutes and the script bypasses the meat and gristle of the siblings’ mental wellbeing. The tone darkens once the fabled curse is realised, again and again, until we contemplate submission like the brothers’ exhausted opponents.

– Jo Planter