@thearmag3ddon here with yet Another A24 (they won’t let you forget it, and I won’t either) Movie Review That You Didn’t Ask For:
When I first heard that they would be doing a movie about the Wrestling Famous Von Erich family I assumed it would be a dark comedy. Because…well. Wrestling. The greater public has never and really still doesn’t acknowledge or respect the spectacle that is Professional Wrestling. When it comes across the average person’s attention it is mostly met with a dismissive tone and a bit of an eye roll. But, quite like the world finally discovering in the late aughts that there was more to comic book stories than larger than life characters in a battle for good and evil dressed in spandex, in the past decade the real side of wrestling, the stories behind the ring have been getting their due. And boy, it’s something.
The Iron Claw is a very grounded drama about a family that happens to be deeply intertwined with wrestling. I say it that way because everything that happens on screen both in and out of a ring comes from a place of understanding humanity. There is no over-the-top showmanship or selling some bombastic idea one might have about wrestlers and wrestling. Instead it is a tragic tale about a father’s drive that very well may have driven his family to their tragic end. It was not even close to the dark comedy I had assumed it would be.
In some ways the movie was so grounded it didn’t actually show just how big and local famous the Von Erich family was. I do think though that this direction helped to serve the drama and tragedy of them, for one of the takeaways of the movie was even though they might have been loved and adored by hundreds of thousands, they all suffered and felt so very alone.
Quite like my mini-tirade about the historical accuracy of Napoleon, it’s pretty much an understood fact that almost any dramatization of real life persons or events won’t be a bullet point for bullet point and blow for blow retelling of facts. The job of movies like this is to find a thread of a story, pull that out, then relate a number of events based on fact to dramatize them for the audience. So, those in the know will be able to point out discrepancies, or timing, additions and omissions. But to me those things don’t matter so much. And to get too wrapped up in the weeds about it, misses the point and really just ends up being an exercise in you low-key showing that you know the real real story, and ok cool here’s a pat on the head and a cookie.
But also as usual let me be a hypocrite and say WTF was up with the casting of Ric Flair.
Come on guys. That was not Ric Flair.
I mean…come one.
I really only bring him up because for the most part the rest of the movie was impeccably cast. Besides the absolute whiff on Ric Flair, I did think Zak Efron wasn’t quite Kevin Von Erich to me, and might have been better as Kerry. While The Beast himself Jeremy Allen White, while an absolutely fantastic Kerry Von Erich might have at least more physically fit Kevin. The rest of the family to me was dead on balls accurate (which made Flair’s depiction all the more puzzling) and Zac’s turn as Kevin is a minor quibble at best. It was also really really great to see Maura Tierney who I don’t think I’ve seen since Luka picked her up when she got to Boston. It also makes me feel a touch better seeing Holt McCallany since Mindhunter never again will grace our screens.
If you know very little about the Von Erich’s this might hit you a little harder than some ol OG Wrestling heads like myself, who knew what was coming, but I do think this movie is solid solid and am pretty sure it will be winning numerous awards in 2024. Break out your tissues. This is a tragedy, not a spectacle. And I think the director, Sean Durkin did an absolutely fantastic job.
I give The Iron Claw 4 Wrestling Illustrated Magazines out of 5.
Until the next review that no one asked for @thearmag3ddon, signing off.