SPOILERS AHEAD
IRON CLAW was a relentless tragedy from which I departed with one outstanding conclusion: Zac Efron is a star.
The film follows one of wrestling’s royal families: the Von Erich brothers. They are fearlessly led by their stoic father, Fritz (Holt McCallanay) who has a chip on his shoulder about his own wrestling failures. Though he’s made a modest living, he intends on churning out world champions. Sweetheart Kevin (Zac Efron), demagogue David (Harris Dickinson), troubled Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), and black sheep musician Mike (Stanley Simons) follow their father’s orders like good, Christian soldiers. Their mother, Doris (Maura Tierney) is a tight-lipped, God-fearing house wife who shares in her husband’s stoicism. Nevertheless, the love that is lacking parentally exists a million-fold fraternally. The brothers derive their purpose in life from impressing their father and being together.
Kevin introduces viewers to the “Von Erich curse”, something his family has suffered since Fritz changed his surname to his grandmother’s maiden name. Fritz insists that hard work will save the family from tragic fate. It is the very hard work Fritz forces upon his children that kills all but one of them. Particularly tragic is the suicide of Mike, the youngest child who refused to get into wrestling until he could refuse no longer. A shoulder injury horrifically turns into a coma from which Mike awakens with a slight mental and physical handicap. Once he realizes he can no longer play his beloved guitar (the very passion Fritz discouraged), he decides to overdose. Pretty much the entire film is this way. It is, as I said in the beginning, a relentless tragedy.
Durkin’s strategy took me by surprise. When David dies from enteritis away from his family, Durkin doesn’t pull on our heartstrings. In fact, he doesn't show David’s death at all. At first, I found it peculiar that he would refuse to show the death of a brother. But, his approach became clear by the time Mike rejoined the family dinner table barely able to chew his rice. There is something eerie about the family’s catastrophe, not in the sense that it’s spooky and supernatural, but in the sense that it simply feels…unemotional. AHA! This is because Kevin is the only Von Erich family who is openly emotional about their circumstance. Fritz doesn’t even allow his children to cry at David’s funeral. Doris only cries looking at her dress for Mike’s funeral, realizing she also wore it to David’s. It is an emotionally resistant family, which is something Kevin is beautifully, honorably grappling with. He has what his wife diagnoses as “oldest brother syndrome.” Durkin beautifully resolves this by the end when Kevin’s children suggest he is not brotherless so long as they are beside him.
Speaking of Kevin…Zac Efron has been grossly overlooked. I am not convinced that the industry is willing to take him as seriously as he deserves. The rich love that boils deep within his character, his brazen, brotherly affection, the subtlety with which he plays his character arc… truly incredible. He deserves recognition for this.
There are only two parts of the film I found superfluous—poignant, but superfluous at that. The first being when Doris is watching one of her sons wrestle and she senses David’s spirit watching over her shoulder, and the second being the scene in the afterlife when all the deceased brothers are reunited. I understand Durkin’s instinct with these scenes—the former reveals an unseen motherly affection while the latter lightens the devastation of the last 2 hours. However, the fantastical subjectivity of these scenes corrupts the grounded reality of the rest. A film that heavily relies on the physicality of a contact sport does not necessarily mesh well with supernatural scenes introduced halfway. This is not a general diagnosis. I’m merely saying Durkin does something new after establishing something else for a pretty long time. It is, unfortunately, distracting.
Otherwise, the film was made beautifully. Truly an outstanding job for all those involved.
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