The Iron Claw Review: An Emotional Body Slam

Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) made no secret of his ambitions, and his children's lives were shaped by trying to make them a reality. A three-time world wrestling champion in his younger years, he aged into the role of promoter and did everything he could to get all of his sons to follow in his footsteps, loudly boasting that each would take home the heavyweight champion of the world title in public — and, behind closed doors, motivating them by making it abundantly clear he was constantly ranking them. Capturing the time spent living under his roof would provide enough grueling material for any sports biopic, but in "The Iron Claw," this doesn't even register as the most harrowing sequence of events. After all, in these moments, the brothers still have one another.

Even if you know the true story of the Von Erich brothers, professional wrestlers who almost all passed away in quick succession via the most tragic of circumstances, the suddenness with which upsetting events occur here may still catch you off guard. Director Sean Durkin's film spends the first hour playing with the conventions and expectations of a sports biopic, charting their rise to success through the eyes of eldest living brother Kevin (Zac Efron). The narrative is driven by how his father keeps passing over him for prize fights, though Kevin is arguably the son most dedicated to his strict training regime.

Sean Durkin's previous films have utilized the visual language of horror movies to tell their stories, even though there's nothing within the texts themselves that resembles the genre. He has admitted being frustrated at critics calling his previous film, capitalist satire "The Nest," a psychological thriller just because he shot the crumbling mansion in which it was set like it was haunted. This might be why the first half of "The Iron Claw" may feel out of character for those familiar with his work, but there's still something characteristically unnerving beneath a period biopic full of training montages and classic rock needle drops, and it comes from the moments spent alone with Zac Efron's protagonist.

Many actors bulk up for physically demanding roles like this, but Durkin is the rare filmmaker to shoot their muscular lead in a way that makes them appear alien, honing in on the outsized muscles and veins of a man still sleeping in what looks like a teenager's bedroom — a frail boy who has made himself appear to be a commanding figure, entirely for his father's approval. Durkin similarly lingers on moments of Kevin training alone in ways that he doesn't with his other siblings — David (Harris Dickinson), Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), and Mike (Stanley Simons) — holding on Efron's face as he runs or lifts weights, capturing a man who looks like he's not doing this out of choice.

Kevin has an earnest love for his brothers, and the film is quick to offset any moments of jealousy with this reminder, which only adds a deeper sadness to Efron's portrayal. Not only does he not feel comfortable being part of this world, but he's only there because it means spending more time with his siblings. He's oddly sheltered from everything else but wrestling — we learn later, after a date with his future wife, Pam (Lily James), that he's still a virgin, another moment demonstrative of the social awkwardness beneath his intimidating stage persona. The actor avoids making Kevin into a man-child caricature, ensuring that the tenderness that makes him ill-suited for the profession that has come to define his life remains front and center.

The Von Erich curse is referenced by Kevin throughout the drama, but he's the only one who earnestly buys into it. Even as the only sibling who survives, years of his life are spent believing that he must shy away from loved ones to not taint them with his DNA, going so far as to give his children different surnames. As a filmmaker whose previous work has made the deterioration of the family unit feel almost supernatural in his horror-inflected approach, Durkin similarly leans into the string of tragedies as something almost otherworldly, matter-of-factly accumulating in quick succession. Explanations are given for all, but when viewed through the protagonists' eyes, any rational reason fades into the background, each death only heightening Kevin's alienation. He's a man who believes he was born cursed, living a life he had no say in establishing.

"The Iron Claw" fits neatly into Sean Durkin's growing pantheon of tales about dysfunctional family units, be they nuclear or genetic. His debut — 2011's Elizabeth Olsen thriller "Martha Marcy May Marlene" – was the tale of a young woman who had fled from an abusive cult, but it was his sophomore feature nine years later that solidified his obsession with patriarchs who manipulate their families. Jude Law's character in "The Nest" was a more pathetic figure, a useless businessman who moved his family to a rundown English country mansion to project the idea of success, even though this was against the wishes of everybody else.

Fritz Von Erich, by contrast, is a force not to be sniffed at; he similarly dominated the lives of his family in his own business interests, but the difference was they worked, giving him more of a license to intimidate those around him. A flaw with the film is that Holt McCallany, while very commanding in his limited screen time, at times leans too much into villainy — he's so much more unnerving when claiming to be acting in his family's best interests.

Even with this in mind, there's no weak link in this ensemble, which is to be expected when actors of Jeremy Allen White and Harris Dickinson's caliber are given meaty supporting roles — but Zac Efron is more magnetic than either, which largely feels down to how perfectly he's been cast. Think back to the moment in his Netflix travel series — "Down to Earth with Zac Efron" – that went viral back in 2020, as he devoured a plate of pasta and spoke about how he was overjoyed to be out of the Hollywood machine and able to enjoy carbs again. Yes, he's had to bulk back up to inhabit his latest role, but the film feels like a meta-commentary that supports his feelings there. This is a depiction of a man kept under a strict regime he's not in control of, and even though Kevin Von Erich faced significantly more tragic circumstances, the parallels are abundantly clear.

"The Iron Claw" is Durkin's most accessible film to date. It doesn't tone down his macabre approach to conventional family dramas so much as it stealthily sneaks it into a mainstream sports biopic.

"The Iron Claw" releases in theaters on December 22.