The Iron Claw: A Disappointing Wrestle with Mediocrity, Oscar Snub Expected
The Iron Claw (2023)
Directed by Sean Durkin
Starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany, and Lily James
Films about subjects that already live rent free in my brain are sometimes difficult to enjoy. My knowledge of the subject matter seems to get in the way. Instead of appreciating a film as an artistic expression, I often find myself scrutinizing the filmmaker’s choices.
Director Sean Durkin impressed me with his first full-length film, Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011), possibly thanks to Elizabeth Olsen’s outstanding debut as the titular character. Unfortunately, The Iron Claw lacks an actor of Olsen’s caliber, which might be one reason why this film about a family of professional wrestlers didn’t quite hit the mark. Unlike other critics, I’m not surprised it didn’t get more attention from the Academy.
The Von Erich family’s drama seemed filled with clichéd tropes, featuring an overachieving father, a distant mother, and a group of brothers embodying the classic Texan archetype. The in-ring action appeared slow and lacked cinematic flair. And the casting choices in regards to the well-known wrestlers from the 1980s felt unimaginative and uninspired. While professional wrestling is known for its larger-than-life spectacle, this film fell short. In fact, I seldom resort to labeling a movie as a “bad Lifetime channel melodrama,” but for The Iron Claw, this description fits perfectly.
Among the actors portraying the four brothers in the Von Erich family, the only one who effectively conveyed pathos was Harris Dickinson in the role of David Von Erich. This isn’t surprising, considering his outstanding performance in Ruben Östlund’s Triangle of Sadness last year. Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White are serviceable actors, but not in these roles. Perhaps they were chosen due to their ability to bulk up and at least try and resemble the two most famous Von Erichs? Unfortunately, the lines they deliver and the emotions they convey come off as wooden and less impactful than their well-defined physiques. Although Lily James is consistently great in her performances, her excellence alone isn’t enough to evoke believable emotion from Efron, who portrays her husband.
On top of all that, the 2-hour and 12-minute runtime feels excessively long. I found myself wishing I had opted to rewatch Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler (2008), which focuses on a fictional character rather than delving into the tragedy of a real-life family like the Von Erich Brothers.
Grade: If The Wrestler (2008) is an A, then The Iron Claw is a D.
This is my first review of yours i have read, and will now be my last.
Seems to me your letting said biased that “live rent free in your head” prevent you from appreciating the beauty in tragedy that is well depicted and thoughtfully written.
I could understand maybe going as low as a b- /c+ absolute lowest, but to shun this as a d you sir have lost all credibility as a critic to me.
And judging by the scores you seem to be in a small minority
This is a solid A- movie all day.
Thanks for reading.
Couldn’t agree more. This movie was terrible. More concerningly, it was terrible in such a newly typical way. The acting was mediocre, the dialogue was dull and uncompelling, the writing and storyboard felt lazy and rushed, and on a more deep level, the movie just didn’t even understand how pro wrestling works. Movies don’t have to be “realistic” but they have to at least be plausible, especially biopics based in real world events. And this movie has all these scenes of heartbreak and disappointment at “losing” wrestling matches as if they were football games–scenes that are proferred as serious dramatic tolling events. I am still scratching my head. Is it possible the entire production thought that pro wrestling matches are unscripted, actual contests?? More likely this was the result of a (also lazy) attempt to dramatize the sport for a non-wrestling audience at the expense of the actual foundational basis of the entire thing crumbling. Oh and the guy they got to play Ric Flair might have been the worst possible casting faceplant I can remember in the last many, many years. I give C-.
First off, the “Mike” review seems written by someone associated with the film, which is kind of sweet though I’m sorry you were attacked as a critic.
Yes: this movie is high-production mediocrity, maybe tarnishing the word “mediocrity” even a bit. The two primary characters, the father and Kevin, were unfortunately not cast with actors able to delve into the necessary nuanced and psych-driven performances that were crucial to carry the film. It was soooooooo boring (and its length didn’t help) for a true story that seemed to come from Greek tragedy, ripe with drama and pathos. I agree that Harris Dickinson was well-cast, as was Lily James, though I also found Maura Tierney and Jeremy Allen White to give some subtler effects to their characters. But yes, Efron and McCallany were simply wooden and trope-tastic and the film unfortunately was centered on them. I feel for Efron, perhaps he thought the physical effects of his training could outweigh what he lacks in his acting abilities; he should have spent more time training with the latter.
The film also suffered a bit on the telling vs. showing. We could have gotten more out of a script that wrote scenes vs. clunky, methodical, uncompelling dialogue. Parasite was one of my favorite recent films that really used filmmaking to great effect, to pack so much story into a narrow timeframe, to be able to get that turn-the-page thirst with a well-constructed long story is very hard, but that’s why it’s so brilliant when we get that experience.
Some poor casting and storyline shortcuts broke the film. Efron’s 5’8 frame doesn’t begin to resemble a strapping Texan who looked like an enhanced Michaelangelo’s *David*. Playing Kerry, his co-star (whomever that was) looks even stubbier. B/f watching the movie, learning the production team left out Chris’ tragic narrative, I knew sth was badly amiss. If such artistic license could be exercised to omit a Brother Von Erich, who knew what addit. creative shortcuts were made. It turns out, many.