“The Iron Claw” Movie Review

A dark horse for Oscar buzz, “The Iron Claw” retells the true story and tragedies of the Von Erich wrestling family.

Spoilers ahead, so if you don’t know the story, you’ve been warned.

The film starts off with Franz Von Erich (Holt McCallany), the father, finishing a match and driving off with his family in a new sports car he bought to keep his image up.

Then, the film introduces three out of the four brothers: Kevin (Zac Efron), who dreams of being a wrestler, David (Harris Dickinson), who wrestles because of his brother and Mike (Stanley Simons), who has no interest in wrestling whatsoever.

Kevin and David have success as a tag team, but it’s with the emergence of Kerry (Jeremy Allen White) coming back home after the Olympics boycott that the Von Erichs’ success takes off.

At this time, Kevin meets Pam (Lily James), who he falls in love with, and he tells her about the Von Erich curse, stemming from when his other brother died as a kid.

Franz sends David overseas to wrestle in Japan, but tragedy strikes when David, set to fight Ric Flair (Aaron Dean Eisenberg) later, dies of acute enteritis in his hotel room.

Both Kevin and Kerry volunteer to fight Flair in David’s place, and Kerry wins on a coin toss. He wins the title but loses his foot in a motorcycle accident that same night.

In need of a replacement, Mike hesitantly gives up music and joins the wrestling trio, but he injures himself wrestling in Israel. Shortly after his shoulder surgery, his fever spikes and he gets Toxic Shock Syndrome, then is in a coma.

Mike pulls through, and when Fritz encourages him to get back into the ring, the pressure becomes too much, and Mike overdoses in the woods.

Grief-stricken, Kevin distances himself from the family, but Kerry continues to wrestle in the WWF and goes off the deep end with a drug problem. He goes to the family ranch and takes his own life with the gun he bought his father for Christmas.

The only brother remaining, Kevin devotes his life to Pam and his two young boys.

The film reveals that the Von Erich family was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame in 2009.

The most memorable scene was Kerry entering the afterlife and being greeted by Mike, David and Jack Jr., finally getting to meet his younger sibling while being reunited with his brothers.

This film tugged at heartstrings and reminded the audience just how valuable family is and not to take it for granted; there were no dry eyes in the theaters.

The film wouldn’t be complete without an antagonist, and in this case, it’s Fritz. However, Kevin said in an interview on “Talk is Jericho” that Fritz was not as hard-headed in real life and that his father was a good guy.

Kevin also said that he found out about the movie from his daughter telling him after reading it online, and that he wasn’t originally consulted by director Sean Durkin.

The soundtrack was brilliant, using Rush’s “Tom Sawyer,” which was Kerry’s entrance music, John Denver’s “Thank God I’m A Country Boy” and Blue Oyster Cult’s “Don’t Fear The Reaper.” The music set the tone for the movie and immersed the audience further into the world of Texas wrestling.

Wrestling fans will appreciate the cultural impact of this movie, not only from Ric Flair being portrayed, but with other legends like Gino Hernandez and Bruiser Brody making cameos and Dusty Rhodes being name-dropped.

In a more modern perspective, former AEW World Champion Maxwell Jacob Friedman (“MJF”) makes a cameo as the fake Lance Von Erich, and former ECW Champion/WWE Tag Team Champion Chavo Guerrero makes a cameo as The Iron Sheik and serves as the film’s primary wrestling consultant.

Hopefully, with the box office success, this opens the door for more wrestling stories to be shared.

Fans of the movie should watch “The Last of the Von Erichs” from “The Dark Side of the Ring,” a sit-down interview with Kevin that tells the story in his own words.

Rating: 5/5

Adrianna Gallucci is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email amg7989@psu.edu.