The Von Erichs were never as popular or as influential as Hulk Hogan, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin, John Cena or Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson; their noteworthiness was directly related to the fact that four of the family’s five pro-wrestling siblings (as well as another adolescent brother) died prematurely. Tragedy was their primary calling card, and the squared-circle clan’s calamitous fate is unsurprisingly the focus of The Iron Claw, Martha Marcy May Marlene and The Nest writer/director Sean Durkin’s inspired-by-real-events drama about the Von Erichs’ myriad misfortunes, which became so pronounced that they were thought to be cursed. Alas, the blame for this sports drama’s shallow leadenness can’t be similarly pinned on the supernatural; instead, its shortcomings are attributable to a one-dimensional script and resultant performances that are far less nuanced than its headliners’ ripped bodies.
Not even a contender, much less a champion, The Iron Claw (in theaters December 22) introduces Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) with close-up glimpses of his bulging pecs, biceps and forearms as he rises from his childhood bed. Kevin is the oldest son of former regional pro wrestler Fritz Von Erich (Holt McCallany) and the brother of Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), David (Harris Dickinson) and Mike (Stanley Simons). Durkin opens with a shot of an empty ring and, then, of Fritz furiously stomping on an opponent in the ring. That rage, born from a fanatical desire to succeed, is the engine that runs the Von Erichs, beginning with Kevin, who desperately aspires to bring home the World Championship belt that forever eluded his father, and who so doggedly wants to walk in Fritz’s shoes that, per his dad’s trademark, he doesn’t wear any footwear during matches.
Kevin sees himself as the heir apparent and everyone else accepts the pecking order established by Fritz, whose joke about where his sons rank in his heart is an initial tip-off to his domineering and callous attitude. McCallany is suitably intense but save for a wedding scene in which he attempts to cajole his devout wife Doris (Maura Tierney) into sneaking away for some hanky-panky, his Fritz is a pedestrian tyrant who wastes no opportunities to ignore his sons’ feelings or needs in favor of pushing them to chase the pro wrestling dream he never achieved. Fritz’s terribly selfish and demanding parenting is the catalyst for the entirety of The Iron Claw’s action. At outset, it compels Kevin to climb the sports-entertainment ladder on the strength of his athletic prowess, if not his charisma, as his promo-interview turns are so bad that up-and-coming David quickly starts stealing the microphone and, with it, the spotlight.
With a massive, vein-popping body, an equally formidable jaw, and an ungainly mop-top, Efron resembles the guys in The Incredible Hulk costumes snapping photos with tourists in Times Square, and he captures Kevin’s blankness almost too well; there’s nothing to the protagonist except some aww-shucks innocence and a persistent yearning to make Fritz proud. Kevin lucks into a marriage with Pam (Lily James) and gets a shot at the big-time courtesy of a showdown with reigning World Champion Harley Race (Kevin Anton), but things go sideways and it’s not long before captivating David has replaced him as the apple in Fritz’s eye. Nonetheless, for a stretch, the Von Erichs stay united, since—thanks to America’s boycott of the 1980 Olympics—Kerry returns home and joins the family business, helping the three siblings win the six-man title belt.
If Kevin boasts only the most threadbare of personalities, he’s still more fully imagined than Kerry, a long-haired cipher who’s barely half a total character. David at least exhibits some larger-than-life magnetism, yet The Iron Claw prefers to sketch the Von Erichs in the simplest terms possible, with all their problems so transparently traceable back to their old man that one hardly blushes when Lily overtly tells Kevin that a particular family hardship is Fritz’s fault. Consequently, Kevin’s habit of fretting about the Von Erich “curse,” which he believes began when they assumed an old family surname, resonates as a sign of his willful blindness to Fritz’s miserable impact on their lives—as well as, more often than not, a sign of his cluelessness.
The Iron Claw is about the dire consequences of being a self-centered jerk father, and nothing more; Durkin settles on that sole theme and rides it hard through a second half that’s marked by one death after another. It’s a pile-up that would seem excessive if it hadn’t actually happened, and Durkin treats each demise with requisite restraint. Still, because the Von Erichs remain (muscular) stick figures throughout, these disasters fail to impactfully land. That’s also true with regards to Mike, a blandly sensitive kid whose rock-music aspirations are crushed by Fritz and Doris (despite the fact that Fritz himself was once a scholarship-worthy clarinetist), and whose peer-pressured decision to join his brothers in the ring begets an unthinkable turn of events. All of these men fume, seethe and strive with passion, yet never interestingly. And as for their youngest sibling Chris, Durkin doesn’t even include him in the proceedings, no matter that his own suicide would have reinforced, rather than complicated, the material’s single overarching point.
At the moment of the Von Erich boys’ joint triumph, Fritz announces to the world that they’re “the greatest family in the history of wrestling.” The Iron Claw, unfortunately, doesn’t persuasively prove that claim, rendering their tale merely a series of catastrophes brought about by an overbearing paterfamilias. In the end, Durkin resorts to yanking on the heartstrings with almost appalling shamelessness via a late bit of heavenly wish-fulfillment fantasy. His biggest misstep, however, is exposed a short while earlier when Kevin takes his brother David’s spot in a match against new World Champion Ric Flair. As embodied by Aaron Dean Eisenberg, the Nature Boy practically bursts with wildfire bravado and charm, and in a scant few minutes, he outshines everyone else in The Iron Claw. In doing so, he suggests that maybe Durkin chose the wrong wrestler to portray—and that maybe there’s a reason the Von Erichs are known chiefly for their heartache.
