So as a fan of artsy films, depressing films, and a casual fan of wrestling, my ultimate recommendation for this film is… blah.
So I have a close friend of mine who’s a professional wrestler, and when I saw the trailers for this film, I figured it would be the perfect film to see with him. I wasn’t entirely wrong. But it also wasn’t an entirely… satisfying film.
I’ve seen other sports movies like Rocky, and Remember the Titans, and Fast and the Furious, and even Ford v Ferrari. I know that traditional sports films pit the protagonist against certain odds then deliver a certain catharsis at the end, even if it isn’t being world champ or first place. But this film really isn’t it. I’ve also see plenty of monomyth traditional three-act western films where the protagonist has a need and a desire, and overcomes the desire to accomplish the need. This movie isn’t really it either. I’ve even seen films where the point isn’t to deliver a traditional story about a hero and instead deliver an unsatisfying reality-based tale about an antihero who personifies real people but is still told in a compelling, visually or cinematographically compelling way, like Oppenheimer or Zodiac. This movie isn’t really that.
The Iron Claw has a lot of really great anchors embedded in the form of father v son, or family v chosen family or destiny v chosen fate, or even addiction v person. This film prods at each of these classic, compelling dilemmas, but ultimately fails to satisfyingly deliver on any of them. Some folks may find the preliminary dilemma about the father and the sons to be the most unifying theme, but I failed to see how the film delivered the ultimate tale of redemption. Sure, the protagonist, Kevin Von Erich decides to shirk his father’s shadow and raise his family in a more sensitive, inclusive way, but this climax is only delivered in the very final scene. The film spends more time on trauma porn, impressing upon the audience the ultimate tragedy of the Von Erich family, the deaths of various family members, which is undercut by the lack of chemistry between the brothers. Not to say their brotherly connections weren’t given their fair chance- I found it more satisfying when the Von Erich brothers literally called each other “brother” than in a porno.
The film takes a lot of the right steps, but only by the most textbook definitions. The real legs of this film were in its emotional grounding, but I never really felt that the emotions resonated as well as they should have. The fault wasn’t in the acting- which was acceptable- or the dialogue- which was believable- but in the overall script and cinematography- which was uninspired. I think that the overall story of the Von Erich family deserved more, and that more attention needed to be paid to the more significant relationships in the film, rather than spreading out the emotional moments that ultimately did not resonate with the climax. The father, Fritz, plays the main antagonist, who pushes his sons, Kevin, David, Kerry, and, Mike to their extremes- to the point that they voluntarily or involuntarily commit suicide in the name of the sport. Too much attention is paid to the mother and Kevin’s wife, Pam, played by the underutilized Lily James.
The former relationships with the women ultimately only played a peripheral role, roles that only served to- ironically- serve, the men in the story. The mother, Doris, played by Maura Tierney, did little to no effect on the plot save for being a selfish, slightly narcissistic mother. James only served to be a slight emotional relief and the bearer of Kevin’s children and his salvation in the final scene.
Speaking of women, this film does not pass the Bechdel test. James and Tierney only interact once, only to discuss that Tierney can or cannot rewear a dress to her son’s funeral. From a feminist standpoint, this film will be wholly unsatisfying. The film is about the male ego, the male destiny, and the male inability to express desire and emotion. Had Kevin had the confidence to express his desires and his ability to his father, he, presumably, would have been able to salvage his family. Had Kevin been able to express his emotions, he would have overcome his cinematic bump in his relationship. Had Fritz been better at being a father, he would have allowed his sons to be who they wanted. This film is not for women. It’s also not really for men. Not really. It’s about overcoming masochism to embrace emotion, to shrug off some notion of duty to be responsible. I think. Or at least, this film should have been.
The Iron Claw showed promise, but failed on most, if not all, fronts, at being a compelling drama to satisfyingly, convincingly, deliver a message or moral to an audience. Yes, it was a biopic based on a true, tragic story about a wrestling family. But I think that a resounding message was embedded in this film that was ultimately not delivered to its full potential.
I hate to say this about a sports drama, a tragedy, and an A24 film, but The Iron Claw was bad.
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