What is the Iron Claw you ask???
You’ve heard about The Rock, Hulk Hogan and Randy Macho Man Savage. But you might not have heard of the legend of the Von Erich family. The Iron Claw is a real-life drama chronicling the successes of the wrestling Von Erich brothers.
The director Sean Durkin said, “Iron Claw” is a movie about the love of wrestling, but it’s really a family story. It’s about the ideas of masculinity that we put into boys about what a man should be and how those can be crushing.
Trigger Warning: This movie contains themes around suicide.
This movie, by A24 Studios, is capturing critics and audiences with an 88% critic score and a 94% audience score on the RottenTomatoes website. (For those that aren’t familiar with A24 studios, they are an independent entertainment company who develop and distribute unique and interesting films. They don’t put out the same old tired stories. Some other A24 films you might know include Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, Midsommar, Ex Machina, and Uncut Gems.)
Once critic said of The Iron Claw, “Powerfully acted and profoundly sad, The Iron Claw honors its fact-based story with a dramatization whose compassionate exploration of family ties is just as hard-hitting as its action in the wrestling ring.”
You don’t have to be a wrestling fan to enjoy this movie. It’s more about family relationships than about wrestling. The true story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers, who made history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. Through tragedy and triumph, under the shadow of their domineering father and coach, the brothers seek larger-than-life immortality on the biggest stage in sports.
Starring in this movie is Zac Efron. He’s come a long way from High School Musical. And has he bulked up for this movie. Efron…brings patience and grace to a role which could have been played much more conventionally, and elevates the whole. Also starring in this film is Jeremy Allen White who you might know as the smart, but self sabotaging youth “Lip” from Shameless.
This is the February movie I’ve been most looking forward to seeing.
The Iron Claw is showing this weekend (Feb 16th – 18th) at the Falkon Theatre. Show times are Friday and Saturday at 8:00PM and Sunday at 2:00PM.
Rating: R (Some Sexuality | Language | Drug Use | Suicide)
Runtime: 2h 12m
Trailer: https://youtu.be/8KVsaoveTbw?si=xWCJrLAep2NLJpWg