“The Iron Claw” (2023)
Directed by Sean Durkin, Written by Sean Durkin, Produced by Tessa Ross, Juliette Howell, Angus Lamont, Sean Durkin, Derrin Schlesinger, Music by Richard Reed Parry, Cinematography Mátyás Erdély, Edited by Matthew Hannam, Starring Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany & Lily James.
Based on the true story of the Von Erich brothers, who made history in the competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s. The brothers strive to triumph in the ring but are besieged by tragedy at every turn.
The first thing I have to say is Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons are great as the Von Erich Brothers.
The film tells a story and I wasn't bored but the film failed to connect with me emotionally.
I am not a wrestling fan and I only had the most basic idea of the true story going in.
I thought this drama would sweep me up and make me care about the characters, let me witness their struggles and their triumphs letting me empathise with them regardless of what sport or profession these people have I wanted to connect with a human story.
But I feel I saw a wrestling movie.
Having a cast of stoic male characters is one thing, cinema is about “show not tell” but the director made the bold choice to not show us a lot of stuff either.
I don’t want to go into spoilers but the film seems to be actively avoiding dramatic emotional scenes that would have established the boy's mental state due to their parent's behaviour and attitudes towards them raising the stakes so I would have received an emotional punch when later events occurred but I left feeling that some plot points were not fully explored and scenes that may have contained foreshadowing that would have made later scenes make more sense were just missing.
I do feel emotional scenes have been cut so it wasn’t seen as a “Sissy film”.
Sean Durkin takes a few bold swings in this and for me personally, it was a bit of a miss.
But letterboxd reviews indicate that people were emotionally devastated by this film but perhaps you need to be American or a fan of wrestling or knowledgeable about the Von Erich Brothers to feel it but I don’t think that’s what cinema is about.
Show me a story and if it's a sad one make me feel it.
As I said there are some really good performances in this and some great cinematography and I was not bored but I was not emotionally affected as people seem to be reporting they were or a story like this should have moved me.
“The Iron Claw” (2023)
Is out in cinemas 9th of February 2024 nationwide.
