(Note from Wai: Hijacking Jake’s thread to use as our official feedback thread for this movie. We’ll read responses on the Dec. 27th edition of the Double Shot)
I just came off of watching an early fan screening of The Iron Claw and thought this is the best time to open up a thread here for us to discuss. I knew the story going in having watched the Von Erich family’s episode of Dark Side of the Ring and the Triumph & Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling DVD that WWE put out many years ago, but still didn’t think I would come out of it so close to shedding some tears. It was so beautiful and so tragic. Zac Efron has never been better and as far as I’m concerned, hand him the Oscar for best actor at this point. And I think Jeremy Allen White has earned himself as best supporting actor. I understand that he had a smaller build than what Kerry was supposed to look like, but I thought his performance knocked it out of the park. Nobody gives him enough credit for being such a sublime, diverse actor who has the heart to carry the load in whatever he stars in. It will move you to tears, especially if you have siblings. The story of the Von Erichs has such an important message: being the best to please society and even your elders won’t save you - being smart, caring and full of love will.
What really stood out to me was the way the movie was shot: people are referring to this as a Hollywood film, but it looked like they didn’t have a Hollywood budget. It felt more like an indie movie (which I love). They used a lot of creativity while filming this. I actually appreciated the artistic approach they used for the Parade of Champions scene. I also loved that they splurged a little bit and re-created the exterior of the Sportatorium. As a wrestling history nerd, that gave me goosebumps. For the casual movie goer, it showed the fun atmosphere those shows had.
The minor complaints I have can be excused with “it’s a biopic not a documentary”, this movie was made for a wider audience than just the wrestling fans, and they only had so much time to tell a story.
I believe Chris Von Erich should have been in the movie, it seems to me they decided to kind of merge Chris and Mike. It’s a little off-putting, but I understood why they did it, from a narrative perspective.
Ric Flair: if you seen it, you know what I’m talking about. What really gets me is the director put so much pride in hiring very talented actors for the movie. So what was he thinking when he decided that this weak version of Ric Flair was acceptable?
But overall, a fantastic picture to capture the unyielding lifestyle in the industry of professional wrestling.
I’ll probably watch it for free on streaming at some point. I don’t really care that much about the von Erich family because it wasn’t part of my life when I grow up other than seeing the Texas tornado in WWF
I am generally positive on the film and how it treats the world of professional wrestling relatively seriously. Of course, like almost every wrestling fan going into the film, I have some major nitpicks. Aside from the removal of Chris Van Erich, something I sadly didn’t clue into while watching, my biggest issue that actually took me out of the film was the horrendous depiction of Ric Flair. While the other classic wrestlers in the film, such as Bruiser Brody and Harley Race came off as passable, the actor playing Flair, some guy by the name of Aaron Dean Eisenberg, could not duplicate the real man’s charisma and the end result is an eye-rollingly bad imitation. I almost wish MJF got some lines in the film, instead of a 30 second cameo.
I also have to say that I thought that the scene at the end, showing Kerry Von Erich reuniting with his brothers in the afterlife, somewhat rubbed me the wrong way. While it is positioned as a dream by Kevin after reading Kerry’s suicide note, I thought that it shoehorned sentimentality onto tragedy and the film could have done without that scene and have the same impact.
I just got back from seeing it this late afternoon on Christmas Eve. The feel good movie of the holiday season! Seriously though, I thought it was well-made. I thought Zac Efron and Holt McCallany gave the strongest performances as Kevin and Fritz respectively, though Efron looks ridiculously huge, and Lily James to me has a knack for capturing the screen. Knowing the Von Erich story dating back to the documentary Heroes of World Class, I thought it was pretty well conveyed here. The scenes depicting the deaths/final moments of Mike and Kerry were harrowing to me. The afterlife scene with the four dead brothers reuniting was a questionable choice to me.
Of the many real life wrestling people depicted in supporting roles, the actor playing Bill Mercer seemed like an improvement over the real guy.
It’s weird. I’ve been a wrestling fan since I was about 9. I first learned all the details about the Von Erich family tragedy when I was ten thanks to an episode of either A Current Affair or Inside Edition.
Part of growing up a wrestling fan in the 90’s and 2000’s involved me from a very young age accepting these heartbreaking tragic deaths and realities as part of fandom.
It took a slightly fictionalized version of these events in a cinematic telling to really drive home the reality of the heartbreak.
I’m forgiving if the liberties taken and the amalgamation of real people involved, as otherwise this would have a nearly too crazy to be true mini-series sized film. Although I would have loved to see the stories of Chris Von Erich, Gino Hernandez, Bruiser Brody told and Kerry’s timeline of tragedies more closely followed. But again, I forgive it.
A great film. Could have been better, but I still loved it. I reminded me of many performer-based biopics - specifically music ones. A style of film we have seen countless times, but still finds different ways to be engaging. So, give me more professional wrestling biopics I guess. (Specifically would love to see the Darkside guys getting a chance to tell Brody’s story.)
Also, I think this made me very sad for how callously I looked at this story from a ten year olds eyes. And how much as a 40 year old, I now see the tragedy. And, perhaps how I need to reflect on the countless other deaths I became so numb to in the industry at such a young age due to fandom.
Overall, I really enjoyed the film, but it felt a little short of being great (and it could have been).
The film had to tackle so much - from presenting the family dynamics and the web of interpersonal relationships to the wrestling careers of Kevin and Kerry to the tragedies that unfolded.
But in having so much material, I think the second half of of the movie felt a little crammed. Each tragedy that unfolded didn’t have adequate space. And although there were scenes that had foreshadowing to these tragedies, I think the overall impact was dimmed on what it means to the structure of these complex relationships that they did such a great job establishing.
I honestly thought this film could be broken up into two parts or maybe a miniseries would have done the story more justice. But again, I can appreciate it for what it was.
Eric from Miami, I saw it Christmas Day in a theater and enjoyed it, I don’t think the people in the theater had any idea what they were going to watch, the breakfast scene where Fritz ranked his kids on who he loved most got a chuckle and I felt like someone who read the Game of Thrones books before the Red Wedding aired. Question between Glow on Netflix, Heels on Starz and Young Rock when do you think we’re going to be done with having the “Isn’t wrestling fake” speech in TV and movies.
I saw it yesterday and The Iron Claw treated the subject matter and the Von Erich family with respect. Zac Efron was tremendous. It was tough watching each of the brothers suffer one by one. Seeing Kerry with one foot made me audibly gasp. It was neat to see the likes of Harley Race, The Freebirds and a rather hilarious depiction of Ric Flair.
I ended up seeing this in a smaller theater with other people who seemed to not be wrestling fans nor knowing the actual story based on their reactions as each tragedy unfolded, there were a few audible gasps especially with Mike and Kerry’s death.
This movie did an incredible job of getting you to really care about these brothers and this family. It didn’t paint Fritz as this huge villain, but a flawed man who loved his kids, but couldn’t see beyond his ego and “White whale” of the NWA title.
I cried multiple times during the movie, but none harder than the scene with Kerry on the boat seeing his brothers and then meeting Jackie in the afterlife. I do wish there was a reference to Chris at the even if it was during the afterlife dock scene.
The Ric Flair promo scene completely took me out of the movie for a minute or two, at least the Harley Race actor looked facially like Harley Race but whoever they got as Flair missed the mark, they should have just skipped to the lockeroom scene.
I think Zac Efron should be seriously considered for an Oscar nomination as he was that great in the role. he was a little too jacked but his acting was tremendous.
