Review: Pro wrestling might be fake, but it’s more real than Sean Durkin's 'The Iron Claw'

It’s always surprising when you watch a new movie and thoroughly dislike it and then realize that the writer/director previously helmed a film that blew you away.

Case in point: Sean Durkin.

In 2011, Durkin wrote and directed “Martha Marcy May Marlene,” which was both the debut of Elizabeth Olsen and a brilliant, nerve-shredding thriller about a young woman who tries to escape a cult. It’s one of my favorite films from its time.

In 2023, Durkin wrote and directed “The Iron Claw,” which is a frustrating, disjointed, and sterile portrait of the Von Erich brothers and their place in professional wrestling history.

Seriously, just go and watch season one of Vice TV’s “Dark Side of the Ring,” episode four, “The Last of the Von Erichs,” instead.

I don’t know how you set out to make a movie about a family of young men who were basically bred to be athletic show ponies, driven relentlessly by a father who ranked them by personal favorite, and decimated by a mythical curse that’s never properly explained, and end up with such an empty vessel.

For fuck’s sake, this is a movie titled “The Iron Claw,” which was a signature move by the Von Erichs, and no one ever even bothers to properly explain how that came to be or why it’s so significant that it’s the title of the damn movie.

There’s just no genuine emotion to be found in “The Iron Claw,” and the way Durkin strands his female characters is utterly baffling given the rich roles he’s written for women in the past.

Momma Doris (Maura Tierney) is painted with broad strokes as a devoutly Christian woman who largely lives silently in her husband’s shadow, never stepping in to curb his worst transgressions against their sons. Girlfriend Pam (Lily James) is basically an inspirational Hallmark card in human form, standing tall behind Kevin Von Erich (Zac Efron) without really exhibiting any personality traits other than tenacity to get the guy she wants to get.

Wrestling fans will find plenty here to keep them distracted from the fact that “The Iron Claw” is a subpar movie, whether it’s the behind-the-scenes maneuvering to decide who gets to wear a championship belt or a bunch of character actors portraying pro wrestling’s late 1970s/early 1980s elite (Ric Flair, Bruiser Brody, Harley Race).

“The Iron Claw” is a movie that stars both Efron, who once again sculpts his body like a Greek god and largely goes shirtless, and TV’s current heart-throb Jeremy Allen White, also frequently shirtless—and yet neither actor seems to be present in their respective roles.

The film literally time-jumps over a motorcycle accident that forced one brother to have his foot amputated, without ever mentioning the accident, and relegates the death of another brother while he’s traveling abroad to a phone call.

It just doesn’t make sense.

I’m not even going to address the ridiculous sequence that purports to depict Heaven as a Texas ranch where all the dead Von Erichs gather to live infinitely, even their youngest brother Jack who died tragically at age six.

As a longtime wrestling fan myself, I can honestly say the Von Erichs were never my favorite; however, I can also attest that their legacy and prowess in the ring deserved far better than “The Iron Claw.”

Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.

Follow us: Apple News | Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter | Or sign up for our RSS Feed