150 Word Review: 'The Iron Claw' (2023)

Traumamania

Photo: A24

The sins of the father are visited upon four musclebound sons in The Iron Claw, a Greek tragedy with a bowl haircut about the Von Erich family, a real-life pro-wrestling dynasty in 1970s Dallas. The sin? Bottomless ambition. The suffering they endured was unbearable. If their story weren't true, it wouldn't be believable.

Director Sean Durkin subverts the inspirational sports flick genre: The Iron Claw is about trauma, not triumph. The fights are fake in the ring, except when they're not. The doomed siblings are all well-drawn and performed. Durkin lets us get to know them. Unfortunately, the parents are two-dimensional, especially the tyrannical paterfamilias played by veteran everyman Holt McCallany.

Zac Efron is captivating as the eldest, a sensitive hulk. Whenever the movie threatens to become a plodding soap opera, Efron shows up, his heart in ruins. A quiet, dream-like scene near the end is unexpectedly healing and devastating.

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