The Iron Claw

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Great movie

I was expecting to be impacted a little more by The Iron Claw, but I've come away with slightly mixed feelings. A lot of people seemed to love this while heralding it as one of the year's best, and I don't know... I think it's good, but I'm not crazy about it. I'm not sure why some of the more emotional moments here didn't really move me, because on paper, this is a heavy story filled with tragedy (and it really happened in real life... sort of, because the actual events were worse, and it would've seemed inconceivable to tell the story exactly how it went in reality). It's not so much that I became numb to it, but I just don't think I was as blown away by the acting or filmmaking as many others. Zac Efron... he was good (but it was no Oscar snub; not in my eyes). Jeremy Allen White, also good (but got shafted a little in screen time). The other brothers; the actors playing the parents: everyone did what they needed to, but no one blew me away. I feel like everyone was committing to a decent extent (or more, in some cases), but I just couldn't feel it. I appreciated it. But it didn't shake me to my core like I imagine it should've, or like I imagine it wanted to. I can't really diagnose the problem; not yet. I think this is well-acted and competently made, but given the story being told, I feel like I should be coming away from it saying more than: "Yeah, that was pretty good." It's weird to have a slightly warmer than lukewarm feeling about a movie this emotionally intense, but that's where I am right now. Everyone involved with The Iron Claw gets a B- or a B. Well done, all, but also, no one knocked it out of the park. Maybe it's a little like a really talented group of students all coasting together through the most important assignment of the year; I can't be mad (as the imagined teacher in this stupid metaphor), but I also can't bring myself to be thrilled, either.

I went into this film not knowing anything about the Von Erich family. I thought this would be a typical sports movie centered around wrestling. Fortunately, this film was more than that. It touched on many topics like brotherhood, father son dynamics and grief. This film was way more tragic than anything I could have thought of and what makes it crazy is that it's all true. The acting was very good in this film and all the relationships were believable except for how quickly Kevin and Pam got together. All of the actors playing the brothers had great chemistry. The motives and decisions of all the characters were well executed. The wrestling scenes were well done even though this film was less about wrestling and more about the family. While I enjoyed this film, I did feel that it could have been longer. Some of the events felt rushed and crammed together. More major wrestling events should have been added to show some of the wrestling politics. The wives in the film played very minimal roles in the film and it was hard to believe that they weren't more involved in real life. With that said this was still a gripping and memorable film that deserves to be watched.

As a previous reviewer observed, this movie is more about the dynamics of a particular family than wrestling. Which was fine with me, as I have no interest in what is called "professional" i.e., scripted wrestling, which is more spectacle than sport. How the matches are sketched out in advance is not the subject of this movie. We see one brief example of this, but nothing more. Rather, this is the story of the von Erich family. The father had a mildly successful career in professional wrestling. When his day is over, he convinces all four of his sons to follow in his footsteps, even though some of them would rather do other things. Dad keeps pushing them until they fall apart, in one way or the other. I have no idea how close to the historical reality this movie is, and don't care. For the facts, I would turn to documentaries or books, neither of which this pretends to be. I had hoped that it would be a good drama. For me, it was not. I found the characters to be emotionally flat. And there are many unanswered questions, that might have made the four boys' faithful devotion to their emotionless and manipulative dad easier to understand. The fact that none of these four healthy young men had any real interest in women - or men - seemed strange. One point left me particularly puzzled. Near the end of the movie, when Kevin is in bed with his wife one morning, their two largely androgenous young children run in and hop in bed with them . The mother calls them "girls." Later, when they are playing football with Kevin, he refers to them as boys. They both have long blond hair and could be either. What gives? What was the director up to? If you're a wrestling fan, you'll probably be bothered by the lack of fidelity to the historical facts. If you're not, I don't know why this would interest you, as the characters aren't that interesting. Unless you want to spend two hours looking at muscular guys in their briefs.

For 2023 it's nice to see a film in theater that is high caliber. The Iron Claw hits on many different levels and tells a story with conviction and care. The acting was convincing and the size of Zac Efron is flat out impressive (regardless if supplements were involved). In terms of drama, Efron is subtle mostly, but really shines in the final scene of the movie. The pace is just about perfect. There is no meandering or long drawn out sequences that make you want to check the time. There are a few jumps in years but you don't get confused how much time has passed, keeping the audience engaged and not figuring out timelines. The movie is based on a true story and has a lot of tragic moments, but there is also hope which helps balance the tone. The Iron Claw is a good movie and I'm sure will be up for an Oscar or two. It's also nice to watch a movie in this day and age that doesn't have any political undertones that it's trying to convey to the audience, just pure storytelling.

For 2023 it's nice to see a film in theater that is high caliber. The Iron Claw hits on many different levels and tells a story with conviction and care. The acting was convincing and the size of Zac Efron is flat out impressive (regardless if supplements were involved). In terms of drama, Efron is subtle mostly, but really shines in the final scene of the movie. The pace is just about perfect. There is no meandering or long drawn out sequences that make you want to check the time. There are a few jumps in years but you don't get confused how long has passed, keeping the audience engaged and not confused. The movie is based on a true story and has a lot of tragic moments, but there is also hope which helps balance the tone. The Iron Claw is a good movie and I'm sure will be up for an Oscar or two. It's also nice to watch a movie in this day and age that doesn't have any political undertones that it's trying to convey to the audience, just pure storytelling.