It’s always interesting when you go into a movie with little knowledge of the subject matter, especially when inspired by a true story. The Iron Claw is the story of the Von Erick family, a wrestling family that helps change the face of the professional sport. I knew they had something to do with wrestling and were influential within the community. What I didn’t realise was how dark their story was. This is more than just a tale of wrestling. This can only be described as the feel-bad movie of the year.

Fritz Von Erick is obsessed with wrestling. Having been a professional for years and now the owner of his own company, he has pushed his sons, Kevin, Kerry, David and Mike, into the arena with the one dream he never managed to achieve: winning the heavyweight championship belt. By pushing so hard, Fritz causes rifts within the brotherly bond, but an alleged curse within the family brings tragedy.

Writer and director Sean Durkin, who gave us the brilliant Martha Mary May Marlene, has admitted that the story of the Von Ericks is so bleak that he had to tailor the tale, removing one other son from the story because it was too much for audiences to deal with. He’s not wrong. This family was so close and yet so far away, mainly because they had to sort things out themselves.

Durkin tells his tale slowly to understand just how close the brothers were, yet allowing us to see that each was unique yet so similar. The film starts with the focus on Kevin, already established as a wrestler, who is good at the sport but struggles with the fighting talk. In steps David, a confident young man who takes over from Kevin as the front runner for the elusive belt their father desperately wants to possess in his home. Then there is Kerry, a sports superstar close to representing the US at the Olympics, until they boycott the 1980 Moscow event, leaving Kerry with one other path: wrestling. That leaves Mike, a young man who wants to play music more than enter the ring.

We get the boys working together, supporting each other, and even entering the ring together. At this point, this close-knit family are torn apart due to the pressures forced upon them by their family and the inability to share their thoughts and feelings with each other. Their mother tells Kevin when he realises his father is too demanding: “Sort it out yourselves!”

We then understand what Kevin means when he talks about the Von Erick curse, and the film turns dark. Durkin handles the wrestling scenes well but knows how to resolve the family tragedy. There is very little lightness to this tale. We get a lighter moment when Kevin marries a fan, Pam, but the rest of the film is not full of laughs. Without going into detail, this does become a little relentless, and you wonder how much tragedy one family can face.

The film is exceptionally well made. It has a good use of music and is filmed with a feeling of the period (the haircuts alone are incredible and just a little embarrassing). Along with that, the performances are terrific. Looking like a man mountain, Zac Efron is superb as Kevin. Nicely underplaying his role, you sympathise with him, not only in coping with the tragic events but being looked over by his father when choosing who will take on the infamous belt. Efron has always been slightly underrated as an actor, but after films like The Paperboy, he is more than just a pretty face.

His brother, Jeremy Allen White, the star of the TV series The Bear, gets the more showy role of Kerry, who seems to be the one who suffers the most and manages to convince. At the same time, Harris Dickinson, who was so good in Triangle of Sadness, is totally unrecognisable in his blonde wig, as David, and while he doesn’t get the same level of screen time as his co-stars, he still makes a powerful impression.

The Iron Claw is not a film about wrestling but a family in peril. It’s a film that will leave you drained with emotion, and you will hardly leave the cinema with a spring in your step. Yet it’s a slow-burning drama that is fascinating and powerful, and it’s a shame that it has missed award nominations. Worth seeing, but be prepared for as far from a feel-good experience as you will ever get. As for the title, it’s a wrestling move in which you grip your opponent’s face with what looks like a claw.

4 out of 5

Director: Sean Durkin

Starring: Zac Efron, Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Lily James, Maura Tierney, Holt McCallany, Stanley Simons, Michael J. Harney, Kevin Anton

Written by Sean Durkin

Running Time: 132 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 9th February 2024