The Iron Claw

Less about the wrestling and more about the tragedy, but I think it loses a lot by not capturing the charisma of the Von Erich's and what gave them such high renown. The drama itself hits its notes strongly on individual scenes but holistically it doesn't tie together and comes off as lacking focus, especially since it seems like the writers don't know what events to adapt and cut out a lot of things that would put more weight on the tragedy. Also, that is the worst Flair impression ever!

A few points away from truly special. The tragedy of the Von Erichs is told pretty faithfully, aside from a few glaring omissions: the absence of Chris, and that Fritz got heat in wrestling as a Nazi heel. I feel like both belonged (and could have been smartly employed) in the narrative, but for the most part, this is a worthwhile retelling of the story of the supposed Von Erich curse, as well as an exploration of a particularly-rigid patriarchy, that's well-executed and made with care.

Four Funerals and a Wedding

Toretto has nothing on the familial bond of a Von Erich.

Pure American melodrama. Something so delightful in the symmetry of phoniness in masculinity between wrestling and the other big post WWII masculine Texas obsession the American Western. The fights in this choreographed like a bar fight in a movie long forgotten by a new generation. The same way the Von Erich’s were and the same way we all will be. “We’ll be your brothers dad”

It's a heartfelt and tragic story. You can tell it's trying to cram so much into its runtime, it's a bit unbelievable the lives this family actually had. It's well written, well acted, and well directed. Really liked it.

Truly tragic subject matter. Efron did a good job, matching the emotion and physicality of the character. Really appreciate the emphasis on brotherhood, especially, but it does a good job of showing how their father's stunted emotionality stunted them a bit. Doesn't do anything wrong, even if I don't absolutely LOVE it. Just a good story told well.

Listen, if you make a movie about men learning to express their emotions and their love for each other, I will cry while watching it. I don't make the rules, I just abide by them.

I have never had any interest in wrestling, so I went into this knowing nothing about the Von Erich family and why I would want to see a film about them. Oh. Holt McCallany is pretty astonishing as the patriarch of a family he steers into oblivion. Zac Efron is amazing ... something I never really thought I'd say. For a film that's just completely suffused with tragedy, it's not a dour and unpleasant experience.

There are issues with pacing and tone, fritz gets away pretty good for a dad whose ambitions cost his family everything, but strangely it's zac efron who kept me hooked with his powerhouse performance and transformation. His (re-)chiseled jaw and beast physique turned him into a prime candidate for he-man in a masters of the universe movie. Or at least he could now play his own AND the rock's role in the next baywatch crap thing.

Zac Efron should have earned an Oscar nomination at least. His pain acts as the connecting spine through the film. It's a hard watch at times but a worthwhile one.

Depressing biopic about the lives and deaths of the Von Erich family, who were Texas pro wrestling superstars throughout the 80s and 90s. Leaves out Chris Von Erich entirely, but the movie has more than enough tragedy even without his suicide. Efron is surprisingly good, managing to convey some genuine emotions through the lens of a musclebound meathead, but I feel like the actor who played the family patriarch Fritz was even better. A tough film about the bonds of brotherhood and family.

the virgin suicides with huge arms and no pants

Wrestling is firmly in the “stuff I don’t know FUCK ALL about” territory but the film’s earnest emotion sucked me in regardless. Zac Efron is excellent; now Zac please don’t fuck your body up this bad with whatever steroids you were on for this ever again.

This was really good. Starts off like your standard sports drama and feels perfectly 80s, but quickly gets very moody and becomes a pretty miserable watch that’s so delicately made that it’s hard to NOT watch til the end. Paced really well, and Durkin’s directing is very solid. Efron is at his best here, without question. I do like the supporting cast quite a bit too though. I don’t think it’s a perfect biopic, but this is still a solid screenplay that’s effective. The ending is fantastic.

Much like the 'sport' itself, the film felt somewhat contrived and overly rehearsed, at least compared to a cinéma-vérité grounded alternative like Aronofsky's The Wrestler. I also felt the film's emotional core didn't manifest itself until right before the final act, which turned everything else leading up to it into somewhat of a passive viewing experience, at least for me. It goes without saying everyone is spectacular in the film, but it didn't rock to my core as much as I'd hoped.

Godspeed You! White Wrestler

The Iron Claw is the type of movie that if it weren't real you wouldn't believe it. The performances are mostly good, but nothing too special. Another reminder how much I like Lily James, and want to see her in something more substantial. Unfortunately everything is rather surface level, and ultimately it's just kind of tragic and sad. Not a bad watch by any means, but it's also kind of "eh whatever", with no real standout aspect to really grab your attention.

Effectively tragic, as the true story demands. However, the film can sometimes feel emotionally stunted, which is possibly an artistic choice designed to reflect the true nature of the people invloved. The casting is exceptional, and the film is very compentently made. A fantastic addition to the newly blossoming world of pro wrestling cinema.

At times unbearably sad, this beautifully made (and brilliantly acted) film chronicles the rise, fall, and unfathomable misfortune that befell one of the most influential families in the sport of wrestling.

It has some broad brush strokes, and clearly implicates dysfunctional fatherhood as the culprit in the uniquely tragic misfortunes of the Von Erichs, and yet the family dynamics it portrays remain thoroughly, undeniably authentic and credible. Though it doesn't go into detail here either, it also conjures up a true sense of what "pro wrestling" was like in the 1980s - inside and outside the ring. Heartfelt and powerful.

Solid film about destructive power of masculinity. Love ensemble cast more than the film itself -- first hour didn't quite work for me and hated decision to omit one of the brothers --, specially Efron. Curse thing is really haunting and it's nice how Durkin turns it into a family melodrama than a traditional sports biopic. Ending might seem too nice, but hey, it's how Kevin survived -- by making his own choices and taking care of his family in a way his father didn't.

Too many characters, you never got to know any of them well enough, although it's a true story so it's not like they had a choice. I respect that they had the guts to depict brain damage.

It's OK For You To Cry: The Movie

Despite the fact that broadly speaking everything in here is true I found myself laughing at the ridiculousness of it all - it's almost like a parody of those sappy biopic tragedies they pump out on the Hallmark channel (it didn't help that I was also being asked to take professional wrestling seriously). Your mileage will vary depending on your cringe tolerance but for me this was almost too cheesy to finish.

A visually well-made film that asks it's viewers to go through a suffer journey with the Von Erich family. I usually don't mind tragedies or sad films, but I need my main character to have more agency and awareness, instead of being a mindless object that just takes what comes at them. I felt the same way about Killers of the Flower Moon and Priscilla. It'll just ruin your day to watch this film and leave you feeling empty

A real life story so tragic that they had to remove brothers/deaths from the movie version of the Von Erich Family. Being a lifelong wrestling fan, the Von Erich legacy is well known and this was actually a heavy watch, because I knew when the blows would come and the film does real well to take you back to the time all this happened. To me Holt McCallany really channeled Fritz. A downer that needed to be told, and perhaps the minimalistic approach was needed too in a story so depressing.

The acting and Durkin's direction make this tragic tale compelling.

Efron was great here. I expected to rate this higher than the 6.5 it's getting. Tragic story told well by a great writer/director in Sean Durkin. That said, when looking over a lot of the chosen omissions and just how the film itself made me feel or failed to make me feel, I just couldn't get to where I thought I'd be when watching it. For a great review of more of the story I recommend checking out b&s about movies dot com. I'm unaffiliated, but enjoyed learning what I wasn't aware of there.

aderfia amerikania alla touchy melodrama me palaistes

This is my first Sean Durkin movie. And, well... I have no interest in wrestling or any knowledge of the Von Erich family involved. But, oh boy, he did such a beautiful work. I loved the way that he portrays the scenes that contained many emotions in the same frame, as well as the fact that the film examined many implicit issues around the main theme without expose them. Efron, McCallany and White does brilliant jobs too.

I really appreciated the story, sad as it is, about Kerry Von Erich (Texas Tornado), who was one of my childhood memories. I loved wrestling growing up, and as I learned about the tragedy commonplace to the industry, it broke my heart. This film elevated my awareness about yet another wrestling family that had its demons and did so impressively.

Middling Texploitation

Falls short of The Wrestler, for me, as far as wrestling movies go, but the performances are strong and it’s a wild real-life story.

Wrestling. Texas. Brothers. Competition. “Tom Sawyer” by Rush. Jeremy Allen White’s perfect sunset flip. Zac Efron pretending he can’t dance. Emotions. Curses. Ric Flair promo. Tears. Words fail me. More tears. Fuck. Fuck! I wanna live that way forever.

Had no idea how emotional this was going to be - the understated filmmaking, the incredibly powerful performances, the exceptional depiction of believable familial bonds that becomes genuinely tragic as it all falls apart. While absolutely everybody in this is good you really gotta give special props to Efron who gives an absolutely gut-wrenching performance.

I knew nothing about this family or their tragedies. With all the bad stuff happening to them, I was surprised Vince McMahon didn't make an appearance to make things worse. The dad was pretty reasonable until the end so I would have liked to see more of a progression. Not sure why they combined the IRL brothers. I glazed over the wrestling scenes since they all felt the same. More build up or fan reactions may have helped. Efron was huge. Fav scene: talking with kids at the end.

Knowing nothing about this family I found this story compelling & moving. I was also initially impressed by the subtlety the director uses in his portrayal of the father. My problem w/ the film is that it wants to (one-sidedly) illustrate the idea that traditional "masculinity" is "toxic"/bad (the director admits this). The problem is that he is confusing "masculinity" with the kinds of extreme behaviors that ARE required to become the genuine "best" in any field & women champions do the same

Kind of like if the teacher from "Whiplash" was your dad. The downfall of the family felt like watching dominoes fall one after the other in slow motion, in heartbreaking fashion. I don't think any other family has been through worse outside of war.

An epic tragedy worthy of the absurdly heightened drama present in professional wrestling. Among the least subtle movies I've seen in recent memory and many of the leads often look and act like Muppets which deflates the litany of tragedies over the final 2 acts. The pacing has a bit of a desensitizing effect for a few of the moments, but some of them did hit very close to home.

Tells a compelling story middling, meandering and voiceless. Some of the visuals are phenomenal, but often it's just film student 101 with no flavor or pacing. Watch the Dark Side of the Ring episode instead it's way more gut wrenching and emotional.

Good. Really good performance from Efron

Good film telling the tragic story of the Von Erich wrestling family. There are scenes that lay it on pretty thick (the afterlife scene and final scene in particular), but the wrestling stuff is well handled (except terrible casting/performance of Ric Flair (thankfully only a bit part.) Efron and McCallany both give Oscar nom worthy performances. Holt, playing father Fritz, is especially tragic as a deluded man who believes he's doing his best for his family when in fact he's destroying them.

You get the feeling so much is missing in the in the spaces before and between these unthinkable tragedies. Telling the story in this stylized, minimalist way feels wrong. They even completely omitted the existence and tragic life of Chris Von Erich. Found myself just wanting to read a book or watch a documentary about this.

A more succesful biopic in a genre that, let's face it, often sucks. The number of tragedies this family racks up is almost incomprehensible. I hope the patriarch is proud of his doings. It's not exactly subtle but the performances and pleasant direction are worth it. This would definitely be getting oscar nods, were it nod that A24 apparantly released it too late to be admitted.

Sovietnoolympicssowrestle+saysdontjap-diesrupturedintestine+shouldersurgerycoma-suicide+shootself it's a great story but stopped engaging me

The Iron Snore more like

Incredibly tragic true story. Great performances, not least in the ring. Its quite amazing how they took on these roles, bulking up loads and learning to pull off the moves in the ring in such a short time. Thought provoking topics of toxic masculinity and pushing people too far.

flat

+acting +style

audiovisual 82 acting 80 overall feeling 81 avg 81

Simply put, it's a gut wrenching drama/biopic with a fantastic cast.