The Iron Claw
Review
I am sure Zac Efron is famous for films that I do not know about, but the last I saw of him (besides glimpses in Entourage and Robot Chicken) before the Iron Claw was High School Musical. When you have two younger sisters and one television set, you make lemonade. I was not that into him then, but his acting in the Iron Claw has swayed me. I am on team Efron.
I grew up watching WWF (later WWE) and WCW. You couldn’t tell me professional wrestling was fake, because
Mankind actually shoved his filthy sock in people’s mouthes
And some of the moves legit transfer to irl fight scenarios (I know from personal experience)
And WWE is in the news again at the time of this writing due to Dwane ‘The Rock’ Johnson (Black Loyalist heritage mediated by Nova Scotia) is now a board member of the parent company of WWE and UFC (started by my jujitsu professors’ father Rorion Gracie). Before the Qin Dynasty which brought about the first Chinese Empire, there was a Warring States period in which local warlords ran the local shows. Before WWE ate up its local competitors, the local circuits had their own space.
Within one of these spaces you have Efron’s character’s (Kevin Von Erich) eponymous father the Iron Claw, who professionally wrestles and dreams of the heavyweight title bad never grasps it, so he comes to own his own arena and promotion. He then places his hope in his seed(s)… which encounter a series of unfortunate events as they strive to achieve his dream which he has implanted in them.
A couple of his brothers try something different with Discus Throw at Olympics and music, but they somehow find themselves wrestling too. Some say there is a family curse. Others do not believe in curses. Kevin’s father has a nominal faith in God, but his mother’s faith is nigh unshakeable. But even those with a lot of faith can be tested by faith fatigue and burnout depending on the degree of tragedy that befalls them.
This depth of the tragedy based on a true story in this film almost makes it unwatchable. But like those hard to read passages in scripture, I got through them, and so should you. Read, or reread, the Scroll of Job.
It helps that humor is sprinkled here and there throughout the film. God is the comedian of comedians. Read, or reread, Psalm 2. Kevin is looking super juicy as we say on the MMA and jujitsu side of X. Which alone is funny to me, but add that together with tropes of teenage angst including a date at a diner and a car sex scene and you get universally understandable humor. In the dating scene a line that stuck out to me was when his more experienced date asks him what he wants in life Kevin responds with ribs, spending time with his bros, and becoming the heavyweight champion of the world.
You should watch this film if you want to see a God-fearing family who is into physical culture grapple with darkness and fate with tight-knit brotherhood and fellowship.
P.S.
-I wonder if there is any connection between the title of this film and this scene from Liar Liar:
-Chavo Guerrero (who I used to watch growing up along with his brother Eddie who had a tragic death) does the choreography for this film, as Rorion Gracie did for Lethal Weapon and Keaunu Reeves trained with Jean-Jacque Machado for John Wick