Brawl or nothing
THE IRON CLAW
Cert 15 ★★★
In cinemas now
During the heyday of British wrestling in the 1970s and 80s, Saturday afternoons were frequently spent in front of a television with World of Sport presented by the impeccably moustached Dickie Davies.
He introduced weekly battles of Lycraclad good versus pantomime villainy between Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks. Deafening crowd chants of “Ea-sy! Ea-sy! Ea-sy!” accompanied a signature belly flop to end the fiercely contested bouts.
On the other side of the Atlantic before WWE applied a high-sheen gloss to the sport, retired wrestler Fritz Von Erich was passing the mantle and his signature Iron Claw move to five sons in the hope that one would claim a world heavyweight title for the family-run World Class Championship Wrestling business in Texas.
Writer-director Sean Durkin’s respectful biopic of a proud sporting dynasty grapples with an oft-mentioned family curse that stalked the Von Erichs outside the wrestling ring.
Some brothers took their own lives, and one died on an international tour from ruptured intestines.
Zac Efron bulks up convincingly to portray eldest child Kevin, who vows to honour his iron-fisted father (Holt Mccallany) by becoming “the toughest, the strongest, the most successful – the absolute best”.
His compelling and heartfelt performance balances raw feelings with imposing muscularity. The film tackles the emotionally wrought history and tag teams Efron with Jeremy Allen White, from Disney+ hit The Bear, British rising star Harris Dickinson and Stanley Simons.
Their intense, breathlessly staged brawls were choreographed with the help of professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr, who appears briefly on screen.
Durkin piledrives scenes of fraternal angst but an increasingly grim tone almost pummels us into submission like Von Erichs’ opponents.
“Isn’t it all just fake?.. Sorry, prearranged, written?” playfully wonders Kevin’s girlfriend Pam (Lily James).
Based on the sweat pouring off the actors as they emerge from the fray, the pre-scripted entertainment is real.
A respectful biopic of a proud sporting dynasty grappling with a family curse