Review: Zac Efron's best performance yet anchors wrestling biopic 'The Iron Claw'

Filmmaker Sean Durkin has explored the dynamics of dysfunctional families, particularly ones with imposing, controlling or otherwise distrustful father figures. Remember John Hawkes in "Martha Marcy May Marlene" (2011) and Jude Law in "The Nest" (2020)?

The patriarch in Durkin's latest film, "The Iron Claw," too, is obsessed with controlling and maintaining an image of his family. But this is a true story, the tale of the Von Erich clan, a wrestling dynasty that ruled the rings in the 1980s and '90s.

It's an almost unbelievably devastating fable of young men crushed under the expectations of their demanding father, Fritz (Holt McCallany), who served as the coach, mentor, employer and the overseer of a Texas wrestling promotion that churned through his brood of boys.

Zac Efron stars as Kevin Von Erich, a brilliant bit of casting, and this is Efron's best screen performance yet. He conveys an inherent sweetness, a sense of guilelessness and innocence that serves his portrayal as the protective eldest brother, and provides a contrast to his bulked-up physique. His tender, good-humored nature also stands in opposition to Fritz's tough expectations, demanding that his sons always wear a stoic mask of machismo.

Fritz wants to protect and provide for his boys with sports; their mother, Doris (Maura Tierney), puts her faith in Jesus to take care of her sons. Neither takes it upon themselves. It's on the band of brothers to take care of one another, especially Kevin, who strives to excel at wrestling for his father, but whose small rebellions against Fritz pave his path to survival.

"The Iron Claw" is a bloody and emotionally devastating film, but it starts out as a rollicking '80s sports romp. Kevin is never happier than when he's with his brothers: David (Harris Dickinson), Mike (Stanley Simons), a lanky high school rocker who doesn't care much for sports, and Kerry (Jeremy Allen White), a track superstar who returns home from an Olympic training camp after the United States withdraws from the 1980 Summer Games.

A family game of tag football and a barbecue is all Kevin needs to be content, but he is tasked with maintaining the wrestling legacy started by his father, who passed down his signature move, a forehead grab called the Iron Claw.

The wrestling here is brutal ballet, choreographed by former professional wrestler Chavo Guerrero Jr. Durkin shows us both the construct of the sport, and the very real destruction of bodies both inside and outside the ring. He manages to portray wrestling with a lyrical poeticism, while also maintaining the over-the-top theatricality that makes it so entertaining (Aaron Dean Eisenberg is a standout as the bombastic Ric Flair), and its inherent danger.

Ultimately, "The Iron Claw" is a ghost story, a tale of a family haunted by those they've lost and their own responsibility in these deaths. It is so much more than just melodrama — it is myth-making on a grand yet intimate scale, a film that attempts to express a small sliver of the Von Erich legend, and beautifully does justice to Kevin's personal journey.

'The Iron Claw'
3½ stars out of 4
Rated: R for language, suicide, some sexuality and drug use.
Where: In theaters Friday.