The Iron Claw
A24 | Release Date: December 22, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
73
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 55 Critic Reviews
Positive:
45
Mixed:
10
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
EmpireBeth WebbJan 22, 2024
An eerie, beautifully executed study of duty, grief and wrestling, boasting an excellent cast, and a leap forward for its director. A heavyweight collective has just entered the ring. Read full review
100
San Francisco ChronicleBob StraussDec 19, 2023
No, you don’t have to be a fan of fake wrestling to appreciate “Iron Claw.” A love for classic Greek tragedy wouldn’t be misplaced, though. Read full review
100
Screen DailyTim GriersonDec 12, 2023
Bolstered by a series of fragile, lived-in performances, led by Zac Efron’s astonishing turn as the soulful eldest brother in this seemingly doomed clan, the picture asks troubling questions about fate, fathers and ambition, eventually arriving at some hard-earned answers. Read full review
100
ConsequenceClint WorthingtonDec 12, 2023
Wrestling, at its best, is a mythic art, an extension of the traditions of ancient Greece — with all the grand pageantry and theater that turns mere mortals into titans. Durkin knows this, and uses all that bigness to startling effect, transforming the tragedy of an American family into a bittersweet legend. Read full review
91
Original-CinJim SlotekDec 19, 2023
However closely it does or doesn’t hew to reality (Durkin’s script is “inspired by” the Von Erichs, rather than “based on”), The Iron Claw is an emotionally resonant movie about a profoundly dysfunctional family with an unescapable gravity-well of connectedness, one that dates to when they all grew up in a house on wheels, going from bout to bout. Read full review
90
The AtlanticDavid SimsDec 22, 2023
It’s rich with feeling, shrouded in darkness, but not despairing as it digs into the trials the Von Erichs faced, without merely dismissing the family as cursed. Read full review
90
Film ThreatAlan NgDec 22, 2023
The Iron Claw succeeds because of the human story being told. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerDec 20, 2023
The deep emotional success of The Iron Claw all relies on a remarkable cast – most especially the four brothers, at ease with each other but fatally at odds with themselves. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneKatie WalshDec 22, 2023
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. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperDec 20, 2023
All four of the actors playing the brothers are standouts, with Zac Efron and Jeremy Allen White leading the way with some of the finest work of their respective careers. “The Iron Claw” isn’t an easy watch, but it’s one of the best films of the year. Read full review
88
USA TodayBrian TruittDec 12, 2023
It's a touching story of Americana mixed with sibling rivalry, parental pressure and heart-wrenching despair, with a ripped Zac Efron in an amazing turn as the beating heart of a tight-knit yet troubled clan. Read full review
85
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzDec 18, 2023
This is a picture as severe as the real-life generational abuse that its director is chronicling, even if a few false steps mean that The Iron Claw ultimately lands as a technical knock-out. Read full review
85
PolygonChris PlanteDec 12, 2023
Through Durkin’s eyes, longtime fans and newcomers alike can see the paradoxical reality of pro wrestling — an entertainment that is both theater and sport, fake and real, and too often safer in the ring than outside of it. Read full review
85
SlashfilmBJ ColangeloDec 12, 2023
The Iron Claw is an emotionally eviscerating watch anchored by one of the best ensemble casts of the year. Read full review
83
IndieWireDavid EhrlichDec 12, 2023
Durkin’s movie has its fair share of crucial moments in the ring, but none of them would land with a fraction of the same impact if not for the many crystalline little moments in which Kerry, Kevin, David, and Mike get to build each other up. Read full review
80
The Observer (UK)Wendy IdeFeb 11, 2024
Even if The Iron Claw doesn’t quite match the bracing originality of the other two films, it still cements Durkin’s status as one of the most consistently impressive American directors of his generation. Read full review
80
The IndependentClarisse LoughreyFeb 9, 2024
A moving, sentimental work that also chills to the bone, powered by the inevitability of tragedy when familial loyalty becomes tethered to self-destruction. Read full review
80
Little White LiesHannah StrongFeb 8, 2024
While this version of events is perhaps not as accurate, its emotional honesty and narrative sincerity is unquestionable. It’s an incredibly heavy and sobering film, but one that has been made in the spirit of paying tribute to the Von Erich boys. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawFeb 8, 2024
In this film it perhaps isn’t clear what the sacrifices have been for, and Durkin is sufficiently loyal to wrestling and its fanbase not to question it; however there is a muscular force here and the sentimental postmortem scene is inspired. Read full review
80
Time OutKambole CampbellFeb 6, 2024
The handling of the drama is always sensitive, anchored by a perception-busting performance from Efron. Even the High School Musical phobic would have to admit that he’s a revelation here. Read full review
80
Total FilmNeil SmithFeb 5, 2024
Triumph and tragedy form an inseparable tag team in writer/director Sean Durkin’s (Martha Marcy May Marlene) emotional chronicle of the Von Erich clan, a close-knit family of sibling wrestlers whose rise to prominence in 1980s Texas was accompanied by a remorseless, almost Shakespearean succession of setbacks. Read full review
80
The New YorkerRichard BrodyDec 20, 2023
The Iron Claw is as exuberant as it is mournful, and the high spirits of performance and achievement are inseparable from the price that they exact. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicAmanda LubertoDec 18, 2023
With a story this sensitive, the main actors and Durkin must walk a thin line between showing the events and not exploiting the tragedies of a family. And through excellent performances, The Iron Claw succeeds, feeling genuine and heartbreaking. Read full review
80
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithDec 15, 2023
The Iron Claw is either a cheesy professional-wrestling hold or the unbreakable grip of a hostile fate. Or perhaps it’s how a father clutches his children. Whatever it is, it’s a resonant image for a potent tearjerker. Read full review
80
TheWrapDec 12, 2023
The Iron Claw devastates. Read full review
80
VarietyOwen GleibermanDec 12, 2023
A perfect movie for this moment. Read full review
80
ColliderLisa LamanDec 12, 2023
The Iron Claw succumbs to the powerful blows of biopic movie standards, there’s no denying it. But its most insightful qualities rooted in the dissonance between the persona of the Von Erichs and their psychological struggles ensure it scores plenty of cinematic KO’s. Read full review
80
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiDec 12, 2023
It’s a harrowing, visceral, poignant biopic that will surely make you shed a tear or two regardless of whether you knew the Von Erich story. Read full review
76
Paste MagazineKevin Fox, Jr.Dec 12, 2023
The Iron Claw focuses intimately on the Von Erich brothers, painting a tender and forlorn picture of their misfortunes, but it’s hard to call it unflinching. Read full review
75
LarsenOnFilmJosh LarsenJan 8, 2024
The movie’s most distinctive feature, especially as a family biopic, is the tragic nature of this story. The Iron Claw is a downer that ickily sticks with you. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliJan 2, 2024
This is an American tragedy. Although the participants may be famous, the demons they fight in their intimate moments are familiar and relatable. Read full review
75
Washington PostThomas FloydDec 19, 2023
Once The Iron Claw populates its first half with peppy needle drops, seaty training montages and brotherly bonding, the pivot toward death and heartache becomes all the more wrenching. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottDec 18, 2023
It is not uplifting and only marginally inspiring — and even then only as an ode to the amount of pain the human heart can endure. But in the sensitive hands of writer-director Sean Durkin (“Martha Marcy May Marlene”), it is also a well-told, smartly crafted story that can stake a realistic claim to being one of the more moving and compelling sports dramas in recent memory. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineMarshall ShafferDec 12, 2023
With scalpel-like precision, the film exposes the agonies of fathers, sons, and brothers. Read full review
70
The Irish TimesTara BradyFeb 8, 2024
With its 1980s neon fonts, strangely sanitised storytelling, expositionary dialogue, wrongly aged cast and terrible wigs, The Iron Claw looks and feels like a prestreaming TV movie – and not just any old TV movie but a strangely entertaining, darkly tragic, completely gripping TV movie. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearDec 20, 2023
It’s a messy movie about messy lives, occasionally in ways you wish it wasn’t. But The Iron Claw is also a story of redemption that’s less about pinning down opponents and much more about breaking cycles. Read full review
70
ScreenCrushMatt SingerDec 15, 2023
Durkin, a self-described wrestling fan from childhood, has managed to stuff a moving tribute to the art form and its practitioners into a two-hour feature. There’s just so much story to tell here. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyDec 12, 2023
As Kevin recalls in voiceover, Fritz instilled a belief in his sons that if they were the toughest, the fastest, the strongest, nothing could ever hurt them. The dismantling of that belief in the face of all-too-human physical and psychological vulnerability is ultimately what makes the uneven but heartfelt film affecting. Read full review
67
The PlaylistGregory EllwoodDec 12, 2023
The movie has its issues. . . The wrestling though? The action in the ring? Durkin’s direction of those classic matches? It often looks more “real” than the WWE or professional wrestling you see on television today. Read full review
67
The A.V. ClubMatt SchimkowitzDec 12, 2023
The chemistry between the brothers is palpable, creating emotional heft behind each victory and defeat. Read full review
63
New York PostJohnny OleksinskiJan 2, 2024
Watching “The Iron Claw” can feel like getting slammed with a metal folding chair over and over again. So bludgeoning are the true and tragic circumstances that befell the famous Von Erich wresting family during the 1980s and ’90s, which director Sean Durkin’s film depicts. Read full review
63
The Associated PressJocelyn NoveckJan 2, 2024
It’s a film that tells its stunning tale with heart and conviction, yet seems somehow reticent about pointing a truly critical finger at either the brutality of a sport that broke this family, or the man who seemed to give his sons no choice in the matter: family patriarch Fritz Von Erich. Read full review
63
The Seattle TimesDominic BaezDec 24, 2023
It kind of gives you a sense of whiplash, oscillating between the glory of professional victories, the miasma of personal grief and the nexus where those two often meet. Read full review
63
RogerEbert.comChristy LemireDec 20, 2023
The Iron Claw inadvertently shares a lot in common with the professional wrestling world it depicts. A lot of energy and passion clearly went into it, and there’s a drive to entertain and thrill, but it ultimately ends up feeling empty and superficial. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreDec 12, 2023
The performances are good, the wrestling thrillingly-shot and cut together. But with a meandering message and an ending that is almost a parody of the “paradise” these boys reach for, it’s forgiveable to consider “The Iron Claw” — scripted and acted to the limits of what the script serves up — as little better than a draw. Read full review
60
The TelegraphTim RobeyFeb 9, 2024
“We’ll tell it, but with one fewer death” is an odd way to go about this tale – which ends up as a solid flexing exercise for its cast, but puts us through a family’s annihilation for no other reason it can ultimately decide upon. Read full review
60
NMEJames MottramFeb 9, 2024
Certainly, it’s not for those looking for fist-pumping sporting triumphalism. But in this age of franchise vapidity, it’s still a film worth grappling with. Read full review
60
The New York TimesManohla DargisDec 22, 2023
There’s pleasure and meaning in the sons’ roughhousing and camaraderie, as well as beauty, heat and melancholy in their heartbreakingly fleeting physical perfection. Yet as the story’s uglier side emerges, Durkin hedges. Read full review
60
New York Magazine (Vulture)Alison WillmoreDec 20, 2023
Late in The Iron Claw comes a sequence that departs from everything that’s come before and drops us unabashedly into Kevin’s mind at a time of intense grief. It’s earnest, and corny, and utterly devastating, and it makes you yearn for a film that wasn’t so intent on holding its tragic subjects at a brawny arm’s length. Read full review
60
The GuardianAdrian HortonDec 12, 2023
The Von Erichs endured so much loss, and Durkin manages to convey some of it. Read full review
58
The Daily BeastNick SchagerDec 12, 2023
Blame for this sports drama’s shallow leadenness can’t be similarly pinned on the supernatural; instead, its shortcomings are attributable to a one-dimensional script and resultant performances that are far less nuanced than its headliners’ ripped bodies. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeOdie HendersonJan 2, 2024
Unfortunately, Durkin’s script is so shallow that every character is reduced to a simple sketch. Read full review
50
IGNAmelia EmberwingDec 15, 2023
Unfortunately, great performances and reverence for the sport aren’t enough to save a film at odds with itself. Read full review
50
CNNBrian LowryDec 13, 2023
The movie’s earnestness can’t wriggle away from the pretty powerful temptation to tap out. Read full review
40
BBCCaryn JamesDec 12, 2023
The Iron Claw's shallowness and eventual treacliness are especially disappointing. Read full review
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