I bring a lot of baggage to The Iron Claw that makes evaluating it difficult. As a wrestling fan, I am familiar with the story of the Von Erichs, their meteoric rise to the top, and their shocking fall from grace.
When I watched The Iron Claw, I was distracted by the changes from real life. I kept thinking things like that didn't happen yet, this person wasn't there, etc. However, when I accepted the movie was not about facts and history, I could appreciate it on its own terms.
If you're interested in learning more about the actual history of the family and their wrestling promotion, I recommend a pair of documentaries: Heroes of World Class and The Triumph and Tragedy of World Class Championship Wrestling. They cover a lot of the same ground and interview many of the same people but also offer different perspectives and areas of focus. Both are available on YouTube (for now), and both are good starting points if you want to learn more.
The Iron Claw is not history. It is based off real people and events, but it is primarily a drama. Facts have been altered, details changed, and some information left out to better serve the story director Sean Durkin wanted to tell.
That story is about toxic masculinity. As presented in the movie, Fritz Von Erich pushed his sons past their breaking points to feed his ego and fulfill his dreams of wrestling glory, destroying them in the process. He is an uncaring, despotic family dictator who will not listen to reason or emotion, change his ways, or reevaluate his actions, even as his sons' bodies break down, they get hooked on drugs, and they take their own lives for failing to live up to his standards.
The movie's title refers to the finishing hold Fritz used in his wrestling days to put away his opponents, a move he passed on to his sons. However, it also refers to the hold he has on his sons over their lives, careers, and dreams. Movie Fritz has an unbreakable grip over his sons, and they are afraid to defy him.
That might be unfair (but not entirely inaccurate) to the real-life Fritz, who wept as he said, "Lord, please don't take any more of my children." However, according to real-life Kevin, Fritz also told his sole-surviving son, "If you had any guts, you'd kill yourself like your brothers did" (this moment does not appear in The Iron Claw, but Kevin recounts it in Heroes of World Class).
Kevin attributes those cruel words to the brain cancer Fritz suffered from in his final days and doesn't hold them against his father. Kevin, based on interviews I've seen, was happy with Efron's portrayal of him and the movie overall, but he felt it went too far making Fritz the villain, adding that his father was a good and honorable man.
The movie is the movie, however, and we must judge it on those terms. On those terms, The Iron Claw is an intense, compelling drama: violent, heart-wrenching, and emotionally devastating. When I saw it in theaters, there were two moments when the audience gasped, and neither moment involved any wrestling matches.
For a movie about a family of professional wrestlers, The Iron Claw contains relatively little in-ring action. Most of the drama occurs behind the scenes in locker rooms, in offices, or at home, away from the cheering crowds and the bright lights of the big stage. This is a family drama about a family that self-destructs one-by-one under the pressures of stardom and their impossible-to-satisfy patriarch. The brothers love each other deeply, and Kevin, the oldest, tries to watch out for them and protect them, but the grief and pain are overwhelming.
The Von Erich boys were presented as all-American, wholesome Christian athletes who stood up for decency and justice, but behind the scenes, they were flawed, fragile young men coping with personal demons. They loved each other, they had fun and moments of joy, but something bad always seemed to be waiting around the corner to ambush them.
Kevin is our anchor. We see most of the movie through his eyes and witness how the tragedies and sorrow affect him. Ultimately, he is saved by the love and support of his wife Pam (Lily James) and his own children. Through them, he learns it's OK to cry and show emotion, and that he doesn't have to be strong all the time. The movie begins by showing Fritz choosing the wrestling business over his family and ends by showing Kevin choosing his family over the business.
Kevin goes through the ringer, physically and emotionally, but ultimately, he breaks free from the Iron Claw and finds the unconditional love and support he and his brothers deserved.
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