Heart-throb Zac Efron last week pinned down his celebrity status with a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame — but does he deliver a knock out performance in wrestling biopic The Iron Claw?
While critics had been raving about a stellar cast that features Efron, The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White, Harris Dickinson, Holt McCallany and Lily James — it appears not everyone is as excited about the film itself.
Directed by Sean Durkin (Martha Marcy May Marlene), the movie tells the mostly-true and “suffocatingly grim” story of the inseparable Von Erich brothers — who make history in the intensely competitive world of professional wrestling in the early 1980s.
Through tragedy and triumph — and under the shadow of their domineering father and coach — the brothers seek immortality on one of the biggest stages in US sports.
But The Hollywood Reporter’s David Rooney was unconvinced by the film saying it is: “No smackdown but ekes out a win on points”.
He added that he was unimpressed by Durkin’s “constrained” ability at portraying real people, saying the “emotional impact feels oddly muted”.
But what about Efron? For fans of the High School Musical star, it’s, first and foremost, a chance to see Efron more ripped than ever — think Baywatch times 100.
The 36-year-old underwent an Incredible Hulk-like transformation, “bulked up to near alarming degree . . . as if the muscle is about to break through his skin”, according to Deadline’s Pete Hammond.
And aside from his physical performance as the muscle-bound Kevin, he is also “sweet and affable, charmingly boyish”, Hammond adds.
Even Rooney reserves some praise for the Efron, calling his performance the “poignant centre of raw hurt”.
So while the film has been given a mixed review — it appears Efron’s performance isn’t quite out for the count.
The Iron Claw will hit Australian cinemas on January 18.
What the critics say
Variety
3/5 stars
The film’s central figure, Kevin Von Erich, is played by Efron, who has undergone a physical transformation nearly as dramatic as De Niro’s in “Raging Bull.” We’ve seen dozens of actors pump themselves up, but Kevin’s body is a mass of steroidal muscle he wears like a second skin, and under his choppy bangs he’s both handsome and slugged. Efron, with heavy-lidded eyes, resembles David Cassidy crossed with the Hulk.
But in the end it’s Zac Efron’s movie. He plays Kevin as a moving simpleton with hidden depths, a fellow of such decency that the one thing he won’t do is disobey.
The Guardian
3/5 stars
But whereas Durkin’s other work is twisty, non-linear, shifting between time or viewpoint, The Iron Claw is relatively straightforward and, despite a roster of committed performances, frustratingly opaque.
Grim procession of tragedies given little space to land despite its two-hour, 12-minute runtime, hard to really feel.
IGN
2.5/5
The Iron Claw is a complicated tale of two movies. One wants to be a biopic that shares the story of the Von Erichs to the world, and the other wants to provide closure to the surviving members of what has long been described as a cursed wrestling family. Unfortunately, great performances and reverence for the sport aren’t enough to save a film at odds with itself.
Dexerto
4/5
Take a deep breath and fully give yourself to the Von Erich story, because The Iron Claw isn’t one to be missed.
Bereft with one saddening act after another, the movie is close to becoming too much to handle – but coming out the other side makes viewers all the more enriched for the experience.