I had a free afternoon yesterday and I used it to watch "The Iron Claw". This is a movie I have wanted to see for a while now. I had tried to see it in the theaters with my dad, but the timing was never any good. Too many things going on with my kids. But, he and my mom had seen it recently, and my dad told me that I should watch. He wanted to get my thoughts on the movie. So I sat down and tuned in.

Right off the bat, this is a very, very well made movie. The wrestling looks real and looks amazing. The look of the movie transported me back to being a kid in the late 80's. The writing was never cliche or over the top. A lot of sports movies get cliche and easy to predict. This movie did not go that route and it is better for it. The direction is very well done. And the acting is top of the line. I enjoy Zach Efron as a person. He seems like a good enough dude and I appreciate that he is trying to get out from the Disney kid shadow. But I have not really considered him to be the best actor out there. Well, my mind has been changed. He absolutely nails it here. He does a fantastic job playing the oldest surviving brother of the family. And he completely transformed his body. He is shredded. The first image we see of him is him waking up and the dude is cut. Good for him. The other brothers in the movie do an excellent job as well. Jeremy Allen White gets to do what he does best. He is dramatic and doesn't have to say much. Harris Dickinson plays the brother who is kind of thrust into the limelight. He does great work with the whole trash talk thing that they do in professional wrestling. And the fourth brother, there are five in real life but they left one out which I was fine with, Stanley Simons, also nailed it. He was the outcast. He wanted to play music and not be a wrestler. He was kind of thrust into that world, and this actor's portrayal of that pain was done very well. And the mom and dad, Maura Tierney and Holt McCallany, play super serious, super intense enablers. They were both wonderful in their roles, especially McCallany. He was mean and bitter and tough and I grew to loathe him by the end of the movie. That is a sign of a well acted role. The back and forth between him and Efron was stunning to watch for many reasons. It was great acting, it was tough, I bought that this was a real relationship and I ended up feeling bad for both of them.

The first hour of this movie is a thrill. There are a bunch of wrestling things, both behind the scenes and in the ring that were an absolute blast to watch. Seeing the brothers interact and work off one another was cool. Seeing Kevin, Efron, find a person who loved him and see them grow and get married was great. Then, about an hour in, this movie turns very sad and it is relentless. This is where all the death and destruction of the family begins. I guess it is no surprise to people who know of the family that this movie is based on, but it felt like one tragedy after the next. Each kid, with Efron being the lone exception, dies in a tragic, awful way. And they show us. We see the bad things that happen. And it is brutal. Watching this movie, I got similar vibes to the first time I saw "Full Metal Jacket". Each movie starts all fast and moves quickly. But then it takes a dramatic turn and turns into something totally different. And both movies are really damn good.

I liked this movie. But, it is very tough to watch. You need to understand that going in. This movie is sad and it does not let up in the second half. But, I recommend watching. Hell, I'd say watch it for Efron's performance alone. He is wonderful, but so is this movie. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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