THE IRON CLAW

Name: THE IRON CLAW
Item: THE IRON CLAW
Author: Review

"Traumatic Family Story"

Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

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Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

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What You Need To Know:

THE IRON CLAW tells the true story of a wrestling family in the 1980s who gained recognition. After the death of his older brother, Kevin has become the oldest of four brothers. The family is

said to have a curse on them, but Kevin doesn’t believe it. When he fails at becoming a champion wrestler, his younger brothers also try wrestling. His brother, David, travels to fight in a big wrestling competition in Japan but dies of internal bleeding. This leads the family to wonder if the curse is real.

THE IRON CLAW is very well made and acted. Also, it has strong positive themes revolving around faith and family. For example, the movie shows the mother is a committed Christian, and Kevin also being a Christian. Also, the family members are tightly connected and express love to one another. However, the family is troubled and suffers tragedy, depression and a suicide. As a result, THE IRON CLAW is often dark and sad. It also has strong foul language, a bedroom scene and lots of strong wrestling violence. Extreme caution is advised.

Content:

(PaPa, CC, BB, FR, O, LLL, VV, SS, N, A, DD, M)

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Mixed pagan worldview with positive Christian, moral, pro-family elements includes the mother of the lead male character is a Christian, mother encourages sons to attend church, there are images of crosses, a character prays, a church scene at a funeral, and family is promoted, but the family members are troubled and suffer tragedy, depression and suicide, and the family members think they are cursed because their father adopted a Nazi persona as a professional wrestler to achieve success in the 1960s

Foul Language:

21 obscenities (including nine “f” words) and six strong profanities (three GDs and three misusing the name of Jesus)

Violence:

Strong wrestling violence includes bloody wounds from wrestling, many wrestling moves, broken bones from wrestling, a man hits his back on the concrete, fighting, suicides, and one scene features an implied gunshot to the head

Sex:

Depicted fornication in one scene but no nudity, and the couple then gets married

Nudity:

Male nudity with a man in shower, and upper male nudity in wrestling scenes

Alcohol Use:

Some drinking

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

One man smokes, another character is addicted to cocaine, and a character uses steroids; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

The lead character’s father aggressively drives his sons to succeed in professional wrestling (three of his five sons died of suicide in real life).

More Detail:

THE IRON CLAW tells the true story of a professional wrestling family in the 1980s who gained recognition at a high point for the sport. THE IRON CLAW is very well made and acted, with positive themes revolving around Christian faith and family, but the family is troubled and suffers tragedy, depression and a suicide, and the movie has strong foul language, a bedroom scene and strong wrestling violence, so extreme caution is advised.

Under his father’s guidance, Kevin Von Erich has worked hard at becoming a wrestler. His father was in the wrestling world as well and would love for all his sons to be involved. Kevin powers through some tough fights and almost makes it to the top multiple times. After one match, a woman, Pam, is waiting for him. Pam takes interest in Kevin and loves him for who he is, and soon they become a couple.

Kevin tells Pam there’s a curse surrounding the family. The curse comes from his father adopting a Nazi persona to gain fame as a pro wrestler. However, Pam says she doesn’t believe in curses.

Kevin’s two younger brothers, Kerry and David, also end up becoming wrestlers as well. Both gain some recognition in the wrestling world, and David even makes it all the way to Japan. Kevin is sad, however, that his father believes David will do better in the wrestling world than him. Still, Kevin loves his family a lot, so he supports his brothers and all their endeavors.

The entire family is able to laugh, dance and have a blast at Kevin’s wedding to Pam. That includes Kevin’s mother, Doris, a committed Christian. In the bathroom, however, Kevin sees his brother, David, coughing up blood. He urges him not to go to Japan to wrestle. However, when David gets to Japan, after fighting so many matches, he passes away due to internal bleeding. The entire family is completely distraught. They wonder if the curse isn’t real. Now, the youngest brother, Mike, who really wants to be a musician, needs to step up to the plate and wrestle.

The family is wrought with multiple issues, again and again. At the same time, Kevin is happily starting his own family with Pam.

Will the family continue to believe in the curse, which leads to depression and other negativity? Will they overcome the intense pressures of success?

THE IRON CLAW is a well-made movie that embodies the feel of the 1980s. The movie features superb acting and excellent cinematography and set design.

However, THE IRON CLAW has a mixed worldview with some depressing elements. The movie implies multiple suicides occurring in the family, which is very sad. Despite this, the movie mentions Heaven and shows a character who is a committed Christian. Also, the lead male character becomes a strong Christian. In addition, the family members are tightly connected and often express love to one another.

Sadly, though, THE IRON CLAW has strong foul language, including nine “f” word and six strong profanities, a bedroom scene between an unmarried couple, scenes of suicide, and lots of strong wrestling violence, with some blood. In addition, the father of the main character aggressively drives his sons to succeed in pro wrestling. So, MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.