OK, so, after saying I don’t blog a lot, or like blogging, here goes another one… The title of this blog is not nearly as comedic this time around because I have entered my Anakin 2003 phase.
I spoke in my last blog about stage shows and how they are so much different to Hollywood movies, but I would be digress if I didn’t mention one of the best movies I’ve seen this week. I’m no Mark Kermode, so bear with me.
The Iron Claw:
I watched this Monday evening, and, being a wrestling mark (stop typing mark, Leigh, you’re gonna exhaust it.) I knew of some of the history behind the Von Erich/Adkisson history/legend/tragedy. What a fucking movie! Critics say that Zac Efron gave the performance of his life, and I agree. I get it, there are always going to be people who shit on him and say things like “Yeah but Zac is just High School Musical” but allow me to at least try to change your mind. Zac portrayed Kevin Von Erich with such an amount of respect to him. I’ve been a fan of Zac since the aforementioned HSM (What can I say, I like musicals, always will.) but he really blew my mind with his portrayal of Ted Bundy in the movie I will not name (Mostly because I always get the words mixed up. It’s something like Shockingly Evil, Vile and Twisted, or something of that ilk.)
I realised that Zac Efron was not just in the business to make musicals and romance movies catered towards young adult audiences after watching Ted Bundy, he is in it for the long game, even if his natural face isn’t. My opinion was pretty much confirmed after watching The Iron Claw. I know that the movie was not considered for the Academy Awards for a variety of reasons, but I hope they at least consider putting it into next year’s considerations, and I hope Zac Efron is considered too, because, IMHO, this is the movie that should have gotten him an Oscar.
Which leads me to my next point. Where would you put him? Best lead actor or best supporting actor? Because, he wasn’t even the best point of this movie, IMHO. This movie was as much about the Von Erich curse as it was about Kevin. I am old enough, being born in 1982, to remember The Texas Tornado. He was a guy back in 1991 who got signed to the WWF/WWE and started pretty well before booking decisions and an injury completely derailed his career, pretty much leading up to his
I’m not going to go into too much detail about Mike and David because I already feel that with two spoiler tags already, I may have given too much away, especially to anybody that doesn’t know wrestling or of the Von Erich family, so I will just leave you with this. Watch this movie. It made me laugh and cry, and more importantly, it made me feel, human. Much credit should also be given to Chavo Guerrero, who trained those actors to wrestle. Seriously, Zac, Jeremy, Harris and Stanley were wrestling 15 minute matches by the end of shooting, and making most professional wrestlers look like newbies.
I don’t want to look like Dave Meltzer, or a starry eyed wrestling fan, but this movie is easily 9/10 stars.