Mumbai: Eye trauma and flight turbulence: can Clayface be more revolting? One is tempted to ask in the manner of Chandler Bing. Clayface is the third film in James Gunn and Peter Safran’s four-year-old DC Studios, following Superman: Legacy and Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow.
Directed by James Watkins of Speak No Evil fame, Clayface tells the origin story of the popular villain and sometime ally of Batman.
The Story
With a story and screenplay by Mike Flanagan — who could not direct because of scheduling conflicts with the mini-series Carrie and The Exorcist: Martyrs, both coming out in 2027 — Clayface eschews the 1950s science-fiction-inspired treasure hunter for the shapeshifter’s origins in the 1940s Detective Comics.
Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) seems to have it all. Emerging from a tough childhood, Matt is now the toast of Hollywood. When we first meet him, he is getting ready for a shot when a break is announced. Matt and his best friend Corey (Joshua James), also an actor, hear the Best Actor nominations at the Academy Awards — and there are congratulations all around when Matt’s name is announced.
Matt and Corey head to Gotham for an interview with a popular talk show host. While partying at a nightclub, Matt is approached by a beautiful woman, Mia (Joana Ribeiro). Though warned by Corey to stay away — she is the woman of local mob boss Markos Szabo (David Dencik) — Matt has sex with her.
The Fall
To his horror, he wakes to find Szabo and his gang at his bedside, and they slash his face with a switchblade. Matt’s friends and associates, including his agent Hildie (Nancy Carroll) and manager Frank (Eddie Marsan), drop him.
Following a smear campaign and six expensive surgeries, Matt becomes an outcast, refusing to step out of his roach-infested apartment and unable to face the disgusted looks his disfigured face garners.
At rock bottom, he sees a report on cutting-edge research by Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), where nano cells infiltrate the body to heal it. Matt visits Caitlyn and offers himself as a test subject, though she says they are at least a year away from human trials. Matt says he is willing to sign anything — even if he dies, it is better than living the way he is now.
The Transformation
The treatment at first seems to go well and Matt’s face is healed, but of course there are side effects (also thanks to one of Matt’s desperate gambits), and he soon finds his body taking on the consistency of clay. As his body changes, so do his mind and soul, letting his darker side take control.
The Verdict
After Joker, Clayface is another attempt to give a Batman villain an origin story that reveals tragedy as the driving force behind their nastiness. The film works best when leaning into its pulpy heart, as the attempt to make an anti-hero of a villain does not earn its space.
Going full body horror is fun, if predictable — we instinctively know who Matt will impersonate next, and that bowl of nuts was signalling louder than a lighthouse what was going to happen.
Rhys Harries shines as the vulnerable, angry golden child, and his chemistry with Ackie is one of the strongest threads. Max Minghella brings earnest intelligence to his turn as police detective John Borrelli, investigating the rash of violent crimes.
The complete lack of lore is liberating. As long as one does not wander too deeply into the metaphor of clay being the building block of life, Clayface is interesting enough. Some gorgeous visuals offset the stomach-churning ones — images of Matt in the bathtub and the lovers entwined like the couple in Gustav Klimt’s The Kiss are veritable works of art.
Clayface is currently running in theatres
