Title: Clayface
Describe This Movie In One Simpsons Quote:
SIDESHOW LUKE PERRY: Aaah! My face! My valuable face!
Brief Plot Synopsis: Like The Substance, but with more mobsters.
Rating Using Random Objects Relevant To The Film: 3.5 out of 5.
Tagline: “Look fear in the face.”
Better Tagline: “Our current FDA would have no problem with this.”
Not So Brief Plot Synopsis: Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) is on a roll. The young actor from the mean streets of Gotham City is Hollywood’s next big thing, even securing his first Oscar nom. Given all that, who *wouldn’t* throw caution to the wind and have a one night stand with a mob boss’s girlfriend (Ruby Sear)? Markos Szabo (David Dencik), the mob boss in question, isn’t sympathetic. He carves up Hagen’s face, effectively ending his career. Increasingly desperate, Hagen seeks out Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who’s lost funding for her nanotech regeneration research. She reluctantly agrees, but what at first seems like a miracle cure soon goes tragically off the rails.
“Critical” Analysis: Whither the DCU? After relatively low-key TV efforts Creature Commandos and Peacemaker, James Gunn and Peter Safran kicked off their universe proper with Superman. It was well-received, and set a brighter, more optimistic tone for DC’s Chapter One, the not-at-all ponderously titled “Gods and Monsters.”
The year 2026 to this point gave us two more entries in the chapter, Supergirl and HBO Max’s Lanterns. The latter wowed critics but divided fans. Though to be fair, it far exceeded its one purpose: establishing Aaron Pierre’s John Stewart as Earth’s Green Lantern. The former, not to put to fine a point on it, was a bomb. I liked it more than many, but still had to point out:
if the uneven — yet still enjoyable — Supergirl is indicative of the studio’s path forward, DC’s new universe still has a few problems it needs to solve.
Which brings us to Clayface, the latest DCU film entry. It doesn’t just swing the pendulum well off in the other direction, it makes you question what tone Gunn and Safran are going for altogether.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Horror has its place in so-called “comic book movies.” Clayface, however, goes a hell of a lot harder than anything you’ll see in the MCU’s Multiverse of Madness or Marvel Zombies. Certain aspects of Gunn’s The Suicide Squad hit similarly, but the gore in that is largely played for laughs (and only some of it is canonical anyway). There isn’t a ton of intentional humor in Clayface, though Hagan demonstrates increasing glee as he murders his way through Gotham’s underworld.
James Watkins (Eden Lake, the Speak No Evil remake) was brought in to helm after scheduling conflicts forced out original director Mike Flanagan. And he’s pretty successful. The story moves at a good clip, and depicts the halting onset of Hagan’s “powers” to good effect. Of particular note is the use of practical effect, including Hagan’s facial scars and the often gory aftermaths of his various kills.
Clayface is the first R-rated DCU movie, and earns it. The only other comic book movie that comes close in terms of violence and profanity is the aforementioned The Suicide Squad. And I have to believe Watkins got the Gunn seal of approval for the goopy violence and copious F-bombs. The movie also isn’t “scary,” per se. Most of the scares come courtesy of Hagen’s ability to instantly change his appearance. Indeed, much of the “horror” is the inevitability of knowing Hagen’s basically doomed. After all, the movie’s called Clayface, not My Brilliant Gotham Career, or some such.
But this is all avoiding the bat elephant in the room: it’s a supervillain movie without a superhero. Gunn says the events of Clayface take place before those of Superman. Fine. And since Matt Reeves’s The Batman and its sequel are apparently staying under the “DC Elseworlds” umbrella, we’ll just have to wait until Brave and the Bold to see which version of the Dark Knight Hagan/Clayface is ultimately up against.
Clayface is in theaters now.
