Clayface

At the dawn of this new DC Universe, James Gunn made it clear they wanted to do things differently. Trying to catch up to the MCU as fast as possible doomed the DCEU from the start, so something needed to change. The differences were made clear pretty quick, with the announcement of phase one and the reveal the third movie in the franchise would be a standalone Clayface movie. Batman may not have made his appearance yet, but one of his main rogues would see the big screen for the first time, interesting. Gunn claimed the reason for its early production was a script too good to sit on. After all, the original script was written by Mike Flanagan, one of the best working names in horror. Since then there have been some rewrites, and it’s hard to tell where Flanagan’s work ends and Hossein Amini’s begins. The result is an improvement for the DCU, but will leave some disappointed. 

Clayface follows Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries), an actor rising to stardom in Hollywood, when an (entirely self-afflicted) accident leaves him scared and disfigured. After spending his net worth trying to gain back what he lost, he returns to his home, Gotham, where he learns of an experimental treatment that may be able to save him. From there you can take a guess how the story goes. At a runtime of an hour and 48 minutes, this is one of the shorter blockbusters and superhero movies as of late, and it really shows at points. While simply making the film longer wouldn’t solve every issue, it would help with a few.

When telling the story of a villain, the filmmakers have to find a balance where it’s easy to root for the main character, but once they’re opposite one of the heroes, those feelings should go out the door. This film doesn’t deal with the later half of that challenge, and it struggles with the first. The “descent into madness” or as modern audiences would call it, the “crash out”, fails to justify many of the key plot points. Hagen makes a lot of decisions that don’t feel realistic. The second act of this movie has a lot of “no turning back now” moments, but instead of a triumphant or heartbreaking origin story moment, you kinda just sit going “Was that really necessary?”. It’s hard to tell if this is due to some scenes clearly being cut, or just a rough script from the start, but the result is the same. 

It should be said, when looking at the other Villian/Anti-hero projects Hollywood has produced, (looking at you Sony) this script is better. However this movie is not completely innocent from Sony-ism, most notably in the dialogue. It is rough, and really holds this movie back. Clayface is trying to sell the audience on how dark and brutal this story is supposed to be, but 75% of the time a character opens their mouth, almost all of that sense disappears. While again not as bad, comparisons to Morbius are justified. There’s a heavy emphasis on the side characters around Hagen and how much they influence his decisions, but getting invested in any of them felt impossible when their dialogue felt like an elementary school play. Which is unfortunate because this cast deserves better.

Clayface does manage to do a few things really well, first of which is the man himself. Tom Rhys Harries is fantastic as Matt Hagen. His smug actor persona is believable, but he’s still able to show so much heart and compassion when needed. Almost more than the script, this helps achieve that balance discussed earlier. Watching him try to navigate the physical transformation his body goes through is not only gross, but a ton of fun.

Apart from Multi-Verse of Madness, this is the first time the mainstream superhero genre has committed to horror, and it’s a good first showing. Clayface is disgusting, to the point audience members (me included), were covering their eyes at times. The team behind these effects both practical and visual should take a bow, as there isn’t anything that doesn’t look believable. The camera gets up close and personal, which makes for some sequences that are grotesque in the best way. It would have been easy to copy “The Substance” and call it a day, but the team behind Clayface brought a lot of creativity, and it pays off. No better example of this than the third act, with one sequence being one of the most memorable of the year. 

After Supergirl the DCU desperately needed a win, and while this isn’t 4-0 in the World Series, it’s a step in the right direction. Does the script justify its existence as the third movie in the DCU, I’m leaning toward no. After almost complete silence on anything Batman related, it has me wondering how long it’ll be until we even see this character again. Now at a budget of only $39M, financially this will do well. Plus, showing Hollywood that not every movie needs to be a $300M cinematic event is always a good thing. Clayface has plenty of heart, skin, bone, and blood, but somehow it’s the dialogue that leaves a bad taste in your mouth, holding back an otherwise enjoyable experience.