REVIEW: ‘Clayface’

Studios have been all in on bringing us stories of villains who may not be such bad people after all and telling the story from their perspective. Sony has been doing it with the Spider-Man franchise, and now, just on their third film after a hard reset, we have Clayface entering the fold. The film is directed by James Watkins and written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini. It stars Tom Rhys Harries playing Matt Hagen, a beloved actor who turns murderous after a violent incident at the hands of Gotham mob boss Markois Szabo (David Dencik) leaves him deformed. Enter Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie), who is running clinical trials using nanobots to regenerate cells. But does the film land, or is this just another attempt to humanize an irredeemable villain?

READ MORE: Batman: One Bad Day – Clayface – “No Notes”

This film really worked for me for a variety of reasons, all coming together slowly. Rhys Harries does a beautiful job as Matt Hagen, giving his character a slight accent that feels almost New Yorkish and allowing us to buy into his slow descent into madness. We spend most of the time in Gotham City, making this our first time seeing Gunn and Safran’s vision of what Gotham looks and feels like in this universe. From afar, it is a beautiful city with shiny high-rises and has the East Coast feeling we would expect it to. On the streets, however, the true character comes to life, and the city feels dangerous, grimy, and every bit corrupt. There is no Jim Gordon; however, we do have Max Minghella playing John Borrelli, who is engaged to Caitlyn and a Detective with the GCPD. Through his character, we experience Gotham City corruption at its finest and sowing the seeds of hopelessness that Gotham often portrays.

The body horror elements were brutal, with the camera not pulling away at times. The eye sequence we were teased with in the trailer is even harder to watch as it unfolds. The way they manage to have Hagen transform between various looks was seamless and extremely clever. Some of the deaths get creative as well, with him leaning into his abilities in suffocating ways. My only complaint would be some of the choices they make with Hagen and Corr. At times it felt uneven and off-putting, but not enough to detract from the fact that it is a film about a man’s slow turn into a monster.

Final Thoughts

Overall, this movie was excellent, and it was refreshing to see a villain done properly in one of these universes. This is a character I would love to see return and go against Batman. Speaking of Batman, it is time Gunn brings him into this universe, as they have teased him enough as is. One thing that stood out to me was in the credits; they give special thanks to some of the creators who have worked on Clayface. Bob Kane, Bill Finger, Paul Dini, Bruce Timm, and Sheldon Moldoff. But the creators of the one-shot Clayface: One Bad Day are Jackson Lanzing, Collin Kelly, and Xermanico. Seeing DC give credit to these creators was a refreshing highlight, and if you have not read the one-shot, I cannot recommend it enough.

Clayface is in theaters now, and it is one you will not want to miss!

Do you plan on seeing the film this weekend? Be sure to let us know in the comments and check out more from Matt!