Clayface is a good movie. But I think it could have been a great one.
Clayface is a standalone story set within – well, what version of the Batman universe, we’re not entirely sure yet, and I have no doubt will be dictated by its box office success, but anyway. The movie started life as Mike Flanagan project, only for director James Watkins to step in as director when Flanagan was busy on other projects; pitched as something between a body horror and a Batman extended universe flick, it occupied, undeniably, some pretty uneasy territory.
He’s part of the Caped Crusader’s rogue’s gallery, and, here, Clayface comes in the form of an actor, Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries, also, watch Effi o Blaneau) who is mutilated after spending the night with a mobster’s girlfriend. He turns to an experimental treatment from Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie) in the hopes of repairing his features, only to wind up with bizarre abilities has his body spins further and further from his control.
Clayface does, I think, fundamentally deliver on the aspects you’d expect from a movie about this particular character. It’s a fantastic and no doubt star-making performance from Tom Rhys Harries (who, let’s just say, was not not typecast as an outrageously gorgeous up-and-coming movie star) as Matt Hagen/Clayface, oozing charisma and charm in his early scenes and slowly picking that apart over the course of the movie as he embraces and even begins to enjoy his new abilities and lust for revenge. Of course, he’s not the only one playing Matt, as he transforms into various characters throughout the movie, and one of the film’s biggest strengths is how well the various cast members who put in turns as versions of Clayface embody his presence. It’s a concerted effort to create a distinct version of Hagen who feels consistent across the entire film, a pretty impressive feat given the nature of his character.
But God, the body horror of it all does come close to stealing the show. I was pleasantly surprised by how inventive and well-executed (if you’ll excuse the pun) the grotesquerie of Clayface turned out to be – the character can so easily turn into Big Squidge of CGI Mud in the wrong hands, but here, the effects of Matt’s transformation feel far more unsettling, human, and squirm-worthy as a result. The action is well-constructed, with the film embracing Matt’s increasing enjoyment of his new skills as it goes on, culminating in an excellent climactic fight scene that makes full use of Clayface’s unique abilities.
And, while the movie does hit the major points you’d expect from a story about this particular character, there were elements I felt could have been better explored. The relationship between Matt and Caitlyn is one of obsession, of Matt’s willingness to bend himself to fit what she needs from him, a kind of twisted Frankenstein story that’s rich with possibility. But for an R-rated feature, I don’t feel like it made the most of this idea – I would have loved to see a real embrace of this pitch-black romantic and sexual obsession, and how it forms Matt’s conception of himself, a new role for him to play when every other one has been taken from him.
The film gestures in that direction a few times – disappointingly, mostly by having Matt declare the theme out loud – but shied away from the messier, more unsettling elements that could have been drawn from it. The chemistry between Rhys Harries and Ackie feels kind of stunted and toothless up against the rest of the movie’s tone, and it feels a little like the film balked at getting into such challenging territory; it’s hard not to compare it to the many obvious influences it draws from, like 1960’s Eyes without a Face, and how much darker and more complex they had the room to be. Flanagan’s original script apparently focused more on Matt’s abusive upbringing and generational trauma, and there are flashes of that here in the gaps between the sutured-together stories that could have filled out that darker, denser, more adult approach. At the end of the day, this is still a DC comics film, and that felt like a limiting factor on how far it could really go.
As a whole, Clayface ticks the boxes I expected it to, but doesn’t go much further than that, despite some tantalising hints at something darker beneath the surface. What did you think of this movie? Would Clayface have been your pick for a standalone film from this rogue’s gallery, or do you think it should have gone to someone else? Let me know in the comments!
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By Lou MacGregor
(header image via Den of Geek)
