Rating 6/10
Director James Watkins (Eden Lake, Speak No Evil) has a talent for disturbing people. He’s working from a screenplay by horror specialist Mike Flanagan (Doctor Sleep, The Haunting of Hill House) and Hossein Amini (Drive). This is the third theatrical installment in James Gunn’s rebooted DC Universe (DCU), a franchise that hasn’t exactly won me over. The best thing I can say is that Clayface doesn’t feel like a piece of an interconnected cinematic universe. It’s a standalone thriller about a disfigured actor desperate to get his face back. Unfortunately, there are developments that seem to exist to make one lose their appetite. Don’t buy popcorn.
Welsh actor Tom Rhys Harries stars as Matt Hagen, a rising Hollywood performer whose promising career comes to a screeching halt when gangsters brutally disfigure him. The justice system has failed him, so Matt turns to Caitlyn Corr (Naomi Ackie). She’s a scientist developing a revolutionary method of facial reconstruction using nanotechnology and artificial intelligence. What could possibly go wrong? The treatment restores Matt’s appearance but produces some unexpected side effects. The ability to transform into other people is a nice one. Meanwhile, Caitlyn’s relationship with Gotham City police detective John Borrelli (Max Minghella) complicates her growing attachment to Matt. The little love triangle is a rather peculiar, though interesting, development.
Clayface is one of Batman’s lesser-known adversaries, belonging to the same colorful rogues’ gallery as the Joker, Penguin, and Riddler. His superpower takes a decidedly horrifying turn. And oh boy! It gets pretty gruesome.
If you’re wondering why a picture based on a DC comic book is rated R, all will become clear very soon. Faces are carved, and flesh is sliced. One particularly unsettling scene in a cramped airplane lavatory finds Matt desperately trying to restore his vision while experiencing extreme turbulence. Director Watkins’ camera doesn’t look away. However, I did, many times. The floor of the theater is a good place to look until the grisly spectacle ends. I just wanted to enjoy the story again.
Here’s the problem: Clayface is caught between appeasing two audiences. Its graphic violence will alienate fans looking for a superhero adventure. Yet fans of visceral filmmaking will crave something more audacious than this conventional revenge tale. It won’t truly satisfy either faction.
Nevertheless, there’s an engaging tale beneath all that squishy unpleasantness. At a relatively brisk pace, Matt’s vengeance unfolds with satisfying momentum. David Dencik’s Markos Szabo is a disappointingly generic mobster, although his henchmen provide a lot of fun.
The climactic sequence is easily the highlight. This is where the film hits its stride. Matt creatively assumes different identities while pursuing his tormentors, keeping us guessing about who’s really standing before us. It’s surprisingly suspenseful. This is the saga I wanted to see! The shapeshifting possibilities are a lot more compelling than yet another close-up of a bloody wound.
Clayface delivers a heaping helping of comeuppance in an entertaining story punctuated by segments of gore that must be endured. I admired its flashes of imagination. The real magic was in the power of our protagonist to change faces, not in watching what a knife could do to his.
10-27-26