Film review – Clayface
Though there have been about a dozen different Bat-villains called Clayface in various media, this film follows Batman The Animated Series in mashing up comics’ golden age Clayface – actor Basil Karlo, a Lon Chaney type disguise master – with the silver age shapeshifter – Matt Hagen, a dull thug who falls into some radioactive clay. Developed by Mike Flanagan, who gets a co-script credit with Hossein Amini, and directed by versatile horror guy James Watkins, this Clayface could either be the introduction of a character who’ll show up in other films or a standalone reimagining like Joker … though it’s an odd call to reinvent a character who has little pop culture profile outside comics and animation (there was a live-action Clayface in Birds of Prey, but who remembers that show?).
In terms of James Gunn-era DC world-building, this goes a little way to establishing Coast City as DC’s version of Los Angeles, though the primary location is Gotham City, presumably the days before Jim Gordon becomes commissioner and cleans up the police department. The shot-in-Leavesden with locations in Liverpool, Manchester etc. America of current DC films, populated by British character actors, is beginning to feel like a consistent stylistic take. A strength of the DC and Marvel comics universes – not always exploited by their film arms – is that they encompass range of approaches, from goofy farce to outright horror with gritty urban thriller, spectacular space opera, dystopian science fiction and weird whimsy along the way. This is a body horror picture, influenced by Cronenberg’s The Fly and Fargeat’s The Substance, with a streak of showbiz satire, tough crime and the turning-worm-gets-revenge ploy of, say, The Mask.
Rising Hollywood star Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries) has had to work hard to overcome a rough upbringing in ‘the Narrows’ (a Christopher Nolan addition to Gotham which has stuck around) but is now an Oscar-nominated golden boy. He gets off with the wrong sexpot (Joana Ribeiro) in a nightclub and her mob boss boyfriend Szabo (David Dencik) cuts his face to pieces. Szabo is in the tradition of Gotham crimelords like Tony Zucco (who killed some acrobats and created Robin) and Boss Moroni (who threw acid at the D.A. and created Two-Face). In the aftermath of the attack, Matt loses his money, home, reputation and livelihood. Betrayed by his manager (Eddie Marsan) and best mate (Joshua James), he is literally stitched up. As a last resort, he calls on Caitlyn Corr (Naomie Ackie), a scientist working on a radical treatment – yes, it involves nanobots but also the current buzzword AI – which stands in for that radioacative clay. A first dose gives Matt the ability to think his face back into shape but it melts like wax if he has a strong emotion. He unwisely overdoses on the red gunk and becomes a shapeshifter whose skin can even mimic clothes … which allows him to embark on a campaign of revenge, but also loses whatever was left of himself after his initial retreat from an abused, poverty-stricken childhood into acting. Only in the closing act does he come to resemble the mud golem of the comics and cartoons, and oddly he doesn’t officially aquire the trade-name Clayface.
It’s well-paced, with suspense-horror-action highlights … from some gloopy moments (an attempt to perform tricky self-surgery on melted eyelids with nail scissors in an airplane toilet during stormy turbulence) to presto-change-o impersonations. A clutch of supporting players (notably Corey Johnson, Francesca Corney and Jake Curran) stand in for Harries as Clayface as Matt inflitrates the nightclub to get his own back in gruesome ways. It has an almost-romance connection between Matt and Caitlyn, complicated by the fact that her partner is one of Gotham’s few honest cops (Max Minghella), which pays off in several gotchas as someone isn’t who we think they are. A Flanagan trait is to present something outrageous, then spring a surprise which makes sense of what’s gone before – while Watkins likes to put characters under extreme pressure, stripping them down in protracted ordeals.
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