Less moping, more morphing.
I guess we’re in a time when villains are getting spin-off films, whether we’re talking Disney (“Maleficent” and “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil”) or DC (“Joker” and “Joker: Folie a Deux”), and Clayface is now the latest Batman villain to get his own movie in “Clayface.” And I guess we’re also in a time that wants to channel on the success of “Beauty and the Beast” or “The Substance.” “Clayface” is the latest film to do so. But I was more into the “Substance” idea than the “Beauty and the Beast” subplot, which tries to drag things down.
If the title villain can morph his appearance, then we have actors switching around and less CGI effects toying with our emotions. And when he does, it’s either surprising or exciting. And the fact that this one is R-rated like “Joker” makes us interested in DC’s entrance to the body horror genre.
I was skeptical about this movie, because of my previous experience with “Joker: Folie a Deux” and how October isn’t always an ideal month for big budgeted movies. And as I started watching, I was getting some interest, and as I finished, I was thinking: it’s basically what you’d expect. A DC movie produced by James Gunn and Matt Reeves, which has more moxie than substance.
Set in Gotham City (this one also has no Batman), Matt Hagen (Tom Rhys Harries from “The Gentlemen” and “Kandahar”) is a rising young actor with a pretty face and a Golden Globe nomination. However, when he sleeps with a woman (Joana Ribeiro) he didn’t know was the girlfriend of gangster Markos Szabo (David Dencik), he damages his pretty face. It’s impossible to send the criminal to jail, because he basically has everyone on his payroll. You know how it is. And medical surgeries aren’t very helpful or cheap either. And I think Stephen Strange dealt with the same financial and logistical problems in “Doctor Strange.” Different comic book studios, but similar set-ups.
His only recourse is to seek help from the scientist Dr. Caitlyn Corr (Naomie Ackie), who may have developed a cure for his face. There are trials that he doesn’t have time to deal with, but they go through with the procedure. And he regains his fame and beauty, but there are side effects. Melty skin, fast heeling, shape-shifting side effects.
Directed by James Watkins (in his first feature since “Speak No Evil”) and written by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini (“The Wings of Dove,” “Drive”), “Clayface” has a promising set-up regarding someone’s face and fame being destroyed by a criminal, and his willingness to get it all back. If he’s an actor, then Matt should watch movies about experiments and their side effects. He should even watch “The Substance,” but then again, he would have had his stomach churning. And I think Harries, a name not too familiar with myself, does a good job adapting to a character like that. When he morphs into other people and plays games with the bad guys, it’s satisfying.
But then, the would-be romance starts to get typical, especially since Caitlyn is engaged to the detective (Max Minghella). I enjoyed the idea of a woman thinking her wicker husband would sleep with other women in “Wicker,” because it was done with liveliness and versatility. But in “Clayface,” it seems obligatory where the test subject would fall for the scientist, especially since this R-rated DC universe requires him to kill the people associated with the gangster. And it would sure change her perspectives of him. That’s a shame, because Ackie does some good work when she’s playing the scientist trying to figure out Matt’s treatment and outcome.
The CGI effects for Clayface’s transformations and side effects are easier than when we get the final subject as previous versions were drawn as. We get a plane sequence where his eyes are closing in, and a bathtub scene when his body looks like it decomposing. And I guess he’s labeled an anti-hero here, but then again, I can’t keep every comic book character straight.
