Clayface: a satisfying project for the DCU [review]

Warner Brothers released their newest addition to the DCU, Clayface. While the DC brand had been heavily discussed since its initial slate announcement in 2022, CEO James Gunn’s push for more unknown or unusual characters was at times viewed as a detriment to the more significant parts of the brand. Starting the universe with a deep-cut adaptation of the relatively unknown comic series ‘Creature Commandos’ before bringing in recognizable names such as Batman or Wonder Woman. 

With the question of why they focus on deep cuts already lingering in the minds of fans, fans were outraged at the idea of making a film about a Batman villain before the real Batman had even been introduced. It would be like making a Venom film before you have a Spider-Man to face him (Oh wait). 

Despite all of this, the Clayface film was a successful release, scoring 76% on Rotten Tomatoes critics score and 94% on its audience score. Earning $43 million dollars worldwide. This makes it a huge success over its $30 million dollar budget.

Clayface follows Matt Hagen, a pretty boy actor whose face is violently scarred. In his search for a fix to his disfigurement, he’s thrown into a dark, violent, and sadistic journey of vengeance against those who wronged him, leaving him a man who doesn’t know who he’s meant to be, and willing to embrace the monster he’s forced to become.

Review

Clayface offers a body-horror experience that is as fun as it is, at times predictable. Its gross out visuals and over the top action allows for a basic revenge plot, but one that meets every expectation the audience has. Afraid to do anything unique, but never feels like it's not having fun with the character or concept.

Our rating

4 / 5

While not without its flaws, it’s a nice body horror film. It was exactly what you’d imagine a film about Clayface would be like. One of its biggest flaws is not attempting to do anything unexpected, while it’s predictable it isn’t bad by those means. It uses all the body horror tropes imaginable, it uses all the shapeshifting tropes you could imagine. In a day and age where it feels those concepts have been done to death, it can feel repetitive. The fact that it chose to be a Clayface film, however, questions if the story could be told any other way. 

One of the biggest ties between Batman villains is all of them being explorations of mental illness. That is something that allows these villains to work in solo settings. Matt Hagen works well as a protagonist. His story is reminiscent of Borderline Personality Disorder. What happens to someone who has no idea who they are? For him, he chooses to recreate the roles of the people around him. Mimicking them to fix the deep down problem of not knowing who he truly is. Him being an actor fits this story well, as he’s constantly having to adapt to different roles and personas. The theme of a shattered self image haunts this narrative. 

The film is well shot and colored, but the CGI can be incredibly wonky at points, and the editing is a tad jarring and uninspired throughout the production.

In the end, Clayface is a strange choice for the third installment of the DCU. While it doesn’t take risks or do anything particularly new, it’s a serviceable film for the franchise. While the chances of this character ever coming back are low, they took the opportunity to do as many things as they could with the character. Leaving the audience with a satisfying final film, even if the final product is predictable at times.