The setting is Gotham in this film where a DC comic/character villain is actually the good guy. It’s usually Batman territory, only difference is that this time Batman is not the focus, as Matt Hagen aka Clayface takes center stage. Directed by James Watkins, he centers solely on a character that the world knows to be a villain in the Batman universe. With a generous amount of misdirection there is a lot of vengeance that swirls in circles with Clayface. He suffers a mutation that gains him a reason forrevenge. The film is jumpy and fun, but not so much of a masterpiece.
Matt Hagen/Clayface is played by Tom Rhys Harries. Matt is a rising movie star with a lot going for him. Big projects are coming his way, and his name is all over the press. All of this changes though, when a mob member named Markos Szabo carves into his face with a blade. With so much going on for Matt, he is determined to get his face back. He hires a surgeon for skin treatment named Caitlyn Corr to help him. Caitlyn is played by Naomi Ackie. They work together to get Matt’s face back, and there is lots of trial and error, with the result being thathis face can mutate into practically anything.
Everything Matt touches begins to become a power for him. He can transform into other people, and his skin is irreversible and literally magnetic. He utilizes all of it in full-throttle mode. With losing his Hollywood golden moments, his mission now is vengeance. The question though, is one of revenge being the right thing.
The film spends too much time on watching melted skin through the first half—very disgusting. It took away eighty percent of the enjoyment throughout the beginning of the film for me. I was thinking that I am here to watch a movie about vengeance, not to truly keep seeing a face melt or get more destroyed. The pay off comes around eventually. I just felt that it dragged with too many special effects moments of a melting face while waiting to get to the actual crux of the picture.
The name Clayface comes around because of how Matt’s face is literally made of clay—it goes in and out of all different forms. A small spoiler… when he gets angry his skin gets tighter and he looks much like normal again. This is not always the case though. The question is, can he get his life back? Can he star in Hollywood movies again? Can he track down his nemesis, Markos? He sure can. Even though the character is an enemy in the comic book series, he is truly the protagonist who is forced to be the antagonist by events that were out of his control. The film is interesting and, yes, even captivating at times. It is almost amazing, but with a bit too much quirkiness to take seriously.Two-and-a-half out of four stars for Clayface.
