The new DC Studios feature Clayface—directed by James Watkins and co-written by Hossein Amini alongside Mike Flanagan—delivers gore-heavy set pieces and a briskly engaging pace, yet features flat characters and anemic worldbuilding.
The Bottom Line
- The Visuals: The film leans heavily into practical gore and body horror as actor Matt Hagen’s face is surgically destroyed and later regenerated through experimental nano-therapy.
- The Narrative Shortcoming: Despite strong physical performances, lead characters like Dr. Caitlyn Corr lack substantive motivation beyond driving the immediate plot forward.
- The Franchise Context: Produced as the third project under James Gunn and Peter Safran’s DC Studios, the film keeps Gotham City deliberately vague to accommodate future crossover potential.
Matt Hagen’s Descent From Academy Award Contender to Gory Monstrosity
The story tracks actor Matt Hagen, played by Tom Rhys Harries, at the cusp of great fame and power in his career. Fresh off a Best Actor Academy Award nomination, Hagen trades his rough-hewn origins in Gotham City’s Narrows for elite status and public adoration. That trajectory shatters the moment he sleeps with Mia Torrez, portrayed by Joana Ribeiro, the lover of violent mobster Markos Szabo, played by David Dencik. Despite warnings from his childhood friend and fellow actor, Cory, played by Joshua James, Hagen’s indiscretion triggers a brutal retaliation. Szabo’s associates carve up Hagen’s face, leaving him nearly unrecognizable.
The filmmakers linger on the grim reality of subsequent, unsuccessful cosmetic surgeries. When Hagen mounts a legal battle against Szabo, he loses to powerful criminal connections. The public scrutiny digs into his past in the Narrows, resulting in rapid online cancellation over historic mistreatment of women. While the script questions whether these allegations are inflated, Hagen pivots to Dr. Caitlyn Corr, played by Naomi Ackie. Working on an experimental nano-therapy inspired by her brother’s struggle with Huntington’s disease, Corr restores Hagen’s original appearance. Emotional distress, however, causes his physical form to melt and shift uncontrollably.
Action Sequences Outshine the Subtextual Romance
As Hagen gains the ability to transform into other people, heal rapidly, and manipulate his nano-infused blood, the narrative shifts from tragic recovery to outright revenge. A standout sequence features Hagen infiltrating Szabo’s club, fluidly morphing between mob enforcers and weaponizing his elastic flesh. Director James Watkins stages these genre-horror elements with technical confidence. An early dream sequence even plays with gender slipperiness as Corr monitors Hagen’s vitals and he momentarily shifts into her likeness.
Yet these individual thrills exist in isolation. Ackie’s character remains thinly sketched, defined almost entirely by her research, her familial duty, and her suspicious fiancé, played by Max Minghella. Unlike the subtextually queer story found in the character’s origins in Batman: The Animated Series, this modern interpretation struggles to ground its emotional stakes. Hagen verbalizes his internal confusion, but the dialogue fails to build a compelling emotional engine.
| Production Element | Animated Precedent (1992) | Feature Film |
|---|---|---|
| Primary Creative Source | Not specified | Mike Flanagan, James Watkins, Hossein Amini |
| Studio / Oversight | Not specified | James Gunn & Peter Safran (DC Studios) |
| Core Conflict | Existential dread of lost humanity | Revenge narrative and body horror |
Vague Worldbuilding Undermines the Gotham Setting
The absence of Batman as an on-screen presence is less detrimental to the film than the generalized aesthetic of Gotham City itself. Despite minor nods to class divides and urban decay, the environment lacks distinct architectural identity. It is as if Gunn and Safran had to keep Gotham vague enough that any version of Batman could be slotted into such a world when the time arises. The production sacrifices the moody specificity that defined its source material. While the picture provides fast-paced genre entertainment, it leaves behind few lasting cinematic impressions.
