Clayface was a watch indeed; my friend Nolan and I are a tad late to our theater of choice, but we arrive just in time and take our seats as the movie starts. The film enigmatically starts, and we are taken to Gotham for the first time since The Batman.
heavy spoilers - read at own discretion
The film is about actor Matt Hagen, an actor born and raised in the slums of Gotham, and rags-to-riches style claws his way to the top of the industry. The movie starts off with his nomination for what I assume is an Oscar. He then goes to a club to celebrate with his buddy Corey. Despite aforementioned Corey’s warning, Matt dances with and eventually sleeps with Mia Torrez, the girlfriend of a prominent Mob boss, Markos Szabo.
The next morning, Szabo rudely awakens the two, and Mia leaves as Szabo and his men use a switchblade to defile the face of the rising star. Mia lies on a news interview and says she didn’t seduce him; she supposedly talked to an egocentric Hagen who slipped a little something in her drink and slept with her. Then, stories come up from Hagen’s old neighborhood in Gotham about other incidents in his past, and Hagen is shunned.
He attempts to undergo intense surgeries to correct his face, but they only cost him money and he still appears hideous.
Fed up with the world, he sees an article in a magazine about a certain Dr. Corr who developed a catch-all cure to defects in a person utilizing nano-bots that take the form of stem cells to repair and become tissue. I’m no scientist but this doesn’t seem too far fetched; through this treatment, Hagan’s face becomes like it was and he appears at a red carpet premier of a musical he was replaced in. The public is rightfully shocked and their focus is shifted to him. However, his face starts deforming once more and he calls Corr. She takes him to her office where he overdoses on the nano-bot injections, and can now subconsciously control them, which morphs his face.
He experiences face swaps and eventually goes to the office of his former attorney, now working for Szabo. He suffocates him with skin and temporarily assumes his identity as he makes his escape. He then goes to the set of a film his friend Corey is involved with, and murders and steals his identity much the same, after confronting him about giving information to Szabo about his past in exchange for career growth. Investigating the murders is Dr. Corr’s fiance, John Borrelli. John is threatened by Szabo after his suspicion in Szabo due to his involvement in both homicide cases, and is concerned for Corr.
Hagen, swearing revenge on Szabo, goes to the Vesuvius, where arguably the best sequence in the film occurs. Able to impersonate at will now, he infiltrates the club and intends to kill the boss, Szabo, by morphing into his right-hand man. However, he reveals himself to Mia Torrez, who realizes it is Hagen and warns the guards, who hunt him down. He makes it into the room with only Mia, the boss, and a henchman, whose appearance he assumes. Szabo shoots both, and Hagen kills both.
Back home, Borrelli questions Hagen about the murders of everybody who has wronged him. Eventually, we see Borrelli and Corr at home, both having something to say. However, it is revealed that Borrelli was actually Hagen and Borrelli is dead, killed by Hagen in an attempt to get Corr to love him. She terminates the nano-bots and he is washed down the sewer. Days later, Corr is paranoid of anybody who looks at her, correctly assuming that Hagen is alive and tracking her. She eventually tails a beggar into a sewer and the two embrace and merge into the Clayface we know.
Thoughts
I really loved this film, and my friend enjoyed it even more. I thought the volume was a little off in some scenes, such as the first one in the club possibly having the loudest I’ve heard in my cinema. I also found the relationship between Hagen and Corr a little unrealistic; Borrelli did have his suspicions that the two had more than a doctor-patient relationship, but never acted upon them. I found Corr’s forgiveness of Hagen at the conclusion of the film a bit off-putting but I could see how it would occur after having lost her fiance.
Overall, the acting and writing were phenomenal, same with the cinematography. I am excited to see where the DCU will bring us next, and am proud to say it redeemed the dumpster fire that was Supergirl.