Critics who caught the early premiere are split between calling it DC's best film yet and an uneven third outing, with Tom Rhys Harries singled out as the standout.
The first reactions to Clayface are in, and the word on X is loud. Critics who caught the October 13 premiere at the Hollywood Legion Theater in Los Angeles have been posting since, and most of them are impressed. Some are more than impressed.
Brandon Davis called the film "freakishly awesome," writing that director James Watkins "makes an unsettling Gotham" and gets inventive with what Clayface can actually do. He singled out lead Tom Rhys Harries, calling him a star both in the film and for his performance in it.
He wasn't alone. Content creator BlakeKoala went further, calling Clayface "DC's best film to date," praising how it swings between sympathy, cheering and disgust without ever losing the audience. Jenna Anderson wrote that the film "completely blew" her away, finding it disgusting, inventive and funny in equal measure, and said it slots into the DCU without friction.
Critic Peter Gray flagged how brutal the film gets despite its comic-book bones, saying there's little levity to cut the nastiness, and credited Harries with bringing both boyish charm and quiet menace to the role. ScoobertOnFilm went so far as to call it the best DCU entry since Supergirl, and teased that the reveal of who Aaron Paul is playing will, in their words, break the internet.
Not every reaction is a rave. Shahbaz, who writes The Movie Podcast, said the body horror and Harries' performance are genuinely excellent but that the story and some odd choices make Clayface a strange fit as the DCU's third film, one still working out its identity. It's a smaller note in an otherwise warm pile of reactions, but it's the one piece of real pushback so far.
The stakes behind all this are not small. Clayface is the third film to come out of James Gunn and Peter Safran's rebooted DC Universe, following Supergirl, whose run at the box office was by most accounts rough. Matt Reeves, who directed The Batman, is also on board as a producer, and Mike Flanagan wrote the screenplay, which explains why the horror elements are landing the way they are. A body-horror villain movie was never the safe choice for a franchise trying to rebuild momentum, and that makes an enthusiastic early reaction count for more than it normally would.
None of this is a review embargo lift yet. These are reactions from a single LA premiere, posted by critics and creators on social media, not full-length reviews with star ratings attached. The Rotten Tomatoes score, when it lands, will tell a more complete story, and so will the opening weekend numbers once Clayface hits theatres next week.
For now, the mood is cautiously thrilled, with one dissenting voice reminding everyone that a good monster movie and a coherent franchise entry aren't always the same thing. Whether Indian audiences get the same release window as the US, and whether this translates into actual footfall for a DCU still finding its feet, is the next thing to watch.
Be the first to comment
Join the argument. No password, just your email or a passkey.