Body Horror Oozes Through The Streets of Gotham

DC Studios’ Clayface is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the cult favourite villain from Gotham’s rogues gallery.

Matt Hagen’s meteoric rise from Gotham street kid to Hollywood leading man is tragically cut short when a local crime boss’s actions leave him horribly disfigured.

Abandoned by his team and with nothing left, Matt seeks out a cutting edge treatment that miraculously returns him to his former self… but also unexpectedly affects his grip on reality, spiralling him down a destructive path of all-consuming revenge.

Meet the new face of Gotham. Clayface only in theaters October 23.

The Caped Crusader Returns To The Streets of Gotham

One of my favourite new superhero cartoons of recent years, resplendent with its vintage, noir-meets-pulp vibes, Batman: Caped Crusader returns next month for a second season with a host of new villains for our hero to bring to justice.

First Clayface Teaser Brings The Body Horror

DC Studios’ first-ever foray into the genre, Clayface is a horror thriller from director James Watkins, starring Tom Rhys Harries in the title role of the Gotham City villain.

Clayface unravels one man’s horrifying descent from rising Hollywood star to revenge-filled monster in a story that explores the loss of one’s identity and humanity, corrosive love, and the dark underbelly of scientific ambition.

The film also stars Naomi Ackie, David Dencik, Max Minghella and Eddie Marsan, as well as Nancy Carroll and Joshua James. James Watkins directs from a screenplay by Mike Flanagan and Hossein Amini, story by Flanagan, based on characters from DC.

The film is produced by Matt Reeves, Lynn Harris, James Gunn and Peter Safran, with Michael E. Uslan, Rafi Crohn, Paul Ritchie, Chantal Nong Vo and Lars P. Winther executive producing.

Clayface will be released only in cinemas and IMAX in North America on October 23 and internationally beginning 21 October.

Anniversary Reprint of Classic Dredd and Batman Team-up!

On May 6, a 35th anniversary edition of the legendary Batman/Judge Dredd: Judgement on Gotham graphic novel will hit UK streets.

Recounting the first - of several - meeting of the toughest crimefighters from Mega-City One and Gotham, the high-octane team-up graphic novel, penned by John Wagner and Alan Grant with ground-breaking painted art from Simon Bisley, will be reprinted in a larger size (all the better to appreciate the stunning artwork), using brand new scans from the original printing film - restored by publisher Rebellion's "experienced reprographics teams".

The award-winning 64-page book, which established Bisley as a star of the medium, will only be available in the UK.

Originally published in 1991, Judgement on Gotham pitted the Ultimate Lawman against the Dark Knight Detective, with Judge Dredd and his psychic colleague Judge Anderson forced to team up with Batman after the undead arch-fiend Judge Death escapes from Mega-City One to Gotham City and, alongside The Scarecrow, wreaks havoc – from murdering the masses to headlining a rock concert!

To learn more and see sample pages, zoom over to 2000AD's website right now!

Batman v Superman - Dawn Of Justice, Ultimate Edition (2016)

My race through the Snyderverse continues with probably its most divisive entry, but for all its faults (and they are plentiful), Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice - in all its three-hour, ultimate edition glory - is a surprisingly good superhero movie.

The further we get from the initial hullaballoo around this film, and the more times I watch it, the more I find I get from it.

Like Man of Steel, it suffers from some egregious missteps that, as with the original curate's egg, were allowed by many to spoil the enjoyment of the whole.

But as I grow older, that one troublesome dialogue exchange that spawned a million memes (which we will get to later), doesn't bother me so much. Yes, it's still a dreadfully contorted - and unconvincing - exchange, but is, ultimately, small potatoes in a bombastic three-hour film.

A deranged Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg) turns the world against Superman (Henry Cavill), then engineers a fight between the Son of Krypton and Batman (Ben Affleck), before unleashing a CGI Kryptonian monster, Doomsday, on Metropolis for reasons that aren't exactly explained.

Jesse Eisenberg is a fantastic actor and his young Luthor blends the modern age comic book take on the character with the mad scientist version in the older comics - with a heavy emphasis on the "mad" part.

I think we're supposed to take it that Lex is jealous of Superman's powers, but, despite his Machiavellian machinations, the one part of his scheme that is never truly made clear is his motivation.

While Ben Affleck's Bruce Wayne/Batman is impressive, the stand-out character of Dawn Of Justice is Gal Gadot's Wonder Woman.

Although her presence is only slightly more justified here than Spider-Man's introduction in 2016's Captain America: Civil War, her grin-inducing impact on the audience is about the same.

Her all-too-brief appearances are certainly helped by the incredible Wonder Woman theme performed by cellist Tina Guo, that still make me tingle with geeky excitement every time I hear it.

There are a couple of sequences that felt superfluous, when looked at just in the context of BvS.

However, knowing now that these were planting seeds for the Zack Snyder's Justice League movie (we shall ignore the Josstice League iteration, even though officially it remains the canon version of the film for the DCEU), we can appreciate that moments like Batman's striking 'vision' of the future, complete with Darkseid mise-en-scène and parademons are more than just great fan service

When BvS was first release, I read a number of industry people championing director Zack Snyder's love of comics, which is as nebulous a comment as saying someone "loves books", but whatever the truth of the matter it's clear that he just doesn't really get Superman.

Snyder is on record as saying he likes dark comics with sex and violence in them. And, while I suspect he may have been 'playing this up' for the expected shock value, that just isn't my (and a lot of people's) idea of Superman.

As, hopefully, you read earlier, I enjoyed his Man Of Steel as spectacle, but it didn't deliver a Superman that I recognised or could relate to.

While still quite moody here, Superman is certainly given the space to become a bit more like his positive and heroic comic book portrayal.

His Clark Kent alter ego shines (despite butting heads with a a very negative Perry White in Laurence Fishburne), but Synder's penchant for darker, anti-heroes comes to the fore in his presentation of Batman.

Again, a lot is left unexplained (Batman's been operating in Gotham for 20 years but the Daily Planet is unaware of him? Why - oh why - does he go round branding villains?), but he's got the tech, the brains, the charisma, and the drive to bring the Dark Knight to life.

One of the positive things about Batman v Superman is that it doesn't try to obfuscate the 'secret identities' of its leads for the audience, it's just a given that Bruce Wayne is Batman, Diana Prince is Wonder Woman, Clark Kent is Superman etc, without trying to explain it all (again).

Like Man of Steel, this initially appears to be a triumph of spectacle, but, again, in Batman v Superman (the Ultimate Edition anyway) we have a story that justifies the action and - generally - everyone stays reasonably true to the comic book source material.

However, rising above all the plot holes and strange character choices, the most awful, groan-worthy moment in the whole script is the "Martha" scene.

I'll be honest, if I'd tried to present that - with a straight face - in one of my scripts at university I'd have been laughed off my Scriptwriting degree course.

There was enough cheese in that scene to choke all the mice in North America. Especially coming in such a "serious" and "realistic" take on the superhero genre, it totally takes you out of the moment.

It's bizarre that amidst all the explosions and property damage, all the spectacular superheroics and tension, the line that stays with you - because it grates so much - is something so mundane and corny.

But that aside (and it could so easily have been avoided by changing the line to something about his "mother", which Bruce would have reacted to in much the same way) Batman v Superman - Dawn Of Justice is definitely a step in the right direction from Man of Steel and paves the way for Zack Snyder's Justice League.

Joker: Folie à Deux (2024)

While waiting for his trial for the murders committed in Joker, Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) is being held in Arkham Asylum, where he meets Harleen 'Lee' Quinzel (Lady Gaga) in a music therapy group.

It's love at first sight and, when she gets out before him, Harley promises to be at Arthur's trial every day, as well as vocal campaigner for his freedom.

Arthur's lawyer, Maryanne Stewart (Catherine Keener) seeks to build a defence on the idea that Arthur and Joker are two separate personalities, brought on by his abusive upbringing.

Meanwhile, the district attorney, Harvey Dent (Harry Lawtey) is seeking to dismantle this idea, and is calling for the death penalty for Arthur.

Eventually, Arthur - egged on by Harley - grows tired of his lawyer's approach and dramatically fires her in the middle of the case, opting to defend himself: in full Joker make-up.

I can totally get why people were disappointed with Joker: Folie à Deux. It wasn't the Joker film they were expecting. Not that writer/director Todd Phillips had made any promises about where the sequel would be going... it just wasn't the stylish and violent remix of The Dark Knight that I think people were hoping for.

Rather it turned out to be an arthouse courtroom drama - and character piece - infused with elements of One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (the Arkham scenes) and Natural Born Killers (the delusions and the media's glorification of murderers).

In truth, Phoenix's Joker is nothing like the source material (80-plus years of comic book escapades), but more akin  to someone cosplaying as The Joker.

As I said in my review of 2019's Joker (earlier today), the character has always worked in the comics, and most other media, because he doesn't have a definitive origin story. He's an enigma and that makes him more frightening - he's the one mystery the world's greatest detective, Batman, can't solve.

But Todd Phillips and Joaquin Phoenix have made the character all too human, with a name, family and origin story, and - especially in this sequel when he is often depicted as - frail and wracked with self-doubt.

That makes for an interesting character... he's just not The Joker.

He is a straw man held up as a figurehead for a bubbling, anarchic revolution in rundown Gotham City, but - unlike the comic book iteration or even any of the live-action takes, right back to Cesar Romero in Batman '66 - he comes to the conclusion that he doesn't want that mantle.

Which, again, makes for an interesting revelation, but it just doesn't feel like something The Joker would do.

Providing strong support is Lady Gaga as a low-key, grounded Lee Quinzel, who gets under Arthur's skin and fuels his frequent delusions and dreams that frame themselves as musical numbers (one in the courtroom is very reminiscent of Sid Vicious' performance of My Way at the climax of The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle).

Both Lee and Fleck are complex characters, well developed and growing towards a surprising - yet wholly believable - twist in the final scenes, that pretty much guarantees there won't be a third film in this particular franchise.

Joker: Folie à Deux (a psychological term for a shared delusion) is as gritty as the first movie, presenting us with a beautifully decaying Gotham City, with a troubled element of the populace inspired by their own perceptions of the murderous Fleck.

However there's no getting away from the overwhelming feeling that this was originally a psychological study that has just been dressed up with a few affectations from the Bat'verse to sell tickets.

Which I gather it didn't.

It was a brave experiment. But, sadly, it failed.

I actually believe if this duology has been made with different - or even original - protagonists audiences (coming to the story without any expectations) would have liked it more, because they would have then felt very clever pointing out: "oh, that's a bit like The Joker and Harley Quinn from the Batman comics".

While Folie à Deux lacks the kick of the first film, I did actually enjoy it for what it was, but it was still a peculiar take on the characters that bore little or no resemblance to the general public's vision of the source material.

Joker (2019)

First, some context: I have always been a strong advocate of the belief that one of the reasons The Joker - Batman's arch-nemesis - works so well as a villain, and has endured so long in comics, is because he doesn't have (and doesn't need) a definitive origin story.

As the ultimate unreliable narrator, he's had numerous possible origin stories since he first appeared in 1940, but we've never learned who he actually was as none of these possible backstories have ever stuck.

Part of my issue with prequels is that they very rarely truly complement the original material: Jedi knights were much cooler without midichlorians, xenomorphs were scarier before we knew who "engineered" them etc

However, taking all that into account, writer/director Todd Phillips' Joker is an incredibly powerful and engaging movie.

It's hard to believe that the same person responsible for the odious Hangover movies could craft this amazing Scorsese homage, a Taxi Driver for the comic book movie generation.

Set in 1970s Gotham, the rundown city is a roiling powder keg of social inequality, ready to blow at any moment.

Mentally unbalanced, clown-for-hire and would-be stand-up comedian Arthur Fleck (Joaquin Phoenix) lives with his frail mother (Frances Conroy) and suffers a serious of brutal beat-downs - both physical and emotional - that push him over the edge.

However, media coverage of his violent actions are the spark that ignites the city, and as society explodes around him, Arthur is shocked to find himself on course to meet his idol: TV chat show host Murray Franklin (Robert De Niro).

As well as a Joker origin story, the movie also stands as a Batman origin story, as Thomas Wayne (Brett Cullen) and even young Bruce (Dante Pereira-Olson) get drawn into Arthur's story.

A gritty take on the world of the Batman comics - following in the footsteps of Christopher Nolan's Batman trilogy - Joker is Taxi Driver meets King Of Comedy, with a sprinkling of Fight Club and Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns comic book run.

Fleck is Travis Bickle, equally awkward with women and full of pent-up aggression, but with his professional clowning substituting for Bickle's late-night cab driving, both giving them - they believe - insight into society's ills.

Echoing De Niro's riveting Oscar-nominated performance in Taxi Driver, Joaquin Phoenix owns Joker with his magnetic, and tragic, performance as the delusional Fleck, trying to find purpose in his life and an explanation for why all this shit keeps happening to him.

He brings a catalogue of tics and quirks to the character that make his Joker as shockingly memorable as that of the late Heath Ledger.

Are we supposed to feel sympathy, or even empathy, for Arthur? Or simply understand what drove him to do what he did? Or believes he did, if he really did it!

For all we know, at the end of the day, Arthur is just a Joker, but not the Joker!

A surprisingly cerebral and layered story, Joker (available from today on Sky Cinema) definitely demands multiple viewings to simply pick apart which elements - beyond the ones that are flagged up - are real and which occur only in Arthur's head.

Psychologically disturbing viewing, the 122-minute movie exquisitely encapsulates the Alan Moore quote from the highly regarded Batman/Joker graphic novel The Killing Joke:

"All it takes is one bad day to reduce the sanest man alive to lunacy. That's how far the world is from where I am. Just one bad day."

While I wouldn't want all comic book movies to follow Joker's lead, this is an excellent demonstration of how the Marvel method isn't the only way to make to make outstanding movies in this genre.