Right now, we are in a surprising place of a lot of Black surrealism in our media. And a lot might not be the best description for some, but we went from nothing to a good number of shows or films out there. I knew last year I wanted to see this film, They Cloned Tyrone – the concept of a person finding out there are clones of them and that the heroes are all people who make their living on the other side of the law. Making “criminals” heroes is something I’m into because not everyone who breaks the law is actually a villain. So here we have John Boyega as Fontaine, dope boy or hustler. He lives a mundane street life of running his crew, selling work (drugs), and dealing with rivals. Things go a bit wary after finding Slick Charles, a pimp played by Jamie Foxx who owes Fontaine money. Things go bad for Fontaine, but he wouldn’t know it, which leads to Slick Charles and his former associate Yo-Yo, played by Teyonah Parris, who also saw Fontaine the previous night that leads the three on a detective search to find out what’s going on and what they find is a huge complex conspiracy all centered around Fontaine.
Now there’s more to this story, and it goes to some very interesting places. I like how it uses the Black community’s doubts and skepticism about the state of our surroundings and who’s at fault as part of the plot and impetus for the characters’ adventure in this science fiction/action/comedy/mystery. Now, I’m not a fan of conspiracy theories in general, BUT there are some conspiracies within the Black community that have a basis in truth and history—things that have happened and are not talked about in the news or taught. The story of Henrietta Lacks sounds like something you’d read in a science fiction story. Finding out that the US government did have a part to play in the Crack epidemic sounds like a story you might see in some cyberpunk story from 1980 about 1995. The failures of Flint, Michigan, and its water could be a Twilight Zone episode, but sadly these things are all true. They all happened, and people in the community always talked about stories like this at gatherings, church, barbershops, and beauty parlors. In my opinion, it’s this part of the community is where this film bubbles up from. That whole 2Pac is still alive energy.
Boyega has all his charm here, and it reminds me of how we all first met him on screen with Attack the Block. His Fontaine is the straight man here. He’s not quirky or weird; he’s just a guy trying to survive and figure out what’s happening. He looks out for a kid in his neighborhood and leads his crew. He gives the guy outside the liquor store some of his 40 every day. This is the opposite of Foxx’s Slick, who feels like a well-realized skit character he could’ve played on In Living Color in the 90s. He’s the Shaggy and Scooby of the group, always questioning why they are going into mysterious places with perfectly timed jokes. I would definitely love to see outtakes from this film because I bet there are a ton of laughs we’re never going to see. I can’t speak any more highly of Parris, who keeps up her standard of being awesome in anything she’s in. Her chemistry with Foxx as this bickering duo keeps the movie’s energy up.
I really enjoy how the story goes where it goes with the story and plays with these ideas of controlled fate and why things are the way they are. While the film could go deeper and something even remind me of plot points of Black Dynamite (the film) in how it plays with some of the things marketed in the Black community and its merits within the community. It’s not subtle and not trying to be in the slightest. While that could bother others and me, the overall tone makes it work, and also, I don’t think we’re in a place with audiences wanting subtly right now. They Cloned Tyrone was just what I hoped it to be and much more. I hope you can watch it in theaters if you can but also when it premieres on Netflix.
Score: B+