The comic sci-fi blaxploitation homage "They Cloned Tyrone" is a wild genre mashup that mixes styles and influences from across the genre spectrum, like a trip to the video store with nods to filmmakers John Carpenter, Spike Lee, Boots Riley and others.
Co-writer and director Juel Taylor's feature debut is a little bit "Get Out," a little bit "The Cabin in the Woods" and a little bit "Invasion of the Body Snatchers," while being equal parts weighty and fun. And it wrings fruitful performances from its trio of leads, John Boyega, Jamie Foxx and scene-stealer Teyonah Parris.
Boyega stars as Fontaine, a low-level dope boy in the Glen, a run-down neighborhood of pushers, pimps and prostitutes where everyone has a role that they stick closely to. We're in modern times, but through its gritty production design, grainy filter and throwback costuming, Taylor makes "Tyrone" look like it's fresh out of 1975.
After he goes to collect payment due from colorful neighborhood pimp Slick Charles (Foxx), Fontaine is gunned down in a hail of bullets by a local rival. But Fontaine's end is only his journey's beginning: he awakens the next day and sets off on his daily routine, and Slick Charles naturally has some questions as to why the man he saw killed the day before is back at his doorstep today.
Along with Charles', er, employee Yo-Yo (Parris), Fontaine and Slick Charles set about to find out what's going on. And they uncover a vast conspiracy involving an underground lair dealing in clones, nefarious corporate marketing and subliminal messaging designed to assist and aid in the systematic oppression of Black people.
Taylor, previously a writer on "Creed II" and "Space Jam: A New Legacy," keeps things light enough to make jokes about Barack Obama, Denzel Washington and a client of Yo-Yo's named Thursday Tony (whom she only visits on Tuesdays, a throwaway joke that's good enough to make viewers do a double take), while also taking on some big-picture societal issues.
As Fontaine, Boyega is stiff-jawed and heavy-eyed, while Foxx gets to loosen up and Parris lets it rip. They're a formidable team, and their combined efforts help make Taylor a talent to watch going forward as he further distills his heroes into a style of his own.
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'THEY CLONED TYRONE'
Grade: B
MPA rating: R (for pervasive language, violence, some sexual material and drug use)
Running time: 2:02
How to watch: On Netflix Friday
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