Sometimes, going into a movie blind can result in running face-first into a wall. The pain and regret one feels is instant and then followed by the realization that you’ll never get the time back. All that could have been avoided if you’d only viewed the trailer before committing to the watch. Then, there are movies like They Cloned Tyrone that you go into with absolutely no clue what it is – but you like the cast, and it’s like diving into a refreshing pool on a hot summer’s day. The greatness washes over you initially, then you feel a slight pang of fear that you may not make it back to the surface in time while still feeling completely refreshed. Netflix’s new film is an experience that is more rewarding the more one is immersed in it. Other than a filter that makes it look a little too dim, the film is excellent for cast, costume design, story, and direction.
Fontaine (John Boyega) is a drug dealer who goes to see Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx), a pimp who shorted him money. Fontaine’s rough approach to handling people who wrong him has put a target on his back. Slick brings Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris), one of Slick’s working girls with ambitions of escaping the Glenn, to verify that something isn’t quite right with Fontaine when he returns a second night looking for the same money he’d retrieved the night before. The three witness a series of eerie events, and find themselves thrust onto the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy.
This film is drawing a lot of comparisons to Atlanta and Get Out, though it has closer plot elements to Us. It also has some similar surrealist elements to Sorry to Bother You. However, the film it most reminded me of was John Carpenter’s They Live. All of those comparisons are fair, but director Juel Taylor’s film stands strongly on its own. There is a ton of social commentary mixed in with some incredible comedy. The three leads have tremendous chemistry, and their characters are complex and earn genuine pathos. It is possible for a filmmaker to show their influences while creating something that feels original, and Taylor has done just that with this movie.
The film appears to be set in the mid-2000s, – but maybe not our exact reality. Yo-yo and Slick are dressed more like something from the ’70s, while Fontaine feels right for the era, if not the 90’s. The film has a faded filter on it that does make it feel a few brightness levels too low, but it also reminds one of the Blaxploitation films that Slick would have perfectly fit in. The production looks pretty incredible overall,, and some of the set pieces alter that quite a bit. There is also a surprise late in the film that initially seems like a cameo, but becomes something more, which really sells the overall story. They Cloned Tyrone even has an excellent coda that simply cements its overall quality as an incredible piece of filmmaking.
They Cloned Tyrone drops on Netflix on July 21.
Rating: Must See
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