They Cloned Tyrone Movie Review

They Cloned Tyrone (2023)

Watch They Cloned Tyrone on Netflix
Written by: Tony Rettenmaier & Juel Taylor
Directed by: Juel Taylor
Starring: John Boyega, Jamie Foxx, Teyonah Parris, Kiefer Sutherland, David Alan Grier
Rated: R
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Plot
A series of eerie events thrusts an unlikely trio on the trail of a nefarious government conspiracy in this pulpy mystery caper.

Verdict
Minority populations have been used for experiments before, and this movie proposes an experiment on a grand scale. Ghettos are a result of direct intervention to contain violence. The concept is intriguing, though the 'how' isn't quite as clear. Behind every curtain is yet another question. The actors do a great job as their characters, but at the end this feels like a collection of ideas that needs more time to fit together. This movie tries to throw too much at the viewer, and then just leaves it.
It depends.

Review
This starts focused on a few bottom level criminals in retro-futuristic world. This looks like the 70s meets the 90s. That helps set this apart from reality, but is jarring at first.

Drug dealer Fontaine (John Boyega) has a predictable routine that's upended, bringing Slick Charles (Jamie Foxx) and Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris) into the mix as they stumble upon conspiracies, underground laboratories, and as the title indicates, clones. As Yo-Yo comments, it's like a Nancy Drew mystery. The setting makes this all the more strange, outside of time and place.

Teyonah Parris, Jamie Foxx, John Boyega play Yo-Yo, Slick Charles, Fontaine

Everything about this movie is wild. I like that we don't know when or where this is. The trio find an underground laboratory, they end up in a fast food restaurant where everyone laughs uncontrollably, and there's even mind control. This reminds me of Sorry to Bother You, though not quite as creative artistically but this is certainly inventive.  

Impoverished areas are used as testing areas for the greater good. It's a common excuse, but it's a great explanation for why impoverished areas remain as such. Consumerism and culture are means of control. The scientists have a need to retain these areas in a gentrified state to continue their tests.
At one point a scientist states they are trying to assimilate blacks by white washing them, but other than a couple of white characters with afros that didn't really seem to track. If the scientists' goal was just to entrap impoverished communities to sustain a virtual testing lab, I believe that. I like that pop-culture is a means to brain wash and entrap. Culture can feel like that to anyone.

This pushes the mystery as you wonder what's happening. We're told in a lengthy exposition dump. From that point on this movie never quite fulfills the promise it had. I get impoverished areas are experiments and the clones are used to keep these areas going, but the very premise of this movie is based on how easy it is to develop a glitch in the system. With the level of crime in this area, I imagine drug dealers like Fontaine are prone to violence and death. How do scientists preserve the illusion then?

This is a lot of fun, but I really wanted clear, believable answers to how this works. The movie wants to leave us with a lot of ideas and let us figure it out, but I'm left thinking the movie never quite connected the dots. That's unfortunate with how intriguing and fun this is on top of the social commentary.