They Cloned Tyrone - Assimilate
Thoughts On: They Clones Tyrone (2023)
A drug dealer, pimp and a hoe stumble upon a conspiracy underlying their town.
A brilliant sci-fi mystery, They Cloned Tyrone is as funny as it it engaging. Similar in tone and narrative design as Get Out and Us, They Cloned Tyrone doesn't just share some of the same themes as Peele's lauded movies, it, in my opinion, quite easily surpasses their application and balance against humour and social commentary. In short, I never much liked Peele's brand of comedy nor related much to his approach to social commentary; it's smart and witty, but feels incomplete to me. They Cloned Tyrone is less goofy and yet simultaneously does not take itself as seriously as the mentioned films from Peele, producing a more whole vision of narrative with more dramatically rounded and engaging characters. It pulls elements and archetypes from American Blaxploitation cinema, dropping them into a scooby-doo, cowboy-turned-gangster, 50s paranoia, small-town government conspiracy mystery thriller. A film then made with a clear consciousness of film history, They Cloned Tyrone feels like an amalgam of various genres that bumps like good music. It asserts the persistence of spirit and individuality over fear, constructing a narrative in which the impulse toward pure assimilation is equated with the destruction of culture and history for fear of racist oppression as well as an existential self-silencing. Such is the motivational impetus of the ownership of Blaxploitation archetypes: drug dealers, gangbangers, pimps and hoes. Each are revived and eventually transformed, their spirits as existential wanderers, brotherhoods, searchers and lovers exposed upon the costumes of their caricatures and their voices exalted without filter and yet a more subtle understanding with the conclusion. Without quashing and supressing the culture from which these archetypes emerge, They Cloned Tyrone pulls redemption from broken souls, its social commentary one of individuality and collective power overcoming shame and fear. Pushed by great performances, They Cloned Tyrone was a superb watch.
