John Boyega’s debut role in Attack the Block, the 2011 British sci-fi horror film, was a standout performance that put him on the map. In the movie, Boyega played Moses, the leader of a local gang who is beset with misfortune when his block becomes the epicenter of an alien attack. Attack the Block used the premise of an alien invasion to look at larger issues of class and race, all while providing blockbuster entertainment.
In ‘They Cloned Tyrone’, another film that looks at race and class through the lens of sci-fi, John Boyega plays Fontaine, a drug dealer whose days appear bleak but routine. That is broken up however when he confronts Slick Charles, played by Jamie Foxx, to pay a debt, and afterwards he is shot in the parking lot outside Slick’s. In a ‘Groundhog Day’ like sequence, Boyega wakes again, only to learn from Slick Charles, and Slick’s sex worker Yo-Yo, played by Teyonah Parris, that Boyega was indeed killed. This sets the trio up on a journey to discover the mystery of his reappearance and the larger mystery impacting their community.
Director and co-writer Juel Taylor, along with co-writer Tony Rettenmaier, use the conceit of this mystery to examine deeper issues in America and the Black community, as the trio uncover conspiracies while revealing to the audience larger truths about American society. Taylor plays with stereotypes, familiar imagery from Blaxploitation films, and pop culture, throughout the film to great effect. Even the trio themselves, and their roles as a drug dealer, sex worker, and a pimp, is reflective of this. When it all works together, watching this movie can feel like looking at a funhouse mirror of life, which like the best sci-fi reflects back on ingrained perceptions while saying so much more about our reality.
Regrettably in the last third in particular, when the film tries to put text to subtext, it falters and loses the plot for a time. We are given a Matrix 2 style speech and reveal, which could have been left on the cutting room floor as it asks more questions than it answers. Regrettably you will feel you’ve likely reached the end of the film three times, before you finally do.
Still the film offers plenty to recommend as a smart, engaging comedy. Likewise the acting stands out as John Boyega and Teyonah Parris are both excellent, and Jamie Foxx’s character is a high watermark in an already incredible career. The mystery too, though somewhat foreseeable, is also unveiled in an engaging manner that keeps the viewers’ attention. So ultimately between some high notes, the wonderful acting, and the smart observations on our culture, this film makes for an entertaining and worthwhile viewing.
