In stark contrast to Slick Charles and Yo-Yo whose machine gun chatter peppers the film, Boyega’s Fontaine is almost silent but when he speaks his voice is a snarl. Fontaine’s grief is like a raw nerve throughout and the more we find out about his character the more tragic he becomes. In a film that tends towards the sublimely ridiculous, Boyega’s grounded character anchors They Cloned Tyrone and makes the emotional beats hit so much harder. His death, which kicks off the narrative, is horrifying. Trapped in his car, Fontaine steels himself for the attack only to be riddled with bullets before he can act. It’s all shot from within the cramped interior of his vehicle, a close up and visceral depiction of the senselessness of gang violence. Boyega’s fear in this scene is palpable, much like the despondent rage he exhibits later in the film. Jamie Foxx, who served as a producer is loquacious and perfectly coiffured, his outfit similar to 1972 Superfly’s Youngblood Priest or real life pimp Iceberg Slim. Charles is a fantastic comic character and one that Fox plays perfectly, an endlessly entertaining mix of bravado and cowardice. He plays off brilliantly with Teyonah Parris’ Yo-Yo, squabbling and trading off movie references throughout. Yo-Yo, who’s love of Nancy Drew (her outfit seems to co-ordinated with her collection of the junior detective’s novels) draws her into mystery through sheer intellectual curiosity. Yo-Yo's intelligence is devastatingly wasted in The Glen, an example of the obvious unfulfilled potential that’s prominent throughout the film. The supporting cast are all fantastic including a villainous turn from Kiefer Sutherland who is odiously self righteous about what’s happening. They Cloned Tyrone’s satire is integrated so well into the story but it’s most caustic in how limited the horizons are for each character regardless of their ability. These are all people operating outside the law because there’s no other possibility.

They Cloned Tyrone uses negative stereotypes of black people to highlight how these perceptions marginalise and stigmatise. The film uses overused stock roles for black actors such as drug dealers, pimps and sex workers as a darkly comic plot point, the tropes of Blaxploitation Cinema being subverted for ironic effect. Even the start of the film in which we see a brief glimpse of Fontaine’s life in the drug trade uses the visual language of so many gritty urban dramas before the film pivots and is reborn (much like Fontaine himself) into something far more original and fun. The three characters are each engaging in their own right but together, bickering and playing off against each other they are an utter delight. There’s an element of Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang (2005) to their ramshackle investigation with their amateur sleuthing and bungled interrogations. The script has Shane Black energy throughout with the same kind of rambunctious dialogue that saw Black as the most sought after screenwriter in Hollywood for a while.