Probably one of the most underrated films in its franchise, “The Fast and The Furious Tokyo Drift”, sticks out from its three counter parts in many ways. Let’s just jump right in and get our heads wet as we break this bad boy down piece by drifting piece. Coming out in the summer of 2006, Tokyo Drift was met with some uncertain feedback particularly from the core fans of the franchise because one it did not have the main characters from the previous two films billed to reprise their roles…..mostly. It keeps to the basic formula for the most part only really straying to a different plot device to drive the story. In “The Fast and The Furious” and “2 Fast 2 Furious” the plot device is undercover police work to take down crime. Tokyo Drift however strays in this factor using a rebellious teenager who is on his last chance to stay on the straight and narrow only to be shoved into a life he is used too yet at the same time not used to. The ONLY star of the original film to make an appearance is Vin Diesel and that is a brief cameo at the very end. The story and the concept and the lack of the original stars were what drove away some of the core fans from Tokyo Drift. I have to admit, I was reluctant to watch this movie because of those very reasons, but once I saw it on DVD I went out and purchased it.
The cast is mostly made up of unknown actors the only possible actor people may know is Lucas Black. He was the kid from Slingblade and the male lead of that crappy Legion movie. But let us take the film’s roll call. Lucas Black (Slingblade, Jarhead, Legion); Shad Gregory Moss A.K.A Bow Wow (Like Mike, Roll Bounce, Lottery Ticket); Brian Goodman (Blow, Catch Me If You Can, The Last Castle); Nathalie Kelley (This is her first Major Role); Brian Tee (Also Debut Role); Sung Kang (Fast and Furious); Sonny Chiba (Kill Bill Volume 1, Battle Royale II) Zachery Bryan (Home Improvement). There is the class of this film, lets jump in deeper.
The movie opens with a subdued beat which also mixes in a slightly fast paced techno beat which gives it a nice harmony. We meet Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) a typical high school senior (I say senior cause he drives) who is into cars, at first glance he has this look to him that says I would rather be someplace else. You can tell his mind is not on his work because he is drawing car engines into his notebook. As the credits and music play over his day in school, we are finally greeted with some dialog. Enter the bimbo blonde who thinks her shit doesn’t stink because she is dating the captain of the football team. She would be good looking if she didn’t look so plastic. I am assuming Lucas Black has had that thick Texas Accent all his life because it is in every movie he has ever been in (I have no beef with people from Texas, I am just saying). The two start off talking about Sean’s car and how it isn’t ride but the rider you have to judge. “It’s not the ride. It’s the rider!” Just put a thick Texas Accent on there and you have way that statement sounds. As the two talk we are greeted by Brad…. I mean Clay (Zachery Bryan) captain of the football team and your stereotypical brain dead jock. “Dur, you talk to my pretty lady, now me smash you face in trailer trash.” He doesn’t say that but that is how I hear jocks in my head. The two are about to throw down fists and the football team Vs Sean and his heavy wrench. UNTIL Bimbo Barbie steps in and says the two should race instead.
Here is one aspect of the movie that boggles the shit out of my mind; you are racing going maybe eighty to ninety plus miles per hour. When you start to lose, why you would start crashing your car into the other car is beyond my comprehension, maybe steroid rage and you slut of a girlfriend is taunting you is to blame, but smashing your 80,000 dollar car into a custom built car just to keep your girlfriend for prom isn’t a good idea especially at those speeds. But not only this race but later on also the guy who starts to lose towards the end of the race just tries to kill Sean via car crashing at eighty to ninety plus mile per hours. I tell you man, these fucking people are stupid.
After both cars become totaled we are sent to the Sean, Brad….CLAY GOD DAMNIT, and Bimbo…I Mean Cindy sitting in a police station waiting to talk to the cops. Sean, who had won the race and the girl, gives Cindy a bloody smile (Epic fail dude Epic Fail). JUMP TRANSISTION to the interrogation room where Sean is being given the fifth degree by his case worker. Sean’s mom comes to the rescue, true to form, the woman is dress and acts like a skinnier Peg Bundy, and she decides to flirt with the cop and ask to smoke in a non-smoking room. Once Sean leaves the room, we find out that no matter what happens Sean is losing his license and possibly facing jail time unless he agrees to live with his father in Japan.
Here is the thing, this movie at least to me is a lighter version of the franchise as a whole, and the main three movies are gritty and seeded with higher stakes and greater consequences. Tokyo Drift has high stakes but it just doesn’t have the whole air of dread for the characters that the other three have. Tokyo Drift is great in its own right and holds its own in the franchise, and for that I give it major props.
Sean having been uprooted from a culture he knows and planted in a new one is off setting to the rebellious teenager because he has to deal with a whole new set of social order and culture of Japan in general. Like the whole taking your shoes off before entering a room “WAHBAKI WAHBAKI” and the food strange looking to us, normal to the Japanese. In lunch in the new Japanese school we are introduced to Twinkie (Bow Wow) he is an army brat, moving from place to place with his family and surviving in new places being a hustler selling goods to people and getting cash. Twinkie and Sean hit it off quickly enough before we are introduced to the worst looking modified car ever. Twinkie’s Hulk car that’s right Hulk Car, it is supposed to look like the Incredible Hulk is busting out of the car, but it just looks odd, well done but odd.
The main characters of this movie is the hot cars and Japan is full of hot cars with even hotter girls and for some reason girls with white ALL the way around their eyes like a white mask I counted eight in the entire movie. The cars in the first scene before Sean’s first drift race are off the hook all imports and tuned to not only look awesome but probably tuned to race also. The next main character in a Fast and The Furious movie is the love interest that keeps getting the main character in trouble. We find that character in Neela (Nathalie Kelley) and how does she get Sean in trouble, why just by talking to the idiot, inciting her Yakuza want to be, boyfriend Takashi D.K (Brain Tee) to come over and defend his turf. Sean being unable to control his idiocy or his hard on for Neela in check, bad mouths his way into a race against D.K. D.K Stands for Drift King, a prestigious title in the Japanese racing world. After a HUMILIATING defeat, Sean is indentured to Han (Sung Kang) and becomes his pickup and delivery boy “I may call you once a day or every hour, I do not care if you are sick as a dog or in bed with Beyoncé, I call you show.”
My feelings on the characters can be summed up to that while they are likeable and developed well, they are odd and feel out of place in their settings except for Han, Sean and Twinkie. The rest feel like they were cut and pasted into the movie for extra space. Sean grows a lot in this movie and for Fast and The Furious that is quick. It took two movies to mature Brian O’Conner (Paul Walker) into a believable character. Neela while decent in her acting just seemed a bit underwhelmed and cautious when it came to her lines, she felt like she was forcing herself to be the character. Han is by far the best character in this movie, calm cool and collected he is the balance to the turbulent world around him.
To avoid spoilers I will leave it at that. My take on the movie, is this. It is a good movie, good fun if you have ninety minutes to waste. The dialog and pacing is a bit choppy but it still gives you enough coherence to get you to enjoy the story. The cinematography and the CGI is well done and believable, my only complaint would be some of the odd angles during the races. The direction was good for this movie and its actors and actresses. Personally I enjoy this movie; it is defiantly worth a rent and given a chance. On the scale of one to ten, I give this movie a seven.
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