Rated PG-13 (Reckless and Illegal Behavior involving Teens,
Violence, Language and Sexual Content)
Running Time: 1 Hour & 44 Minutes
Cast:
Lucas
Black-Sean Boswell
Shad
Gregory Moss/Bow Wow-Twinkie
Nathalie
Kelley-Neela
Sung
Kang-Han Lue
Brian
Tee-Takashi/”Drift King”
Sonny
Chiba-Kamata
Leonardo
Nam-Morimoto
Jason
Tobin-Earl
Keiko
Kitagawa-Reiko
Lynda
Boyd-Ms. Boswell/Sean’s Mother
Brian
Goodman-Major Boswell/Sean’s Father
Vin
Diesel-Dominic Toretto
Directed by Justin Lin
 |
| They moved the action to Japan but it's still the same damn film. |
Note: Part of "The Fast and the Furious Trilogy" Blu-Ray set.
“The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift,” the third
entry in the famed car porn franchise is a sequel in-name only, lacking any
connection to the previous two films and seems like it was meant for the
direct-to-DVD market with its no-name cast. The film’s only high point in this dull, uninspired affair is a surprise cameo
at the end but you can hardly call it a surprise when it was spoiled in the
film’s promotional material. In fact, its release just reeks of desperation on
Universal’s part as they were willing to move ahead and discard all of the main
characters just to make a quick buck from gullible moviegoers. Yes, there are
flashy cars and scantily-clad young women but that’s all this film, and the franchise as a whole, has to offer. Fans
will eat up “Tokyo Drift” like ice cream but for everyone else, this is a
laughably bad film with weak performances and a clichéd story. It even botches
its one saving grace with choppily edited, repetitive racing scenes.
Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is your typical, everyday
American teen who loves cars a little too much. Unable to keep his ego in
check, Sean gets into a street race with a local jock but both end up totaling
their cars in the process and are arrested by the police. The jock is quickly
released thanks to his wealthy parents but Sean is faced with jail-time as this
is his third offense. To avoid going to prison, Sean’s mother sends him off to
Tokyo, Japan to live with his father, who is stationed there as a U.S. naval
officer. Sean is warned by his father not to stir up any trouble or he will be
sent back to the U.S. to serve his sentence. After some minor culture shock,
Sean makes a new friend nicknamed ‘Twinkie’ (Shad Gregory Moss/Bow Wow) at
school, who peddles American goods and introduces him to the underground street
racing scene. While there, he strikes up a conversation with a pretty girl from
class named Neela (Nathalie Kelley) but her boyfriend, Takashi (Brian Tee), the
nephew of a local Yakuza boss, warns him away. Sean does not back down and
Takashi challenges him to a race. His associate, Han Lue (Sung Kang), gives
Sean his car to use. The race goes badly for Sean as he lacks the expertise to
‘drift,’ which involves intentionally over-steering with the car skidding
sideways while braking and accelerating in tight turns. Han meets Sean at
school the next day and explains that he’ll be working for him to repay the
debt for damaging his car. The two become fast friends and Han begins teaching
Sean how to drift. Neela and Sean grow closer but when a jealous Takashi
discovers that Han has been stealing money from him, he vows to take him and
Sean down.
The only thing that “Tokyo Drift” does right is
setting the film in Tokyo and director Justin Lin takes full advantage of
showing off the neon-drenched city every chance he gets. The rest of the film
is generic and forgettable. In fact, it becomes unintentionally hilarious as
everything is treated too seriously.
Lin throws in some ‘drama’ about outsiders sticking together and taking
responsibility for your actions but it comes across as pandering rather than
empowering. It even makes some big statement about how drifting makes you alive
and is such a life changing
experience! That last part was sarcasm. The film comes off as hypocritical even
as it clumsily imparts moral lessons while reveling in its loose values and materialism.
We have the prerequisite rebel who is out of his league in a culture he does
not understand (and makes little attempt to) who runs afoul of the local gang
and has to beat him at his own game to win the girl. It all comes off like a
flashy, sexualized version of “The Karate Kid,” only with cars. Han even quotes
Mr. Miyagi at one point! The film also fetishizes young Japanese women to
appeal to the wet dreams of Caucasian men, as all of them are dolled up wearing
small-sized clothes and mini-skirts as if it this were a hentai. What of the
races themselves? Well, the only praise I can muster is that it feels more
grounded compared to the physics-defying stupidity of “2 Fast 2 Furious.”
However, they’re poorly edited together with constant cuts of the cars skidding
around and a shot of the driver looking overly-serious. All the races end up
looking the same because Lin employs this style for all of them.
The cast are merely accessories to the cars and as
such, deliver weak performances. It doesn’t help that the characters are vapid
and paper-thin to begin with. Lucas Black’s cowboy routine comes off as
annoying and his Southern drawl makes him sound like a drunk. Bow Wow’s
‘Twinkie’ (where do they come up with these names?!) serves absolutely no purpose
at all. Nathalie Kelley is the obligatory love interest who bats her eyes and
recites cringe-inducing dialogue about cars and the nature of life. Brian Tee
is your stereotypical Asian gangster, who leers and grimaces in every scene
he’s in. Finally, there’s Sung Kang as Han Lue, who looks like he’s ready to
fall asleep.
In contrast to the film, “Tokyo Drift” looks and
sounds amazing on Blu-Ray. This is a very colorful film with a pristine
transfer that shows off the sheen on every car and the day-glo lights that
pervade the Tokyo cityscape. Blacks are inky and deep although flesh tones do
lean toward a slight yellowish hue. Audio is loud but not aggressive with all
the cars skidding about. Sound effects such as the clicking of gears or the
turning of the brakes are never drowned out amidst the noise. Dialogue is also
crisp and clear although sometimes the accents make it hard to understand what
is being said. This is another demo-worthy disc from Universal. The special
features are largely fluff pieces with the only piece of interest being the
over-enthusiastic audio commentary delivered by Justin Lin. He even outright
admits that’s its nothing but a bunch of races strung together by a threadbare
plot. At least we know he set his standards pretty low from the start.
“The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift” was released
on June 16, 2006 to negative reviews with 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. It failed to
ignite the box office, coming in at third place in its weekend debut with $24
million, a far cry from the previous entries. The film still made a respectable
gross of $158 million worldwide, enough to convince Universal to green-light a
fourth film which finally reunited the entire original cast. Of course, now the
franchise is as strong as ever if bereft of any artistry, imagination, you
know, things that make a good film. About the only praise I can muster is that
“The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift” is not as mind-numbingly dumb as the
last film but quoting the Angry Video Game Nerd, ‘that's like saying the sh*t that
I took last night was better than the sh*t I took the day before.’ The
franchise never rose above mediocrity in the first place and this film
continues the tread. Hypocritical story, weak performances, and poorly edited
races make “Tokyo Drift” a waste of everyone’s time and should’ve been dumped
in the DVD bargain bin where it belongs.
Final Rating: 1.5 out of 5
“I have money, its trust and character I need around me. You know, who you choose to be around you lets you know who you are. One car in exchange for knowing what a man's made of? That's a price I can live with.”
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