The Fast & the Furious: Tokyo Drift Blu-Ray Review

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.”