Customer Reviews

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

5 star:		(65)
4 star:		(38)
3 star:		(21)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(10)

 

 

Loud, Brash, Noisy, Sexy, Morally Murky, Bursting with Energy and Guts, Justin Lin's (the terrific "Better Luck Tomorrow") take on episode 3 of the "Fast and Furious" franchise is a great way to spend a hot Summer afternoon along with a gallon size soft drink and a tub of Popcorn.
Here Lin is in Tokyo with the stoic, deadpan line reading Lucas Black (as the booted out of the US to avoid Juvenile detention, Shane Boswell...a car nut addicted to driving fast and grinning like a Cheshire cat) who, of course finds the local car culture and its inhabitants by way of a school pal, Twinkie played by the appealing Bow-Wow. And he just as quickly falls in with the "wrong crowd" consisting of Han, a sort of Sensei to Shane (the enigmatic and excellent Sung Kang from "Face" and "Better Luck Tomorrow"), and the villain of the piece, Yamata played with his face crunched and a constant sneer by Sonny Chiba. Then there is the lovely Neela (Nathalie Kelley...a dead ringer for FFI's Jordana Brewster): like Shane and Twinkie a High School (!)student with very, very permissive parents.
Lin directs this piece to within an inch of its life: your eyes and ears are never bored, never without something to feast your eyes upon or pop your fingers to.
Lin never judges his characters, we never feel that he is slumming...he always respects the material he is given to direct and he always puts his personal stamp on everything that he does.
I wish he were given something as meaningful and heartfelt as "Better Luck Tomorrow" to direct but he's young and he has many many movies to make before he is through.

Lucas Black (the kid from the "American Gothic" TV series and the "X-Files" movie) has matured into a charismatic young actor with a brooding screen presence. He does a terrific job picking up the franchise torch from Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in this killer sequel, a well crafted guilty pleasure that delivers the Fast and Furious goods.

Sexy, colorful, edgy, expertly paced, with a great opening sequence and a knockout ending, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is formula genre filmmaking at its absolute finest. The movie has a beautiful female lead (Nathalie Kelley), cool sidekicks, wonderfully over the top villains, and a great setting (the filmmakers do a great job utilizing the Tokyo locations).

This movie is a real rush of adrenaline. A wicked guilty pleasure that lives up to its title.

It really doesn't matter too much that almost every scene in this film is so far beyond believable, for this is not a movie that's designed to make sense...it's designed to keep the audience in its seats, and in that sense this movie soars. Like the two films that proceeded it, `The Fast and the Furious - Tokyo Drift' is a high octane rollercoaster ride littered with fast cars and fast women, and for its target audience (teenage boys) it hits every mark just right. Now I am a huge fan of the first film, and a minor fan of the second. I had absolutely no expectations for this film (I thought that the previews looked lame, and no one from either of the previous films was making an appearance, well, Vin is in the last 30 seconds but that doesn't count) so when I watched it I was increasingly impressed with how much I was enjoying myself.

I'll point out first off that I was much relieved to see that Zachery Ty Bryan was only in the first few minutes of the film and that his character was not explored throughout the film...I can't stand him. That aside, Lucus Black (Friday Night Lights & Jarhead) does a great job here as Sean. Lucus is a much better actor than the overrated Paul Walker (sure, he's got great abs but his acting ability is below B-Grade) and actually made his character interesting. Sung Kang was also very good as Han and Brian Tee was believable in all his irritating bad-boyness as DK. Bow Wow takes the place of Ludacris and Ja Rule before him as the rapper-guy side kick, and he does an alright job, but he just doesn't really fit here (Luda was by far the best of the three). Nathalie Kelly plays Neela, the girl Sean is fighting for, and she is amply hot enough to vie for attention.

Sure the plot of weak and the relationships are unbelievable, I mean who can honestly say that they feel a kingpin to the Japanese/Chinese/Oriental (whatever it was) Mafia is going to agree to have his nephew and some stranger race to squash their beef? But, like I said, it doesn't have to make sense, it doesn't have to be believable. `The Fast and the Furious' franchise have done quite well for themselves giving the growing young boys of the world exactly what they want, sleek fast cars coupled with hot young tail.

After buying the original "The Fast and The Furious" I found most of my enjoyment came from making fun of the movie and shaming it. However, I can now say I am a fan of the trilogy (all 3 films are good).

Lucas Black is simply The Man and gives another great performance here. Bow Wow does a surprisingly good job as well. Car buffs and street racers will especially like this movie (which I am neither). This is a fast paced and exciting action packed movie that many will enjoy.

I thought this movie was exactly what it was supposed to be. There was no big name actors, but there was also no bad acting. Everything was perfect. The cars were absolutely sick and the scenes with them were amazing. If you like cars and you like speed, there is no way you can miss this movie. I am not going to say it is better then the 1st or 2nd Fast and the Furious, but I am not in any way going to say it is worse. Watch the movie, you'll like it.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift isn't a deep, thought provoking movie, but it doesn't purport to be either. It's just what it was marketed in trailers to be: an action packed fun bit of mind candy filled with fast cars, dozens upon dozens of hot Japanese girls, thumping music, and body flinching car crashes. The basic plot is that a high school driving nut gets in trouble (yet again) after racing with a rich boy. To keep him out of jail, he is sent to his estranged father in Japan. Alas, there he discovers the world of drifting, an even more dangerous style of racing. Unfortunately, he also soon finds himself in trouble with the relative of a high ranking Yakuza.

For me, the only really noticeable mistake in this movie is that way too many people walked away with only a few scratches from what should have been fatal crashes. For example, there is one crash where a car rams into a concrete tube while going at least 80 mph. Yet the two occupants didn't even require a hospital bed! A more minor mistake might have been putting in a little too much plot, especially when some things weren't followed up as well as they could have. In the end, though, the plot is mostly there to serve as some spacer between all the hot cars and awesome races. I should mention one other minor mistake. Vin Diesel's cameo was so completely pointless. The movie already had a good ending, it was just kinda senseless.

The cars in this movie are the real stars. So many hot little numbers, including American muscle cars, hot foreign vehicles, and one pimped out van that you just have to see to believe. The acting is good, for what it is, though Luca Black's twang-filled voice might annoy some folks. Twinkie, another army brat played by Bow Wow, is such a hoot! I know I said the plot was mostly spacer, but I did find the interaction between Sean, Han, and Twinkie to be awesome.

So I suggest you don't think about the logistics of things. Just sit back and enjoy the cars, the some times over-the-top characters, and, for the men (or lesbians) the multitude of Japanese girls who barely wear any clothes. All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed seeing this movie. I was pleasantly surprised that they attempted to include at least some true elements of Japanese culture, such as the changing shoes thing in schools.

I do recommend this one been seen in the theater. The music and pulse of the movie are made for big screen, surround sound viewing! I might get this one DVD just to have something fun and rocking to watch when I want some mindless action.

The cast in this movie was extremely well chosen, and they all acted very well. Sean is a reckless, charming, somewhat troubled teenager, but he doesn't come across as stupid and careless--despite his angst and frequent bungles, he is immediately likable. When a car race with a peer at his school results in two wrecked cars and extensive damage to a local construction site, the only alternative he has to jail is to move to Tokyo and live with a relative (his father, I thought, but maybe his uncle...).

In Tokyo, Sean quickly discovers the racing scene. After trashing a race car, he has no choice but to work for Han, the car's owner, as compensation. Han is by far the best character in this movie, to the point that he seems out of place--you just don't expect a character THAT good in this sort of action flick. Han is a whimsical, philosophical and intense character. He completely upstages Sean and almost from the first moment you see him, calmly eating his chips while he watches Sean destroy his expensive race car, you want to see more of him.

Much of the movie's impetus comes from D.K. and Neela. D.K., short for "Drift King," is the top racer in the area and the nephew of a local yakuza boss. He's partners with Han and is obsessed with Neela, a peer of Sean's at school. D.K. dislikes Sean immediately, noting Sean's interest in Neela and tensions between the two of them escalate throughout the movie, leading to the "climax" which is a night race down an extremely windy road out in the middle of nowhere. The races in general are pretty entertaining and are a good length, time-wise.

This was a good flick with a few really excellent qualities. The plot was a little hazy but there was one, and the characters were very well developed. Just the Han character made it worth seeing, for me. I'd recommend it to anyone who enjoys action movies. It was at last as good as the previous two movies in the series.

Like many "Japan Movies" however, this is not a movie about Japan as much as Japan serving as an exotic location against which Westerners have their own adventures. There was a period around the turn of the century when most Western books and movies about Asia were simply exotic backdrops for stories about Europeans, and it appears 100 years later we are not completely out of that era yet.

Not, I hasten to add before I get too high on my liberal horse, that there is anything inherently wrong with that. For that matter, Japanese media often employs the same device, and Japanese comics and movies are often filled with stories of Japanese people going to America and having all sorts of bizarre adventures.

But it is noticeable that none of the main characters in this movie are Japanese. The hero is a white American, the best friend character is a black American, the mentor is a Chinese American, and the love interest is an Australian of indeterminate ethnicity. A multi-cultural cast certainly, but the rest of the Japanese characters are mostly reduced to the background. More is the pity because the producers were able to get a few of Japanese most recognized television talents to make cameos on this film, and then only gave them bit parts.

In fact the only Japanese who figure into this story at all are the villains. I remember thinking the first film in the series, with its Chinese bad guys, was drifting dangerously close to reviving the old stereotype of the swarthy Asian villain. This film again has chosen to focus on a white protagonist battling slimy Asian gangs.

However I am hesitant to call racism too quickly, especially since the director of this film and many of the crew are Asian American themselves. Instead, let us just say that the film has some unfortunate missed opportunities, and it could have been a lot better if it had done a better job of integrating its Japanese cast.

As for my critique of the film's portrayal of Japan:
The entire film is set in Tokyo, which I have thus far spent appalling little time in, despite my 5 years in Japan (mostly due to my hatred of crowds). Tokyo is to some extent almost a separate country, and the rest of Japan views it in much the same way we Midwesterners view California, as that crazy place where anything goes, fashion and youth culture are at their cutting edge, and nobody has any morals.

If you watch the DVD, the director's commentary is pretty interesting, because he talks about some of the things he exaggerated, and some of the things he didn't. (For example, given the fact that Tokyo is one huge traffic Jam, most of these car racing scenes that take place in the movie are pretty laughable).
Also it turns out that, like "Lost in Translation", this film was apparently plagued by Japan's restrictive rules regarding film permits, and a lot of the Tokyo footage they either had to take illegally, or film in L.A. on sets that recreated Tokyo.

The school uniforms, school slippers, and look of the school was all pretty much dead on. However in my experience, a tall white guy cannot walk into a classroom in Japan without causing, if not massive disruption, at least a considerable show of interest and questions. I found it slightly surprising that he could simply walk into the classroom and be accepted as a new student, but then I live out in the countryside in Kyushu. I'm sure Tokyo is a lot more sophisticated and international.

Of course, the big point of this movie is not Japan or the cast, but the cars.
I will say this though, I now have a whole new appreciation for "Crash" by J.G. Ballard. When he I read his book about sexual eroticism and car crashes, I thought he was only being metaphorical about our society's addiction to automobiles. 15 minutes into this movie, I realized that some people, like the target audience for these films, do seem to literally equate huge car crashes with pretty girls and sexual arousal.

What can I say? The original "Fast and the Furious" was sort of ridiculous, but did make a mark in the modern genre of action movies that involve decked/tricked out cars. "2 Fast, 2 Furious" was a lackluster sequel, but at least there was a conduit from the first movie with Paul Walker starring in it. But this movie, "Tokyo Drift" was the most holistic form of cinematic crap I have seen in a long, long time.

The plot is that an American teenager Sean, played by Lucas Black (who has a southern accent that sounds so fake, yet in reality it isn't) is sent to live with his father in Tokyo. This happens after he again breaks the law for racing and wrecking cars after a languid day of high school. So he moves to Tokyo so he can be reformed, have a better attitude, bring his grades up and stay away from fast cars. Nevertheless, this instigator of plot never really seems to be addressed or resolved. The fact that Sean had no friends or family anywhere else closer than Tokyo still seems dubious. Any who, Sean is up to his old tricks again with cars faster than you can say "Goodyear" once he moves in with daddy.

As for this 105 minute (which felt much longer) bowel movement in still life had many interesting elements. For instance, I found it so interesting that all the Japanese students pretty much treat their native tongue like a second language and English as a first. Also every Japanese teenage girl that has an interest in cars is unbelievably sexy and hot. The only fashion and music in Tokyo is hip hop. It appears that none of these Japanese teenagers work, but their cars cost more that some of the projects NASA funds. Japanese mob members seem to have too much interest in teenage activities. Also the technique of "drifting" displayed in this movie is physically impossible to perform with a car, unless your car is created by Q (from the James Bond films). It is also pretty safe to say there is more computer graphics in this movie than a Pixar/Disney film.

Bow Wow? Bow Wow? Bow Wow? Bow Wow? Bow Why? What in the world was the point of him in this movie? All he did was produce comic relief, that wasn't funny at all and sell knockoff/bootleg sneakers and iPods. His presence could have been removed and it wouldn't have influenced the frail plot that was sadly placed. Also why did Vin Diesel agree to be in this movie, but refused to be in "2 Fast 2 Furious"? Not that "2 Fast 2 Furious" was great, but it was an Oscar winner compared to "Tokyo Drift". It isn't like Vin Diesel is some true thespian actor, just watch XXX, so why didn't he include himself in these movies some more. After all didn't the "Fast and the Furious" really introduce Vin to mainstream American audiences? I guess being in a sequel is beneath Vin. As for Vin Diesel's cameo, he looked like the make-up crew got a little jiggy with the Max Factor or something, because Vin looked like a woman.

In conclusion, if you want to laugh at a poor attempt to cash in to this franchise, watch "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift". It really is entertaining, but not a good movie by any stretch of the imagination. In contrast, there is one of the most creative but ridiculous plug ins/product placements I have ever seen in a movie. The item is Tabasco sauce and it is thrown in the most outrageous, idiotic, and lame and "you have got to be kidding me" situations I have ever seen in a movie. You have been warned.

I learned quite a few interesting things about life from this movie. This movie seemed to have quite a lot of plot holes. Anyway, here is what I learnt about the world from this movie -

1) The yakuza (they play the bad guys in this movie) have nothing better to do than race cars.

2) If you are a car racer, you will never have to do jail time for any crimes you commit.

3) If you cannot drive at top speed and make hairpin turns through a car park without crashing into something, you are a loser.

4) Only gorgeous girls and guys with perfect bodies can drift.

5) Everyone in the school is either rich, gorgeous or a gangster.

6) It is perfectly okay to offer your car to a total stranger in a race - just to see what he's made of.

7) Even if you get in a race containing three cars and drive at top speed through a full city, and end up killing someone, then the police will do nothing about it.

8) If you are beautiful and blonde, it is a good idea to offer yourself up as the prize for a race, so your boyfriend gets involved in a race with another guy and almost kills all three of you.

9) It is an even better idea to scream at your boyfriend that he doesn't love you when he is neck-and-neck with another car, so that he rams into the other car on purpose.

10) If you walk away from a fight, you are a loser.