The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Move over Brian O’Conner, there’s a new kid in town.  The kid, Sean (Lucas Black (Jarhead)), the town, Tokyo.  He’s a troublemaker who’s always getting into street races with kids, which seem to end in totally wrecked cars more often than not.  I guess there’s reason to be concerned.

Sean gets shipped off to Japan because his mother can’t take his shit anymore.  One too many reckless races through under construction housing developments I suppose.  Anyway his father is stationed in the land of the rising sun so it’s his problem now.  The setup is contrived but also fortuitous for young Sean because on his first full day he hooks up with a car guy (and possibly only black person in Japan (Bow Wow (music shit, Like Mike))), who introduces him to the drifting scene, they go to a race, and Sean even gets to be in it despite the fact he’s never drifted before.  And of course he smashes the auto to bits.  So he needs to learn this new style of driving if he’s ever gonna race here.  But there’s also some other conflict thrown in like a rival racer, a girl Sean and the rival fight over, there’s the disciplinary father and, somehow, a Yakuza threat.  Damn they crammed a bunch into this.

The way they present drifting to you is fantastic with elevator doors opening to two cars flying by sideways across the full frame.  There’s a look of awe on Sean’s face that I also had on mine.  I totally get it guys.  I get why there’s a whole movie out there dedicated to drift style car racing.  It looks so fucking bad ass and beautiful.  The driver is bending the car’s physical capabilities to their will by sliding around very tight corners and various other objects.  And you need to be extremely precise because if you miscalculate only a bit then you’re likely to crash into something.

So as you can guess Sean masters this technique to win the day and his life back.  The story arc is one you’ve seen many times before but it’s solid.  There are enough wrinkles to keep things interesting but unfortunately they all come into play towards the end of the picture.

This film is the one that gets shat on the most in the series, especially the title for some reason.  While I agree number three was definitely some other movie that they slapped the Fast and Furious brand on it still works.  All the trademarks of the series are here and I can’t blame them for either attempting to hit the reset button on the franchise or simply trying something new.  I actually did find it refreshing to not have an undercover cop story for a third time and instead be introduced to a new style of racing with “new characters” (Sean is basically a teenaged Brian O’Conner and the Han character (Sung Kang (LiveFree or Die Hard)) shares many traits with Dom Toretto).

Tokyo Drift is much better than 2 Fast 2 Furious but far behind The Fast and the Furious.  Unlike the first sequel it at least looks like an A picture that’s shot and edited more professionally.  Plus the stunt driving is better choreographed and executed.  The car chase through the streets of Tokyo and the winding mountain road finale are both better than anything in 2 Fast.  Justin Lin shows good filmmaking chops with plenty of potential to improve upon them if given the chance.  Luckily the suits agreed and let him run with the next three installments during which he would grow tremendously.

Don’t dismiss this one like so many others have done over the years.  It’s not the dumb one in the series like the world wants you to believe.  I had a good time and would recommend checking it out.  It’ll always hold a special place in this sequence of pictures as the rebel that did its own thing.  And without it we may not have gotten any more.  That’s why I show respect to the drift king.

Oh and did anyone else get goosebumps when Dom showed up at the very end?  The incredible reveal of first gradually panning around the American muscle car starting from the rear and slowly inching up towards the passenger side window to get a peek at the driver was masterfully done.  Top it all off with Vin turning his head to look directly into the camera and you’ve got one helluva moment.  It may have been my favorite part of the movie.