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Movie Review - The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Justin Lin |
| Starring: |
Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Sunk Kang, and Nathalie Kelley |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content) |
| Length: |
104 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action |
| Tagline: |
Speed Needs No Translation. |
| Studio: |
Universal |
| Website: |
Tokyo Drift |
| Release: |
June 23, 2006 |
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PLOT
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Brash high school student from a broken home, Shawn Boswell (Lucas Black) keeps finding himself in trouble with the
law because of his lead-foot. After police charge him with another high-speed destruction, Shawn must decide between
serving time and a life in Tokyo with his estranged marine father (Brian Goodman). A new culture and a new school
quickly bring Shawn to fellow American, Twinkie (Bow Wow), who shares Shawn’s love of defying the rules of the road.
Twink introduces Shawn to the exclusive world of underground drifting. Unyielding Shawn blindly challenges D.K.,
Tokyo’s "Drift King" and Yakuza associate, for his first drift experience. To pay off his former benefactor, Han,
(Sunk Kang) Shawn must hone his skills. Meanwhile, he’s falling for D.K.’s girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelley), a
potentially fatal error. Will Shawn have what it takes to compete with Tokyo’s most skilled drifters? Drift ensues.
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JEN'S TAKE
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It's been said that Tokyo Drift director Justin Lin, "picks up where John Singleton (2 Fast 2 Furious)
left off..." In my opinion, Lin should take that as an insult. Tokyo Drift has far surpassed its predecessor
and left 2F2F in its dust.
I watched a press conference with Lin and I was convinced that he knew little if anything about cars and the sport
of drifting. If it is in fact the case that his limited interview answers were any indication of his knowledge on
the subject then he had a good team of researchers.
Come to find out, Lin handpicked all of the main cars himself for the most realistic and honest drifts; since he had
the AWD (all wheel drive cars) converted to RWD (rear wheel drive). I will gladly eat my words now.
However, it was painful to watch so many gorgeous cars get totaled. I loved how every character seemed to have an
endless garage of cars upwards of $50 thousand. "Hey, let's play bumper cars with the $150 thousand (yes, this is its
real estimated worth) Mazda RX-7 and hmm ... let's make it the $85 thousand Dodge Viper."
If there is one glaring mistake Lin made, it was in casting Black. OK, we understand he's from the West. There was
no need for his character to have a Southern-drawl. The fast and the furious are still plagued with some
ridiculously lame lines, and Black's voice does nothing to make them any more viable. I also do not buy into
thinking 24-year-old Black is a high school student.
I do not see how shipping a speed-hungry "teen" to the largest auto exporting nation in the world is a logical
solution, much less a punishment.
Yay, Brad Taylor of Home Improvement infamy is playing yet another pig-headed jock ... enough said.
Commendably, there were no eight-gear manual transmissions this go-around. You'll have to check out Paul Walker's
green Mitsubishi Eclipse for this mechanical marvel.
It's really awesome that Shawn learns drifting techniques that rival that of the Drift King's in 20 minutes. OK, I
know you're thinking I'm being unfair; it is a movie after all. But come on, at least make it look like more than
one day. Costume change anyone?
Bow Wow provides good comic relief (I know you're thinking that's what Black's voice was for) and actually delivers
his lines fairly well. Twink's hustling ways get a little old then somehow become humorous again.
The rave-tastic Japanese-pop music and colorful fashion narrowly capture the culture. However, it is not a true
representation of Japan's "drift scene." Think freezing mountaintop and a handful of girls, most likely the
girlfriends of some of the male drifters. Of course, Asian girls in parkas don't sell tickets, and I'll admit the
fantasy drift world was hot.
Before you scorn the parking garage scene as I initially did, you'll be pleased to know that these facilities
actually do exist in Japan. No Google search told me this; that is straight reporting from the mouth of a drifter
that resided in Tokyo for four years.
The screenwriter must have had Goodman's character as perplexed as I was. He starts out as a stern military man who
governs his son like one of the ranks, resulting in Shawn being thrown out onto the streets of Tokyo. All of a
sudden it's, "Sure son you can have my car. Wait, isn't that why I kicked you out in the first place?"
Since when does the mafia take time off from drug trafficking, arms dealing, and other gruesome fun to show up at a
drift battle?
Some have mixed emotions about the engine swap that takes place (that's the most I can say without exposing too
much). If you don't understand why then just go back to enjoying the cool cars and hot women; I won't hold it
against you. Personally I think it was awesome, and the swap was actually done to where the car functioned with
that motor. However, this took considerably longer than the day Boswell and his super-crew accomplish the task.
The cars are awesome, and isn't that what you're there for anyhow? Mr. Lin, thank you for not slapping every car
with ridiculous graphics and paint schemes. There were some parts company decals, but I can live with that. After
all, my concentration is in advertising so I can appreciate a wise decision on the part of these companies. The
drifting doesn't disappoint either (with the exception of Neela's) and there is quite a bit of it. Actually, the
plot is just filler between the races.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Jen Lee was not one of the 600 Asian extras in the LA-filmed street scenes.
- Be on the lookout for a cameo by Japan's real "Drift King." For those who are unfamiliar with Keichii
Tschyiai - he'll be the 50-something year old man (that's right the real D.K. is almost a senior citizen) sitting
on the fishing pier observing Shawn's techniques.
- Also, keep your eyes open for an appearance from a former cast member of Fast and the Furious fame.
It makes for an interesting finale.
- All of the drifting in the movie was performed by professional drivers, not created by CGI. As reported in a
recent Sport Compact Car, Rhys Millen, his father, and a handful of other famous rally and drift racers consistently
performed amazing drift sequences for the movie.
- What makes Johnny's Sling Blade references in the picture captions particularly funny is that Lucas Black
played Frank (the young kid that Sling Blade befriends) in the movie.
- Lucas Black was in Jarhead with Jake Gyllenhaal who was in City Slickers with Billy Crystal who
was in Analyze This with Lisa Kudrow who was in Romy and Michele's High School Reunion with Mira
Sorvino who was in Mimic with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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OK Mom, this one’s geared toward your teenage son, so nothing that they haven’t seen before is going to be found
here.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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The trailer is a flashy teaser for the gorgeous cars and high-speed drifts inside.
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THE GIST
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Maybe it's the sophisticated city of Tokyo or perhaps the more realistic drama, whatever the case, Tokyo Drift
has brought the Fast and the Furious series out of "I live my life a quarter mile at a time" shame.
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