The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

What can I say about this movie that many haven't already noted? Well first of all I saw this movie twice, and probably shouldn't have. The cinematography was phenomenal and the racing sequences were jaw dropping. Unfortunately, this movie lacks substance. The storyline was really iffy and probably not likely to happen and the acting was a little shaky.

But thats not the reason why everyone goes to watch this movie. We all go to see the cars and the girls which fortunately delivers. Beautiful cars, beautiful ladies and beautiful scenery and destructive driving is never in short supply in this genre and the scenery of Japan is just breathtaking. All in all, just a movie you'll want to see with the boys.

This is an exciting narration of drifting auto racing with exceptionally fine camera work and great car chase sequences and crashes on the metropolitan streets. It deals about a rebel American adolescent named Shawn Boswell(Lucas Black as a determined race-car driver) challenges his contender for a race cars, causing wreak havoc racing 195 mph through streets. To avoid the jail, his mother(Lynda Boyd) sends him Tokyo where is his father(Brian Goodman) as US military. Meanwhile the newcomer Shawn tries to ingratiate with Twinkie(Nathalie Kelley) and the world of racing in Japan, and hoping to join his extended group. In Tokio he discovers the underworld of the Yazuka and competes against Drift kingpin who is niece of mobster chief(Sonny Chiba who does a credible job).

The picture mingles action-packed,drama, exciting pursuits cars, suspense, a little bit of violence and spectacular sequences though won't mean much on little screen TV. Flashy, noisy race-cars set in the Japan by the producers, -the famous Neal Moritz-of first part. Pulse-quickening action but plenty of clichés and lots of dirty driving and heavier on crashes than coherency. All stunts were performed by authentic experts without people damage. Special cameo by Vin Diesel and appearance by Sonny Chiba, a Kung Fu idol of the 70s. Justin Lin's direction(previously made Annapolis and Better Luck tomorrow) is competent though the story eventually run out of gas. Justin Lin is directing the third part with Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez and Jordana Brewster. The movie gives new meaning to the term ¨Tuning¨and ¨Drifting¨. The flick will like to adrenaline lovers and those young people looking for strong emotions. This is the kind of film in which the cars enthusiastic will enjoy immensely, it's a must see for cars fonds.

Branching away from any original cast members of the first two films, thankfully, Tokyo Drift provides a refreshingly new look to the franchise.

Tokyo Drift is possibly my favourite of the series, or at least its up there with the first film; it only has a few problems that can be swept under the "It's Fast and the Furious, what do you expect" carpet. The story follows American "teenager" Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) whose reckless driving lands him prison time, but to avoid this he moves in with his father in Tokyo. He attempts to move on a dangerous rival's girl, and must become a competitor in the street racing's drifting scene.

I say "teenager" as that's what IMDb says, and he does go to school in the movie… but honestly, he's the oldest teen I've ever seen. Along with every other "teen" in this movie! While I talk negatives, the majority of the film is set in Tokyo yet 95% of the dialogue is English and Sean has a knack of meeting every foreigner in the city. I don't mind this so much, but I fully expect all of the Japanese characters to speak Japanese, especially when Sean isn't present!

But, unlike 2 Fast 2 Furious (choke) this film actually cares for its characters and their personalities (as Sean says early on: "It's not about the ride, it's about the rider") from Sean's fish-out-of- water acceptance, to his mentor Han's closet of skeletons. The villain isn't ridiculous either, his uncle is part of the Yakuza and he has a serious "king of a little hill" problem. Again unlike 2 Fast 2 Furious (gag) the cars have never looked better, sleek and refined and the drifting action is spectacular, especially when synchronized. Plus, no CGI, just skilled professional drivers, making the film worth seeing solely for the racing.

There's no stupid Tyrese Gibson mugging at the camera, no rats in buckets, no CGI, just an entertaining (albeit poorly localized) flick featuring excellent car racing and professional stunts.

Usually when a film has a Part III, it leaves you with, "Why did they make a third film?" Case in point, "Smokey & The Bandit". Now I am dating myself if that's the only film I can come up with when it comes to trilogies. But car movies are seldomly done in trilogies. Star Wars, The Godfather, Lord of the Rings and Back to the Future are the only exceptions that have worked in the past because there's an on-going story line.

Tokyo Drift was a good film. Good plot line (if you disagree, then you're a "Too much to think" film-goer, stay with chick-flicks then). Good action. And of course, cool cars. The fact that it strayed away from Part I & II was a good idea. And film director, Justin Lin did an great job getting his vision to film. The mounted camera on a super-fast go-cart gave some spectacular shots.

It's a good escape film with the "new kid in town, gets beat up or loses in some sort of competition, learns from a local to be better then wins in the end." But for a trilogy film it's excellent compared to other Part III films that have been released.

Look behind the woeful accent and this is actually a good movie. The first F&F was about racing, then went all Miami Vice. A final return to the street racing scene had to move away from the original cast as they had lost their 'From the streets' appeal.

Anyway back to this, some sweet cars that aren't the massively expensive hyper cars of later episodes and some trick driving to boot.

A quality film if you manage to watch it a couple of times and don't dwell on the accent.