Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift

The first film was BREAK POINT with cars. The second one was Miami VICE with cars. This is REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE... with more cars. To be honest, I kinda liked this one better than the last two, despite Lucas Black somehow beating Paul Walker as the least charismatic actor in a starring role. What I mainly like is the direction by Justin Lin. The focus on police undercover stories is dropped in favor of the street racing culture and its connections to the mob. Was actually delighted to see Sonny Chiba appear, I must have missed his name during the opening credits. Purely as a movie about car action, I think it succeeds better than the first two. There's a goofy quality to it that kinda helps one go along with things. Best to sum that up is Lucas Black smiling like a dork with blood on his teeth, living for the thrill. That's probably what this film series needed, and less soap opera/undercover drama. Consider me surprised.

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.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Directed by Justin Lin Starring: Mitsubishi Evo 9, Nissan Silva, Ford Mustang, RX 7, Toyota Chaser, Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelly, Sung Kang, Sonny Chiba

I think the Mitsubishi should get a best actor nomination for next year's Oscars.

Nice cars. Nice music. Nice bodies. Nice cityscape.

Brainless story. But that's what I watched it for, to have my brains parked outside the cinema and let the brainlessness drive me through a two hour entertainment.

The RX7 has more expression than all the actors.

C - Because it served its purpose in entertaining me with awesome drifts, over-sized exhaust pipes, and kick butt photography for a car racing film.

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.

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.