The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Movie Information:

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Directed by: Justin Lin The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Written by: Chris Morgan, Kario Salem The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Cast: Lucas Black, Brian Goodman, Nikki Griffin, Sung Kang, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee, Jason Tobin, Bow Wow

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) U.S. Distributor: Universal Pictures The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) U.K. Distributor: UIP

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The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Synopsis:

"The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is written by Chris Morgan ("Cellular") and Kario Salem, who places the third entry in Tokyo: in this adrenalized new story, set in the sexy, underground world of Japanese drift racing, the newest and fastest customized rides go head-to-head on some of the most perilous courses ever seen. "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" follows the story of Shaun Boswell, who has always been an outsider. A loner at school, his only connection to the indifferent world around him is through illegal street racing -- which has made him particularly unpopular with the local authorities. To avoid jail time, Shaun is sent out of the country to live with his uncle in the military, in a cramped apartment in a low-rent section of Tokyo. In the land that gave birth to the majority of modified racers on the road, the simple street race has been replaced by the ultimate pedal-to-the-metal, gravity-defying automotive challenge ... drift racing, a deadly combination of brutal speed on heart stopping courses of hairpin turns and switchbacks. For his first unsuccessful foray in drift racing, Shaun unknowingly takes on D.K., the "Drift King," with ties to the Yakuza, the Japanese crime machine. The only way he can pay off the debt of his loss is to venture into the deadly realm of the Tokyo underworld, where the stakes are life and death.

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) Movie Review:

The vroom-vroom crew is back with only the most tenuous link to the franchise beyond babes in miniskirts and pimped-out rides. This time it's even more macho, if that's possible: a meathead movie with no subtext at all.

Sean (Black) is always in trouble for reckless driving, and after a destructive road race, he's sent to live with his dad (Goodman) in Tokyo. Of course, on his first day at school, he meets Han (Kang) and his cool underground racing gang, who teach him how to drift--basically driving sideways in a controlled skid at 200kph. But when he falls for the seductive Neela (Kelley) he incurs the wrath of her boyfriend (Tee), the reigning Drift King.

The script is breathtakingly stupid--dopey dialog, painful plot exposition, clunky storyline. The filmmakers don't even try to be subtle (Sean's dad is rebuilding a vintage Mustang; gosh, what could possibly happen there?). But the rough and wild tone keeps us watching, and the race sequences are thrillingly well shot. A nighttime mountain drift-a-long looks like vehicular ballet, and every race is imaginatively staged with loads of details and surprises, whether in a multi-story garage or on a crowded city street.

Meanwhile, the cast hold it together, creating believable characters from the thinnest of stereotypes. Black looks a decade too old to play a 17-year-old, but he's likeable enough to get away with it. What the film really lacks, though, is humour. Not to mention the campness that made the first two films so much fun. Although some off-the-scale corniness does draw a laugh or two, such as Sean's peaceful solution to a deadly mob threat: "We race!"

There are some feeble attempts to paint a veneer of meaning over the story--something about character and loyalty--but it's all just a contrivance to lead up to a redux of the final race from Grease, only on a treacherous mountain road. And two final moments put huge smiles on our faces: a genius surprise gag that I'm certainly not going to spoil here, followed by a "don't try this at home" disclaimer.

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The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) review written by: Rich Cline