Movie_Muse_Reviews In 2006, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" undoubtedly deserved to be panned by critics. The series had fallen so far off the course that only its ugliest, most formulaic bits stayed alive. It's only as part of the franchise that was revived three years later and has gone on to become a billion-dollar enterprise that "Tokyo Drift" reclaims some sense of its dignity.Let's get the good out of the way. "Tokyo Drift" was a vital proving ground for director Justin Lin, who would go on to make the next three "Fast & Furious" movies. His work on this entry was too good for the material, frankly. His shot variety and the editing team give the film a legitimate action feel that the first two films don't even come close to touching. As much as the film overloads on race sequences, Lin nails them.As for why screenwriter Chris Morgan got the long-term gig for this franchise after his work on this film, consider me stumped. The story of Alabama teenager Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) shipping off to Tokyo, discovering the drift racing scene and burrowing his way into the innermost circle is ambitiously preposterous.Obviously the plot of the "Fast & Furious" movies is known to be second fiddle to a handful of other components, but this particular plot has some problems as far as race – and unfortunately not the car kind of race, but the people kind. In a nutshell, the story of "Tokyo Drift" is misunderstood troubled white teenager flees the consequences of his actions to Tokyo where his dad lives, defies his father's wishes, asserts himself into a racing gang, stands up to the cocky Japanese "Drift King" (Brian Tee), tries to steal the man's girlfriend (Nathalie Kelley), earns the trust of his partner (Sung Kang) and ultimately aims to prove he's better than him. Only one of the five major characters in this movie is actually Japanese, and it's the bad guy. The movie is very interested in appropriating Japanese culture and aesthetics for its mostly non- Japanese cast. For starters you have Black, who looks like he's in his thirties and is playing a teenager. Boswell is also written to have the same personality and temperament as Paul Walker's O'Conner, so he's essentially a stand-in/replacement. As for Boswell's first friend, he's of course played by a black rap star (Shad Moss a.k.a. "Bow Wow") and the girl he's after? She's an ethnic Australian. Tee's D.K. is painted as the bully, so he doesn't stand as much of an exception. Only Kang's character Han has dimension beyond stereotype, but Kang is a Korean-American actor. The producers' foresight to bring the Han character into future "Fast & Furious" films and paint "Tokyo Drift" as taking place after the sixth movie was surprisingly astute. When viewed after the next three films instead of before, Han becomes more than just the most interesting character in the movie, but the character we're most interested in given his character arc in those other films. It also makes the movie's surprising cameo at the end make a lot of sense. All this to say, "Tokyo Drift" might be garbage as a standalone movie, but given what the franchise has become, Morgan used future movies to position what once seemed like an accident/stop-gap film into being a spin-off. In other words, if you're going to put yourself through "Tokyo Drift," do it after watching the fourth, fifth and sixth "Fast & Furious" movies. Lin's style does give "Tokyo Drift" some additional value, but for most people it won't be enough to watch it under any other circumstance but as part of the series.~Steven CThanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more

ryanskywalker-87402 The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was prime evidence that the franchise desperately needed a makeover. Not only did it dispose of its popular protagonist in exchange for a cheap lookalike, but also, aside from a couple cool race scenes, it's really just a huge mess. The plot simply advances because the writers need it to, there aren't any real substantial plot elements that keep the audience involved. The story itself seems just like a rehash of any classic gang feud film, and it comes as no surprise to me that the franchise was turned towards high-octane heist films. That transition was definitely for the better, because this formula quickly ran thin.Not even a quick appearance from Vin Diesel could save this film, as his appearance only served to up audience ratings before its release. It may seem like a cool little nod to the previous films, but it doesn't make me care about this new character any more than I already didn't. The film's look is extremely dated, even for 2006. It felt like a real step back from 2 Fast 2 Furious, rather than a revolutionization of the series. I wouldn't have minded Paul Walker's absence if these characters could have held their own, but sadly they just fall flat before the story can even pick up steam.This is probably my least favorite entry in the franchise, and not because Paul Walker wasn't in it. While his absence didn't help matters, the story as a whole felt very uneven and didn't flow through very well. It was pretty unbelievable at times as well, not because of the stunts, but because of the plot itself. Certain things happen just for the sake of happening, with no real substance or process shown in between. It's too convenient to be a good film, despite the stylish driving tactics. Drifting car races are the highlights of the film, but everything in between is just too pointless and shallow to make this a good film. It's a mediocre at best effort, and the weakest entry in the franchise.

jacobjohntaylor1 I did not like The fast and the furious. But I like this movie. 2 fast and 2 furies is better. Fast and furious new model original parts is also better. Fast five is also better. Fast and Furious 6 is also better. Furious 7 is also better. But still this movie has a great story line. It also has great acting. See it. It is one of the best action movies from 2006. This is a lot better then V for vendetta that movie stinks. But this movie is so mush better. It is very fast past. See this movie. It is a great movie. You need to see this movie. If you like action movies you like this movie. I is awesome. See it. It is a great movie. A lot of action. You need to see it. It is awesome.

david-sarkies Well, it is rather odd that IMDb is labeling this movie as a romance because I would hardly say that it is a romance beyond any other action movie that has a romantic element in it (and there are very few action movies that don't have a romantic element in them, but just because boy gets girl doesn't make the movie a romance). Anyway, what surprised me about this film is that there was no connection between this film and the last two (with the exception of a Vin Diesal cameo), and further more it didn't follow the lines of an undercover cop come drag racer infiltrating an illegal drag racing ring. In fact this film is probably more what the first film should have been as opposed to what it turned out as (though we should note that this film is set in Japan as opposed to the United States so there are some cultural differences that are relevant).So what we have in this film is the story of a rebel, Sean, who get his first speeding ticket the day after he got his driver's license, and is a bit of a loner namely because his carefree attitude means that his mother has to keep on moving. Anyway he lands up in another drag race which results in the destruction of two cars and a housing estate, and since the other participants have really rich parents he is the one who has to take the rap. So, he is sent to Japan to live with his father. The problem is that this is the type of guy that always seems to find trouble, and since he is a gaijin (non-Japanese), he ends up hanging with the other gaijin, and gets involved with illegal street racing there as well.The thing is that racing in Japan is vastly different from racing in the United States. Whereas in the US you have flat surfaces and long straight roads, you don't have that in Japan. As such racing here involves going up and down carparking lots and mountains in a form of racing called 'drifting'. Basically drifting involves navigating tight turns at high speeds without causing damage to the car, and winning the race. This is something Sean doesn't realise when he lands up in this new world – the rules of racing back in the United States – the 10 second race – don't apply here.In a way this film is similar to the other films, but different, and a part of me feels that this addition to the franchise kicked it off to the extent that it is now up to film number seven, though the rumour was that the actors in the previous films were not too keen on coming back and that this was going to be a reboot. However, what impressed me was that the story was completely different, though I would hardly call it original. In a sense it is one of those fish out of water stories, the story of a guy that simply wants to belong but has a lot of trouble doing so. We see this at the beginning of the film where we seems to wander around without any real friends. Obviously this changes once he gets to Japan since being different he is able to attract others who are different as well.Mind you, the one criticism that I do have of the film is that Sean clearly knows no Japanese so it makes me wonder how it is that he is going to learn anything in a Japanese school (and it was pretty clear that they taught in Japanese). Also, isn't it interesting that they always go after the girl that they can't have, and eventually get her. It doesn't really send a strong message to our impressionable youth. Mind you, the fact that the two protagonists in this film refer to women as 'their girls' doesn't do much in the way of dismantling the objectification of women, and further that one of the girls puts herself forward as the prize for the winner of the race is even worse. No wonder Hillary lost.