The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Starring: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Brian Tee, Sonny Chiba, Zachery Ty Bryan, Nathalie Kelley, Vin Diesel (uncredited)
Directed by: Justin Lin
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Action, Crime
Box Office: $
2006

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:An American rebel (Lucas Black) is sent to Tokyo to escape a possible juvenile detention sentence. There, he falls in with a gang of Japanese street racers, and he tries to master the mysterious art of drift.

Review:
Tim: It is hard for me to think of this movie as a real Fast and the Furious film. The first sequel suffered greatly from the loss of Vin Diesel. Now, the loss of Paul Walker even further hurts the film (I never thought I'd say that). With the addition of Lucas Black as the main star, we've lost all connection with the previous two films. This movie feels more like its own separate film, rather than a continuation of the first two movies. The only "connection" to the previous films is a very brief (but genuinely cool cameo at the end). I do not like this at all.

Lucas Black is hard to like in the lead role. He's even less enjoyable than Paul Walker. He just approaches the role in such a cocky, arrogant manner. I just could not get myself to enjoy him in the role. The rest of the cast is fairly disappointing as well. Bow Wow was absolutely awful. One of the film's biggest problems is that it doesn't seem to care about the plot or character development, instead hoping we will be dazzled by the very cool car doing some pretty impressive moves. This is not enough to sustain us.

The racing scenes are fairly impressive, but several are a bit of a stretch. I like the idea of drift and incorporating that into the movie. However, the film gets bogged down in an absurd plot that makes almost no sense. I just could not get past this.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift has a few impressive racing scenes, but everything else about it is just hard to believe. The movie is weak, and represents a sad departure from the original film. I enjoyed the movie, but only slightly.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 6



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Fast and the Furious; 2 Fast, 2 Furious; Ronin, Timeline, A Man Apart, XXX, The Faculty