Review of Initial D (2005) by Uwlie A — 24 Jul 2009
Far from Andrew Lau's best effort. Watch the Infernal Affairs trilogy and Legend of Speed to form an opinion of him.
As a fan of the anime/manga, I was disappointed in this film for several reasons. Where the hell was Keisuke? Bah. Jay Chou plays the spaced out, apatheic Takumi okay but I didn't buy him. Itsuki is the gas station manager's son and is also supposed to be Iketani too. WTF.
Anthony Wong's skills in acting are wasted on a butchered Bunta, who is abusive and drunk in this film instead of the cool, mystical driving god from the original source material. I had issues with the soundtrack--Chinese R&B and hip hop replacing Eurobeat? Heresy. The racing sequences however were pretty nicely done and the cars looked accurate to the ones from the manga.
Fun fact: this is an HK film based on a Japanese manga and only one of the actors is actually Japanese.
This review of Initial D (2005) was written by Uwlie A on 24 Jul 2009.
Initial D has generally received mixed reviews.
Was this review helpful?
