Review of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) by Christopher B — 20 May 2013

This third entry in the series takes the series in an odd direction. Doing away with it American setting for an Asian background with an entirely new cast of actors and characters. It's a slight improvement over 2 Fast 2 Furious, but doesn't gain enough speed to overcome it faults.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is about Alabama teenager Sean Boswell becoming a major competitor in the world of drift racing after moving in with his father in Tokyo to avoid a jail sentence in America. The major issue with the film lies with it protagonist Sean Boswell. Sean Boswell is unlikeable with his mannerism quickly outwearing it welcome and unjustifying temper. Everything bad that happens to him was of his own doing. You never feel that Sean Boswell went through any change since things are conveniently easy for him to fix therefore making his journey seem insignificant. The plot itself is an improvement. It has something related to racing, but discards it for a weak romance, the Yakuza, and training subplot on drifting only to remember it's about racing in the climax. The dialogue while bad can have it charms. Likely no ones besides car enthusiasts would care about the specifics of an engine. Though some bad lines can be funny both intentional and unintentional. Sadly the bad overcomes any good mostly suffering from an unlikable protagonist while taking itself too seriously with it preposterous story.

Lucas Black at best is okay as the lead, but his Southern accent makes his character more irritating to watch. Bow Wow as a supporting actor falls flat. His present in the movie makes it feel even more dated. Sung Kang is a show stealer despite him not appearing as much as the lead. Kang is still given a prominent role as the non-stereotypical Asian American mentor for the male lead (He is to drifting, what Mr. Miyagi is to karate.) Brian Tee is a bit of a joke as an antagonist, he is more comedic than menacing. The racing scenes were dull and repetitive. It certainly lives to it title. The races themselves are well filmed, but there is only so many times one could tolerate seeing a car drift over, and over, and over, and over again. Seeing a car drift for montages is not something that gets veins pumping. The soundtrack is past it expiration date. It's not music that gets you into the mood to see some high speed racing. You would get more exhilaration racing towards the remote and muting the film whenever it bad soundtrack comes up.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift moves ahead with some improvements, but still ends biting the dust. The plot is preposterous with an annoying hero and mix acting from it cast. The racing scenes rely too much on drifting making each race feel repetitive.