Review of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) by Colter H — 06 Nov 2011

The third film of the Fast and Furious franchise is easily the weakest entry in the entire series. With the exception of the cars, they have tossed everything from the previous 2 films out the window. I personally am not crazy about the inclusion of drifting in the film, but on the other side of the coin it is nice to see some change, too.

The American cast here seems on the weak side, but the Japanese cast does a decent job. And it is nice to see Sonny Chiba on the big screen again. The story works here, but as before, it is just an excuse to bring the characters together and but them in cars to settle their differences.

I did enjoy moving the story to Tokyo, setting the story in a new location did help add some freshness to the series. Everything about the film seems somehow smaller in scale compared to the previous 2 films, but again, this isn't always a bad thing.

The movie itelf is not the best, but is perhaps exactly what the franchise needed to avoid becoming stale. And the cameo at the end of the movie wrapped up the trilogy very nicely. But, by this point, we all know that it dosen't end there.

Worth a look if you're a big fan of the series, but casual viewers may not want to bother.