Movie Review – The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

In 2003, the action racing film 2 Fast 2 Furious proved that audiences loved the combination of the actors, the cars, the action scenes, and the music associated with the movie.

What if Hollywood made a third movie in that franchise, but replaced the big-name actors for basically a cast of nobodies?

On top of that, what if the style of racing was also changed into something radically different?

Would a Fast and Furious film work with an entirely new (and lesser known) cast, an alternate style of racing, and a completely different environment?

That’s what we’re about to find out.

Released in 2006, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was directed by Justin Lin.  The film stars Lucas Black in the role of Sean Boswell, a teenager who has fascination with street racing and a habit of getting in trouble with the law.  Supporting him in the film are Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh, Brian Tee as Takashi / D.K. (Drift King), Bow Wow as Twinkie, and Nathalie Kelley as Neela.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift begins with a minor confrontation at high school between Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) and Clay (Zachery Ty Bryan), the captain of the football team.  Clay dates the hottest girl in school, and his rich parents have given him a brand new sports car.

Clay is angry when he sees Sean flirting with his girlfriend, so he makes fun of Sean’s car.  He challenges him for a race, but Sean tells him that he only races for “pinks” (the title of the car).  Since Clay’s car is worth a lot more money than Sean’s car, Clay’s girlfriend offers herself as a date to the winner of the race.  Both of the guys agree to the wager, and they head to a nearby construction site for their race.

The race is simple:  Make one lap around a neighborhood that’s under construction.

Sean is driving a 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo while Clay is driving a 2006 Dodge Viper SRT-10.  Sitting in the passenger seat next to Clay is Cindy (Nikki Griffin), his girlfriend and the “prize” for winning the race.  It seems that Clay should easily win the race, but Sean is a mechanic who has modified his car, and he takes street racing seriously.

The race begins and Clay stays in front of Sean.  Some of Clay’s friends drive a pick-up truck next to Clay, blocking the street and preventing Sean from passing.  The race takes a turn when Sean goes off-roading and uses an open stretch of dirt to gain speed.  He crashes through a house and uses a jump to get a run and pass Clay.  Both of the cars ultimately crash, but Sean still wins the race.  The only problem is that besides having both cars completely destroyed and the drivers (along with Cindy) injured, the police arrive and arrest the racers.

This is really only a problem for Sean.  Clay’s rich parents pull some strings and get both Clay and Cindy out of jail.  Things don’t go so well for Sean.  He has a history of driving violations, and the police want to try Sean in court as an adult.  Sean’s mother (Lynda Boyd) arrives at the police station, and she ultimately makes a deal with the police.  Sean won’t be tried as long as he goes and lives with his father.

In Tokyo, Japan.

Before Sean knows it, he’s on a flight to Japan.  He arrives in Tokyo and makes his way to his father’s house.  It turns out that Sean’s father (Brian Goodman) is a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy.  Neither Sean or his father appear to like each other, and Mr. Boswell tries to impose rules on Sean.

The next morning Sean wakes up early and has to figure out the train system in order to reach his new high school.  He finally reaches the school and adjusts to the culture shock.  Fortunately for him, a few other students are also Americans.  Sean quickly gains the attention of Neela (Nathalie Kelley), and he makes friends with Twinkie (Bow Wow).  Twinkie runs a small business of selling stolen electronics.  He drives around town in a 2005 Volkswagen Touran decorated with the Incredible Hulk.

Twinkie takes Sean around town and shows him where all of the cool teenagers hang out.  It turns out that the hangout spot involves teenagers showing off their cars, just like back in the U.S.  Sean finds Neela and starts talking to her, but that gets unwanted attention from Takashi (Brian Tee), Neela’s jealous boyfriend.  Sean and Takashi have a confrontation, and Sean challenges him to a race.  Takashi accepts and his friend Han Seoul-Oh (Sung Kang) allows for Sean to drive his car.

Sean quickly learns that Takashi’s nickname is D.K. (stands for Drift King), and that street racing in Japan is much different than in America.  In Japan it’s not so much about horsepower than it is about cornering and drifting.  The race through the parking deck commences, and it goes for Sean just as you would expect.  He has no experience at all with drifting, and he accidentally crashes Han’s car into many of the obstacles, from concrete walls to parked cars.  He badly loses the race to Takashi, and he also heavily damages Han’s car.

The next day, Sean learns that he’s now working for Han to pay off the money he owes for Han’s repair bills.  In exchange for working for him, Han teaches Sean how to drift.

Along the way to becoming a drift racer, Sean learns more about the Japanese society, and he bonds a little bit with his father.  He learns that his father is fond of cars, and he’s currently working on restoring a 1967 Ford Mustang GT that he found scrapped for parts.  He also learns that Han really doesn’t need the money, and that’s he more in need of a good friend than a fast car.

Sean’s skill in drifting greatly improves, and he reaches the point where he can be a competitive drifter.  He challenges Morimoto (Leonardo Nam), Takashi’s closest friend and right-hand man, and Sean wins the race.  This gains him a ton of respect with his fellow racers.

The next night, Neela agrees to go out on a date with Sean.  It really isn’t a date as it is two people getting to know each other.  She tells Sean about Takashi’s family took her in after her mother died, and that closeness led to her eventual relationship with Takashi.  When Takashi learns of Neela hanging out with Sean, he finds Sean the next day and beats him up.  Neela uses Takashi’s anger and violence as a reason to break up with him and to live with Sean and Han.

Not long after that, Takashi receives a visit from his uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba), the head of the Yakuza (Japanese Mafia).  Kamata tells Takashi that although he doesn’t know how to read the printouts showing the company’s finances, he does know that somebody in the company is stealing from the company.  When Takashi thinks for a moment, he realizes that the thief is Han, his old friend and business associate.

Takashi and Morimoto arrive at Han’s garage and confront him about the stolen money.  Takashi pulls out a gun and threatens to shoot him.  Twinkie provides a distraction, and Han flees in one car while Sean and Neela flee in a different one.  Both Takashi and Morimoto run to their own cars, and they give chase to Han and Sean.  It’s a spectacular driving sequence as the four cars drift and weave through traffic during a high-speed chase.  Morimoto eventually gets collected in a car crash that he causes, and he’s killed when several cars hit him.  Han’s car later gets hit in an intersection, and it tumbles and catches fire, killing Han.

Sean and Neela ditch their car and make their way through alternate transportation back to the house of Sean’s father.  However, just as they arrive at the house, Takashi shows up and holds them at gunpoint.  Suddenly Mr. Boswell also appears, and he holds Takashi at gunpoint.  Clearly, nobody is going to lower their firearm.  To end the stalemate, Neela leaves with Takashi.  After the two of them leave, Mr. Boswell wants Sean to return to the U.S., but Sean refuses.  He insists on staying in Tokyo to finish his business and help his friends.

Sean finds Twinkie, and he convinces him to get him all of the money that Han stole from the company.  He then meets with Kamata and returns the money that Han stole.  To settle the score between him and Takashi, Sean proposes a race between the two of them, and the loser leaves Tokyo.  Kamata agrees and arranges to have the race take place on a mountain that Takashi owns.

The next day, Sean and his friends discover that the police have confiscated all of Han’s cars.  That is, except for the car that Sean wrecked, and except for Mr. Boswell’s car.  They quickly set a plan into action of transferring the engine from Han’s car into Mr. Boswell’s car, and tuning his car for drifting on a mountain road.  The car is quickly constructed and Sean makes several test drives, improving the car (and his skills) on each drive.

Soon it’s time to finally have the race between Sean and Takashi.  The two drivers start at the top of the mountain, and their fans wait in various points along the route.  Those people not in viewing range use their cell phones to keep track of the race.

The race begins and Takashi has the lead, but Sean’s skills help keep him right on Takashi’s tail.  The two drivers maneuver down the twisting road, and they swap the lead a few times.  Sean’s improved skills infuriate Takashi, and he later tries to ram Sean and force him down a cliff.  Takashi eventually misses and crashes his own car, allowing Sean to win the race.  Kamata keeps his word and allows for Sean to remain in Tokyo.

Some time later, Sean is now the Drift King and the top driver.  One night there’s word that a mystery driver wants to race him.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift ends with the mystery driver being none other than Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel).  Dominic claims to be an old friend of Han’s, back when Han was a fan of the American muscle cars.  The movie ends as Sean and Dominic begin their race in the parking garage.

FINAL THOUGHTS

So is The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift any good?

Not really.

The first time that I saw this movie I disliked it.  The movie bored me with its predictability, its lack of any major actors, its fairly lame plot, the abundance of rap music, and the drifting style of racing.  For me, it pretty much failed across the board.  The only interesting aspect of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was the setting in Japan and the incredible differences between Japanese and American cultures.

My opinion of this movie slightly improved the second time I saw it, but not by much.  For some reason the characters and the drifting racing seemed to be a little more interesting during my second viewing, but again, it wasn’t much of an improvement.

The biggest problem with The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift deals with its plot, from the numerous clichés to the lack of development to the easily predictable ending.  Sadly, the film’s plot is what drives this movie, and it sends it straight over a cliff.

On a side note, is there a movie yet where Lucas Black does not speak with his southern drawl?  It’s pretty annoying here in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift.

It’s hard to like this third installment of The Fast and the Furious franchise.  This movie has action, racing, and all of that other stuff, but it’s clearly missing a solid plot and bigger names.  Considering that this is the third movie and the producers should have known about the winning combinations from the first two films, it makes you question why they decided to make so many changes for this point in the series.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006) – movie trailer

Some fans of The Fast and the Furious movies will still find entertainment here, but it’s going to be a small percentage.  You’ll find more people watching this movie for the drifing racing rather than the plot and overall storyline in the franchise.

While The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was successful in the theaters, it didn’t earn anywhere near as much money as either of the first two movies in the series.

Sean Boswell – “Drift?”
[Elevator doors open, two cars pass by, drifting right in front of the door]
Twinkie – “Still need a dictionary?”

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Sean Boswell – “Why’d you let me race your car? You knew I was gonna wreck it.”
Han – “Why not?”
Sean Boswell –  ” ‘Cause that’s a lot of money.”
Han – “I have money, it’s trust and character I need around me. You know, who you choose to be around you lets you know who you are. One car in exchange for knowing what a man’s made of? That’s a price I can live with.”

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Han – “Life’s simple, you make choices and you don’t look back.”

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Sean Boswell – [Sean drives his Nissan Silvia S15 to the starting line next to a silver Plymouth Roadrunner] “Nice ride.”
Dominic Toretto – “I won it from our friend Han a few years ago.”
Sean Boswell – “I didn’t know he was into American muscle.”
Dominic Toretto – “He was when he was rollin’ with me.”
Sean Boswell – “You know, this ain’t no 10-second race.”
Dominic Toretto – “I’ve got nothin’ but time.”