I’m really into my racing games and when I was younger I loved Need for Speed and Gran Turismo, I played them all-day every-day trying to get the best times, upgrade my cars to the highest possible spec, and dominate my friends in multiplayer. But films didn’t really scratch that racing itch for me, that is until I watched The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Despite being the third film released for the franchise (and sixth chronologically), it was the first film I watched in the series and is still my favourite to this day. But Tokyo Drift has a bad reputation, stemming mainly from the fact that it has almost no connection to the other entries to the series, and was critically panned on its release in 2006. So, is Tokyo Drift actually a bad film? Or am I right in my opinion that this is one of the best racing films ever made?
Following a street race gone wrong, high school student Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is shipped off to Tokyo to live with his father. The conditions of him staying there are that he doesn’t involve himself in the street racing culture that’s thriving in the nearby parking garages, keeps his head down at school, and graduates.
But of course, being the petrol head he is, Sean makes friends with the street racers at school Twinkie (Bow Wow) and Neela (Nathalie Kelley) and is introduced to the world of drifting. After making enemies with the nephew of a local Yakuza boss, Takashi (Brian Tee), Sean is taken in under the guidance of Han Lue (Sung Kang) where he completes driving jobs for him and in return is taught how to drift properly. This however causes tensions between Takashi, his henchmen, and Sean’s friends as Takashi feels his reputation is at stake.
Following a street race gone wrong, high school student Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is shipped off to Tokyo to live with his father. The conditions of him staying there are that he doesn’t involve himself in the street racing culture that’s thriving in the nearby parking garages, keeps his head down at school, and graduates.
But of course, being the petrol head he is, Sean makes friends with the street racers at school Twinkie (Bow Wow) and Neela (Nathalie Kelley) and is introduced to the world of drifting. After making enemies with the nephew of a local Yakuza boss, Takashi (Brian Tee), Sean is taken in under the guidance of Han Lue (Sung Kang) where he completes driving jobs for him and in return is taught how to drift properly. This however causes tensions between Takashi, his henchmen, and Sean’s friends as Takashi feels his reputation is at stake.
If you read my reviews of the original The Fast and the Furious, you’ll know I found it to be generally enjoyable but the script and story were underwhelming. Tokyo Drift I feel mostly corrects this by presenting a very straightforward story that doesn’t bog itself down with police investigations and undercover agents, instead focusing itself on a ‘rags to riches’ style storyline that honestly bears a whole lot of resemblance to Pixar’s ‘Cars’ which released just a week before Tokyo Drift did.
The story isn’t perfect obviously, my main issues stem from Sean, and how people behave around him. He’s such a blank slate of a character, and it doesn’t help that Black’s performance is incredibly wooden, but I have no real reason to root for Sean especially because he regularly goes against the advice he is given because he feels he knows best, only to end up in a worse situation. It does make me wonder why people want to be friends with him, what they see in him to make them stick around. But honestly, I can get through Tokyo Drift even with Sean being a bad character because the side characters are so strong, and the way the story plays out is well paced and engaging.
There’s a lot more racing in Tokyo Drift than there was in either of the previous two Fast & Furious films combined, plus these sequences are now much more complex, more interestingly shot, and better edited. The racing in Tokyo Drift has real momentum. The original film largely concentrated on drag racing, meaning that the racing scenes were usually short bursts of energy to keep the film moving. But in Tokyo Drift they’re considerably more frequent and last for a lot longer. Similar to how an action film has choreographed fight sequences, the races in Tokyo Drift feel like a ballet of cars. Seeing them twist and turn round corners at such a high velocity, overtaking in such close proximity, and having such stylish designs makes these scenes a true thrill to watch.
The story isn’t perfect obviously, my main issues stem from Sean, and how people behave around him. He’s such a blank slate of a character, and it doesn’t help that Black’s performance is incredibly wooden, but I have no real reason to root for Sean especially because he regularly goes against the advice he is given because he feels he knows best, only to end up in a worse situation. It does make me wonder why people want to be friends with him, what they see in him to make them stick around. But honestly, I can get through Tokyo Drift even with Sean being a bad character because the side characters are so strong, and the way the story plays out is well paced and engaging.
There’s a lot more racing in Tokyo Drift than there was in either of the previous two Fast & Furious films combined, plus these sequences are now much more complex, more interestingly shot, and better edited. The racing in Tokyo Drift has real momentum. The original film largely concentrated on drag racing, meaning that the racing scenes were usually short bursts of energy to keep the film moving. But in Tokyo Drift they’re considerably more frequent and last for a lot longer. Similar to how an action film has choreographed fight sequences, the races in Tokyo Drift feel like a ballet of cars. Seeing them twist and turn round corners at such a high velocity, overtaking in such close proximity, and having such stylish designs makes these scenes a true thrill to watch.
Aside from the poor performance from Black, the rest of the cast provide some good performances, most notably Kelley & Kang as Neela and Han. Han went on to become a fan favourite and returned for most of the Fast & Furious sequels after Tokyo Drift, and he delivers an excellent performance as Sean’s mentor and eventual friend. Takashi is a fairly one note villain, but in a film like this it’s really all that’s needed and Tee does a good job of playing the careful balancing act of a toddler having a tantrum and someone who’s clearly dangerous and unhinged slowly losing his sanity and power.
The soundtrack is also incredible. The first two Fast & Furious films had good soundtracks, but Tokyo Drift’s melds perfectly with the sleek and stylish cinematography, the upbeat nature of the film, and regularly injects even the slower paced scenes with some real adrenaline as you’ll just want to bob along to the mid 00’s hip-hop hits.
Looking at all the criticism Tokyo Drift got, it’s all the things I love that were hated by a lot of critics, and even fans. So the only conclusion I can come to is I’m either crazy and I can’t see the film for how awful it really is, or I’m the only sane person in the room and nobody understand how good of a racing film Tokyo Drift is. I have a great time every single time I re-watch Tokyo Drift and I would recommend this entry of the series to anyone who’s after a good racing film. It’s light on the action sequences that other Fast & Furious films focus on, particularly from the next entry onwards where things start to become outrageously over the top, but if you’re after a simple plot with adrenaline fuelled and gorgeously shot racing sequences then you really can’t go wrong with Tokyo Drift.
The soundtrack is also incredible. The first two Fast & Furious films had good soundtracks, but Tokyo Drift’s melds perfectly with the sleek and stylish cinematography, the upbeat nature of the film, and regularly injects even the slower paced scenes with some real adrenaline as you’ll just want to bob along to the mid 00’s hip-hop hits.
Looking at all the criticism Tokyo Drift got, it’s all the things I love that were hated by a lot of critics, and even fans. So the only conclusion I can come to is I’m either crazy and I can’t see the film for how awful it really is, or I’m the only sane person in the room and nobody understand how good of a racing film Tokyo Drift is. I have a great time every single time I re-watch Tokyo Drift and I would recommend this entry of the series to anyone who’s after a good racing film. It’s light on the action sequences that other Fast & Furious films focus on, particularly from the next entry onwards where things start to become outrageously over the top, but if you’re after a simple plot with adrenaline fuelled and gorgeously shot racing sequences then you really can’t go wrong with Tokyo Drift.