The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Review

This one is pretty interesting because this movie takes place in time AFTER the events of the fourth, fifth AND sixth movie. It's also a little strange because this movie came out in 2006, which makes me question if it takes place in the "future" way beyond the year 2006 or not? This isn't into the actual review yet, but I just thought it'd be interesting to point out.

We don't have Paul Walker in the movie at all this time. Instead we follow a character, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), who's the redneck type who loves cars and street racing but is always getting into trouble as you'll see in the opening scenes. This gives him no choice but to move away from his mom and live out with his dad in Tokyo, Japan. He of course doesn't fit in and immediately gets bullied on his first day because he doesn't know how to drift in a car during a street race. Umm... okay then. He then finds a couple friends to help him learn how to drift so he can take down the bully in upcoming street races. His first friend, Twinkie, is played by rapper turned actor Lil Bow Wow, who never explains how he arrived in Tokyo or how long he's lived there and is just there to encourage him to succeed (literally nothing else). He pretty much plays himself in the movie. His second friend, Han (Sung Kang), is the one that teaches young Sean how to drift and provides him with numerous cars to practice with. There's of course this girl named Neela, who Sean is attracted to, but can't date her because she's going out with the main bully, D.K. It's up to Sean to use his mad drifting skills to win her heart and the race as well.

Is it just me or is this The Karate Kid mixed with street racing (The CARate Kid?). It surprisingly however, intrigued me to the very end. I will say that I am a sucker for karate kid related plots, but this one felt more genuine. They actually focus on Sean's character more than the street races themselves like the previous two movies. This one was surprisingly more plot driven because it felt like there was more for Sean's character to lose. It's weird, but I liked this movie overall.

This was the first movie written by Chris Morgan and directed by Justin Lin who have directed every Fast & Furious movie since this one. It's interesting how this one felt more dramatic, and yet the kind of series they turned it into later is completely opposite. I am also interested to know why they made this one before movies 4-6. Either way, I'm glad I enjoyed this movie a lot more than I thought I would.

***