The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

There is just something about a fast car, particularly for the American movie going public, well, at least the male portion of it. Ask anyone what the best moment in the classic film ‘The French Connection’ and most people will rave on about the car chase. Personally, I grew up in Brooklyn, New York always a stone’s throw away from a subway line. This means that for me the infatuation with cars is not as strong as it is with others of my gender. While watching ‘Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift’ it had a certain outsider’s perspective, an adult male who never had a driver’s license watching a film devoted to street racing. The formula for this film is simple, take a lot of testosterone, mix liberally with high octane gasoline and throw in a little racism just for flavor and you have the premise of the flick.

Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is an all American gear head devoted to the highly dangerous and equally illegal sport of street racing. For him life is grey except for the explosion of adrenalin he feels as he pushes a completely tweaked out car to its ultimate limits. During one of these forays on the wild side Sean is responsible for totaling a construction site. The judge decides to force Sean to live with his father (Brian Goodman), who lives in the navy and stationed in Tokyo. Once there the individualistic young man is forced to wear a school uniform and attend classes in Japanese, a language Sean is unfamiliar with. The cultural differences are not taken well by Sean; he balks at having to replace his shoes with slippers while in the classroom. The one bright spot of this experience occurs when he gets his first sight of Neela (Nathalie Kelley) who stands out not only for her beauty but her obvious Latin heritage. Sean meets up with a fellow American, Twinkie (Bow Wow), am entrepreneur who exchanges American goods for a lot of money. The three do have one thing in common; they are all gaijin, or foreigners. It doesn’t take long for Sean to discover the local variation of street racing called drifting. Instead of he straight race courses preferred by Americans, the Japanese youth negotiate the numerous curves by deftly applying the brakes and accelerator causing the car to move almost sideways drifting around the corners. Sean takes on the ‘Drifter King’ D.K. (Brian Tee) who just happens to be Neela’s boyfriend. Sean is mentored in this new racing form by one of DK’s associates, Han (Sung Kang) whose uncle, Kamata (JJ Sonny Chiba) is a local Yakuza crime boss. After Sean wreaks an expensive car he is told he can work off the debt doing some chores for Kamata including trying to collect a debt in a bath house from someone many times his size. During all of this Sean is learning the finer points of drifting hoping to take the drifting crown and the girl from DK.

When considering whether or not a movie works one factor is ultimately important, does it set out to accomplish what it intended to do? In the case of this flick the answer has to be yes. You don’t watch any movie with the words ‘fast’ or ‘furious’ in the title and expect riveting dialogue, deep intellectual themes and captivating character development. You wan a lot of fast cars racing and that the film delivers. This film is part of the Fast and Furious franchise in name only. None of the original characters are even mentioned, there is no undercover police officers to investigate crime between the races. Instead we get a group of twenty something actors passing (barely) as teen students. Sure, they throw in a little organized crime, a touch of romance and some comic relief but you get what you would expect, sleek cars performing incredible stunts. It is amazing to watch these vehicles glide and almost float around the corners. Those who come out of this film disappointed where just expecting too much from the flick. I’ve never been into cars personally but I found myself drawn into this strange, fast past world. Let’s face it, you can go to the bathroom or out to the kitchen for a snack during the expository scenes without missing much but make sure you are back by the time the engines start revving up for action.

The most interesting characters in this film are the cars. They get the best shots and play the most important part here. Still, there are some humans that are required. Lucas Black is best known as the weird little boy from the short lived series ‘American Gothic’. He may have grown considerably from then but he still has his down home southern accent. He tries his best but the dialogue he is given here does not challenge his acting talent at all. Black plays Sean as the perennial misfit. He did not fit in back home in California and he certain can’t find acceptance in the xenophobic culture the film depicts here for Japan. I work with people from this country and have never seen any sign of this being true but it works here as a plot point. Sean is presented by Black as someone who knows how to drive and that is the only part of his life that he permits to define him. Nathalie Kelley has little more to do than be eye candy but her combination of French and Argentine combine to make this work. Typical of heroines in fast paced action flicks she is torn between the boy she is seeing and the handsome stranger.

Universal brings this film to DVD with some flair. Yes, there is a pan & scan edition available but you really need to get the widescreen variation to appreciate all the action here. The anamorphic 2.35:1 video is brilliant. The colors pop out at you. The video holds together with no sign of artifacts even in the most demanding scenes. The Dolby 5.1 audio will give your speakers a great workout. The rear speakers place you right in the middle of the action. The sub woofer gets to roar out making you feel the cars racing. The stereo separation of the front speakers is far better than average. The extras reflect the focus of the film, the cars. The audio commentary with director Justin Lin focuses mostly on the way the cars where employed in the film. There is a featurette ‘Tricked Out to Drift’ goes into all the work required to get over 230 cars ready for the action. The featurette ‘The Japanese Way’ details the American cast as they acclimate to working in Japan. There are some deleted scenes to round things out but it is easy to see why they did not make the final cut. Get the guys over, order some beer and pizza and enjoy. e

Posted 9/27/06