Directed by:
Justin Lin
Starring:
Lucas Black …. Sean Boswell
Sung Kang …. Han
Bow Wow …. Twinkie
Brian Tee …. D.K.
Nathalie Kelley …. Neela
Sonny Chiba …. Uncle Kamata
Jason Tobin …. Earl
Universal presents a film directed by Justin Lin. Written by Alfredo Botello, Chris Morgan and Kario Salem. Running time: 105 minutes. Rated PG-13 (for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens,violence, language and sexual content). Released on DVD: September 26, 2006.
Back when I was living in Rhode Island, every single time I walked in to the Warwick Mall there would always be a group of kids huddled around a single game in the tiny arcade that the place had. The curious camper I am, I strolled over to see what all the fuss was about and it was a game called Initial D. The game was essentially drift racing down curved mountain sides and being able to customize your own car the more you won that you kept stored on a single magnetic stripe card. And every time I went to the mall after that, there was always a line of atleast ten kids just waiting to sit in the drivers seat for their chance at knocking out the guy that was beating everyone else. It had become nothing short of an addiction to these kids.
So watching The Fast and the Furious: Toky Drift (henceforth referred to as Tokyo Drift) it’s no wonder that memory decided to come back to me, as the film is based on the underground racing world of Japan, specifically drifting. The films final race scene (hope I didn’t spoil the fact that this ends in a race for you, then again when don’t these films end in a race?) even takes place on a road eerily similar to one of the race tracks in the game and involves, you guessed it, a guy trying to beat the best of the best.
Starring in the film is Lucas Black, who’s really been making a name for himself in the past year or two with films like Jarhead and Friday Night Lights. Here he plays Sean Boswell, a kid who’s had a rough life, or a stubborn one depending on how you look at it. After his parents split up he looked at racing as a way of avoiding the troubles in his life, but this new found way of avoiding problems has only brought on more. He refuses to take a step back and reassess what’s important at the present time, or what he needs to do in order to prepare for his future in favor of racing against anyone who thinks they may be better than him.
After being arrested by the cops for completely demolishing a house at a construction site by driving straight through it in order to win a race, Sean has now run out of second chances. Finding himself with two options; juvenile hall, or shipping off to Japan to live with his father and finishing his schooling there. Having little say in the matter, his mother already made the choice for him, buying him a one way ticket to the Land of the Rising Sun. Now, it’s a bit hard to accept the fact that his father lives in Japan, the underground racing capital of the world, but the film wouldn’t be as entertaining if he lived in Australia would it? Then it would be called Australian Kangaroo Racing, and that doesn’t sell tickets like Tokyo Drift.
It doesn’t take long before Sean gets pulled in to the local racing scene, and in turn find a whole new collection of problems. He gets off on the wrong foot at first by crossing paths with DK (DK standing for “Drift King” incase your wondering). DK just plain hates him, mainly because he saw Sean putting the moves on his girlfriend – Neela. Sean doesn’t waste much time here and challenges him to a race, in a style he never heard of until that day, and he doesn’t currently have a car. I don’t think Sean likes thinking things through much, stuff like that just gums up the works.
Yet he manages to find a set of wheels from Han, a guy from DK’s clique. Naturally, Sean makes a fool of himself and completely demolishes Han’s car in the process. Now owing Han a car, Sean finds himself doing some of Han’s collecting for him. In return Han starts teaching him the ropes of drift racing. Sean does owe him a lot of money after all, so winning a few races will bring in some quick cash. When it becomes known that Han has been scraping money off the top of DK’s uncle’s business, the problem soon becomes Sean’s by association. Now he needs to fix things before he and everyone around him gets hurt.
A while back, I remember reading something that I think accurately describes Tokyo Drift. It had to do with the difference between popcorn flicks and those that don’t necessarily reach that title, ones that rather fill a sensory level of enjoyment, like cotton candy. That’s what this film is from start to finish. It looks good, you enjoy it the whole time it’s there, but when it’s over there isn’t any feeling of being full or satisfied. Where as with popcorn flicks there’s, while not much mind you, a general level of enjoyment that sticks around on your way out of the theater.
The Fast and the Furious and 2Fast 2Furious are by no stretch of the imagination high brow art films, but they were fun on a basic escapism level. Yes the first film was Point Break on wheels rather than waves, but damn it was entertaining. Tokyo Drift offers what the others did, a cast filled with pretty faces, packed with nice rides, and slick editing. However the stylization of the film tends to take away from the art of drifting. Drifting is a very fascinating driving skill, so how they thought cutting away every three seconds was smart is still unclear.
The first two Furious films were mainly fun because they didn’t take themselves serious. There was enough to make the plots seem remotely plausible in the moment, but they were also fully aware of how cheesy they were. Not Tokyo Drift. Instead this third installment of the franchise feels the need to up the drama, too bad their only answer to any problem that comes up in the film always needs to be resolved with a race. I was half expecting someone to get coffee spilt on them and then challenge the person to a drift off. Because that seems to be the only thing that matters to them, much like the kids at the arcade.
Video:
(Presented in 2.35:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
I’m perhaps the pickiest when it comes to video and audio presentation around here, but this DVD is nearly flawless. The transfer has a few hints of edge enhancement but besides that one scrutiny the disc is a joy to watch on a purely visual stand point. Flesh tones are perfect, and surely to please all the car enthusiasts watching the movie, the rides looks beautiful. Perhaps the most enjoyable thing while watching the DVD is seeing Tokyo’s night life all lit up in its neon glory.
Audio:
(English, Spanish, French Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround)
Since this is a Universal release, I guess I should have known better when I first looked around in the audio setup for a DTS track. DTS could have made this films audio reference quality, but instead we get a very good and atmospheric Dolby Digital 5.1 that gets the job done. From the Japanese pop music, to the revving of engines and screeching of tires all five speakers and bass have plenty of things to do during the films 105 minute runtime.
Extras:
Feature Length Commentary – Justin Lin directed Better Luck Tomorrow, one of 2002’s best indie films, he also helmed this years Annapolis. If you didn’t know either of those facts don’t fret, because he makes sure to note that he made them during this commentary enough times to the point where I lost count. From talking about cast members from both of those movies who make appearances in this one, to the transition from small films to big studio ones, he makes sure to hammer home the fact that he’s made more than one movie. Good for him. The moments where he discusses his work on Tokyo Drift are enlightening. He talks about trying to make something different from his previous work, and he really has advanced as a director since Better Luck Tomorrow. But calling this a modern western and comparing Tokyo Drift to ones like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly is certainly stretching it.
Deleted Scenes (19:15) – These scenes don’t necessarily add much to the overall story but they do give the characters a little more dimension. Keeping most of them in and cutting out the fat from the theatrical cut might have lead to a better movie.
Drifting School (7:39) – Just like on every other DVD for films that center around cars, this is taking a look at the cast attempting (and usually failing) at drifting. Pieces like this are fun to watch once, finding out who in the cast was actually better than other, but after that there isn’t much of a reason to go back.
Cast Cam (4:23) – This comes off as nothing but a video journal, only with no narrative of purpose. I suppose we can be thankful that it’s under five minutes long.
The Big Breakdown: Han’s Last Ride (8:30) – This is probably the second most interesting feature on the DVD. It talks about filming one of the films key race scene and breaks it down to show how it was all put together as the final cut in the movie. Shown in it are the CGI effects used for the scene, green screen camera work, and intersplicing footage from their Tokyo shoot with footage from a set they made in LA.
Tricked Out To Drift (11:04) – Here they show us each of the major cars showcased in the movie. Had the film not been made with many of the cars previously shown in the first two films, it probably would have been a little more interesting to watch. Still, hearing the director talk about how he decided on which car each character would drive based on heir persona is quite interesting to listen to at least once.
The Real Drift King (3:42) – Keiichi Tsuchiya is considered by many to be the man that gave drifting to the world of racing. Here they talk about his achievements and even show him taking part in some of the stunt driving.
The Japanese Way (9:48) – The last featurette is by far the most interesting to watch, this piece shows the cast and crew as they filmed some of the movie in Japan. From the trouble with filming due to the countries policy on handing out filming permits (read: they don’t), to the forced guerilla style indie tactics the crew used in order to get the shots they needed. That along with talking about the culture as a whole and their personal experiences while they stayed there.
And the last thing you’ll find on the disc is a music video by Don Omar for the song “Conteo” that clocks in at 3:54.
