Review of The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
November 14th 2006 01:41
The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Directed: Justin Lin
Written: Chris Morgan
Lucas Black, Bow Wow
The third in this series about street racing was never going to be a ground-breaking film, most of the tried and true formulas for car movies already having been used in its predecessors. Not that it doesn’t try to show some glimmers of originality – shifting the action to the Tokyo Underworld, focusing on a different form of racing (“Drifting” – for a non-car buff that’s a lot of handbrake turns), and, not least, having a new protagonist Sean Boswell (Black, who is actually very watch able).
Following Sean’s adventures after being sent packing to Japan for street racing (the first race in the film was against that kid from Home Improvement – funny the things you notice), we watch as he gets slowly drawn deeper and deeper into crime (while still retaining his image as a nice guy), culminating, as all of these films are want to do, in a huge and poorly justified car race against the big bad guy. Anyone with an IQ bigger then 7 is invited to guess who wins.
Not a fan of car/racing movies myself I nonetheless didn’t mind the first in this series, mostly for the adrenalin rush some of the action sequences produced (the less said about the second the better), and this film too, with clever cinematography does occasionally give rise to the urge to see what would happen if you pushed the accelerator to the floor. Unfortunately its insistence to include some big, sweeping and very stupid statements about the nature of the universe does put one off.
Mindless (with I don’t mind), showy and with a re-watch value only if you know (and care) what a V8 is.
6/10 (7/10 if you like cars)
Today’s Question:
Best Car Chase Scene Ever?
Personally I lean towards the first Italian Job
Directed: Justin Lin
Written: Chris Morgan
Lucas Black, Bow Wow
The third in this series about street racing was never going to be a ground-breaking film, most of the tried and true formulas for car movies already having been used in its predecessors. Not that it doesn’t try to show some glimmers of originality – shifting the action to the Tokyo Underworld, focusing on a different form of racing (“Drifting” – for a non-car buff that’s a lot of handbrake turns), and, not least, having a new protagonist Sean Boswell (Black, who is actually very watch able).
Following Sean’s adventures after being sent packing to Japan for street racing (the first race in the film was against that kid from Home Improvement – funny the things you notice), we watch as he gets slowly drawn deeper and deeper into crime (while still retaining his image as a nice guy), culminating, as all of these films are want to do, in a huge and poorly justified car race against the big bad guy. Anyone with an IQ bigger then 7 is invited to guess who wins.
Not a fan of car/racing movies myself I nonetheless didn’t mind the first in this series, mostly for the adrenalin rush some of the action sequences produced (the less said about the second the better), and this film too, with clever cinematography does occasionally give rise to the urge to see what would happen if you pushed the accelerator to the floor. Unfortunately its insistence to include some big, sweeping and very stupid statements about the nature of the universe does put one off.
Mindless (with I don’t mind), showy and with a re-watch value only if you know (and care) what a V8 is.
6/10 (7/10 if you like cars)
Today’s Question:
Best Car Chase Scene Ever?
Personally I lean towards the first Italian Job
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Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
Tokyo Drift bored me to tears, found it to be an uninspired rehash of the quality Asian Anime Initial D, which also has a fun live action version.
Possibly the worst auto film this side of the Gone In 60 Seconds (remake)
I did a post on the best car chases on my blog, check it out here.
My top 3 car films- Bullitt, French Connection and Rendevous.
Comment by Georgie
Oz Movies
I pushed the disc out with no particular joy but no desire to kill someone for wasting an hour of my life.
Comment by JohnDoe
Film & TV on DVD
It's when there is a seperate story (Italian Job, Bullitt, French Connection etc), in other words when the car action is part of the narrative makes for quality entertainment.
Also all stunts must be pertformed at actual speed to truly create a spectacle and a sense of danger that all the CG in the world cannot replicate.
You wil find that the Italian Job gets its due respect in my top 10 chases post.
Comment by Georgie
Oz Movies