BONUS REVIEW! A Look Back at "Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" (20th anniversary)
- Matt Palmer
- 28 minutes ago
- 2 min read
After checking out The Fast and the Furious for its 25th anniversary for the Examiner, I realized that both Tokyo Drift and Fast Five are also celebrating anniversary milestones this year! So, for this bonus review I will be talking about the 20026 sequel/spin-off and I will be checking out Fast Five for its 15th anniversary soon.
Sean Boswell always feels like an outsider, but he defines himself through his victories as a street racer. His hobby makes him unpopular with the authorities, so he goes to live with his father in Japan.
Once there and even more alienated, he learns about an exciting, but dangerous, new style of the sport. The stakes are high when Sean takes on the local champion and falls for the man's girlfriend.
When The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was released in 2006, audiences were initially highly divided and largely underwhelmed, but over the years, the movie had undergone a massive critical rehabilitation to become a beloved cult classic and fan favorite. I was also someone who initially didn't really enjoy this installment that much at first. After revisiting Tokyo Drift for the first time in a few years, I definitely got into the movie a lot more.
A lot of general viewers would love Tokyo Drift for its authentic celebration of car culture, focusing heavily on skill-based drifting rather than pure speed. Fans also enjoy the vibrant Tokyo setting, the introduction of fan favorite character Han and the grounded, racing-focused story that sets it apart from the later action-packed installments.
The third entry of the series also featured a lot of fun car/racing action, including a tense race at the end. In this sequence, focused on selling a score, Sean faces off against D.K. in a dangerous, high-stakes mountain pass race. This scene test's Sean's newfound skills, resulting in one of the most intense moments in the movie.
Actor Sung Kang's portrayal of Han completely steals the show. His effortlessly cool demeanor and mentor dynamic with Sean made him an enduring fan favorite. His character was so universally loved that the franchise completely re-arranged its timeless to bring him back to the fold - eventually returning to the series.
What blows modern viewers minds is how the movie's timeline retrofitted into the greater saga. While it originally felt like an isolated spin-off, later movies (specifically Fast and Furious 6 where its mid-credit scene connects this movie to the on-going narrative and F9), transforms the movie into a crucial linchpin of the broader franchise.
Tokyo Drift initially faced a mixed response. However, it has since achieved cult classic status, widely celebrated by car enthusiasts for keeping the focus strictly on genuine racing and car culture.
MPA: Rated PG-13 for reckless and illegal bahavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content (runtime 104 minutes)
Initial release date: June 16, 2006
Streaming: Peacock/various PVOD services
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