The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (Mini Review Series)

Initial release date: June 16, 2006

Studios: Universal Pictures/ Relativity Media

Tagline: Speed Needs No Translation

On the streets of Tokyo, speed needs no translation.

Plot: 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.

Cast

Lucas Black (F9: The Fast Saga) - Sean Boswell

Zachery Ty Bryan - Clay

Lynda Boyd (Netflix’s Virgin River) - Ms. Boswell

Brian Goodman - Major Boswell

Nathalie Kelley - Neela

Shad Moss (aka Bow Wow) (F9: The Fast Saga) - Twinkie

Jason Tobin (F9: The Fast Saga) - Earl

Keiko Kitagawa - Reiko

Brian Tee (NBCs Chicago) - D.K.

Sung Kang (F9: The Fast Saga) - Han

Writer: Chris Morgan (Hobbs & Shaw; Fate of the Furious)

Director: Justin Lin (F9: The Fast Saga; Fast 3-6; Star Trek Beyond)

Rated PG-13 for reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content (104 min)

With ‘F9: The Fast Saga’ now playing in theaters AND at the Dietrich, I have been giving the franchise another glance. Tonight, I took another look at ‘The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift,’ which is one of the most underrated installments of the entire ‘Fast’ franchise.

‘Tokyo Drift’ is a solid entry to the series and really features a lot of adrenaline-pumping racing/drifting sequences. It’s a refreshing take on the series as the filmmakers wanted to try something a little different.

The 2006 sequel also introduces the fans of the series to the character Han, who ended up becoming a fan favorite after this movie was released. The movie’s soundtrack is also really awesome and helps with the flow of the movie.

One thing that is great about ‘Tokyo Drift’ is that it still keeps the series grounded. It doesn’t feature any major explosive action sequences that the series is now known for. The stand out sequence in the movie is, most definitely, the big race in the middle, where Han ended up crashing and dying. Well, this was retconned numerous times during the rest of the series and ends up surviving (somehow) in the later movies.

So, make sure to give this entry of the franchise another look. It’s really entertaining and the drifting scenes are actually really incredible to watch.

Here are some interesting tidbits about ‘Tokyo Drift’:

• The drifting in this movie was performed by professional drivers. As reported in a recent Sport Compact Car (magazine), Rhys Millen, his father Rod, and a handful of other famous rally and drift racers consistently performed drift sequences for the movie.

• After poor test screenings, Universal asked Vin Diesel to make a cameo appearance to boost its box office potential. Diesel agreed to appear if Universal would relinquish the rights to the ‘Riddick’ franchise to him. Diesel was then able to make ‘Riddick’ independently.

• Over 100 cars were destroyed or wrecked during the filming of the movie.

• The Mitsubishi Lancer EVO VIII, and two of the Nissan R32s, were converted from all-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive so they could drift properly.

• Paul Walker wasn’t asked to return because the studio felt he was too old. The first draft of the script featured the return of Toretto.

• The events in the movie were later retconned to chronologically take place AFTER the events of the 4th, 5th and 6th movies. Diesel shows up in a cameo in the final scene, saying he “rolled with Han.” Han leaves to return to Tokyo at the end of ‘Fast and Furious 6,’; in fact ‘Furious 7’ occurs almost simultaneously with ‘Tokyo Drift’ and re-uses some archive material.

• Writer Chris Morgan was a fan of the series, and the producers had an open writing call for the third movie. Morgan originally pitched Vin Diesel in Tokyo, learning to drift and solving a murder.

• ‘Tokyo Drift’ brought in $23 million in its opening weekend, placing at No. 3 behind ‘Cars’ and ‘Nacho Libre.’ The US box office was $62,514,415 and it grossed another $96,450,195 internationally, resulting in total receipts of $158,964,610.