The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift (Screen Daily Review)

[dleedlee]

http://www.screendaily.com/story.asp?st ... 657&r=true

The Fast And The Furious: Tokyo Drift

Tim Grierson in Los Angeles 14 June 2006

Dir: Justin Lin. US. 2006. 104mins.

An efficient but pummeling ride, the latest entry in The Fast And The Furious franchise is an entertaining vehicle that doesn’t have quite enough in the tank in terms of plotting or characters. Nevertheless, it proves a solid showcase for its up-and-coming director Justin Lin and star Lucas Black.

Less a continuation of the Furious story line than a transplanted variation on the series’ non-stop-car-chases trademark, the third film (which opens June 16 in the US) lacks the higher-profile actors that graced the first two installments (Vin Diesel, Paul Walker). Because of that, Drift may have trouble matching the original’s $144m domestic tally ($62m international) and 2 Fast 2 Furious’ $127m domestic mark ($108m international). But the brand name should still hold plenty of appeal, if not in theatres than certainly in rentals.

Beyond the US, expect a bigger percentage of this episode’s returns to come from overseas and especially the likes of Hong Kong and Japan, where street racing has a strong following (similarly-themed racer feature Initial D proved a sizeable hit in the region last year).

American teen Sean (Lucas Black) is sent to live with his dad in Tokyo after the latest in a string of incidents with the law concerning his reckless street racing. Despite halfhearted promises to change his ways, Sean gets involved with the Tokyo underground and its loose women, shady mobsters and illegal car racing.

Though certainly aimed at the hyperactive teen audience – almost every scene includes thumping hip-hop music on the soundtrack, shots of scantily-clad young Asian women or adrenaline-mad car chases – director Justin Lin (Better Luck Tomorrow), in his first job at the helm of a big-budget summer film, supplies Tokyo Drift with a stylish, kinetic sheen that never feels gratuitous.

While providing plenty of action, Lin crafts the movie as a B-movie noir, pitting outsider Sean against a group of Japanese thugs who would not seem out of place in a Humphrey Bogart picture. Cinematographer Stephen F Windon adds to the film’s sense of tawdry danger by imbuing Tokyo with an exotic, vaguely sinister aura.

Tokyo’s brightest attraction, however, is Black’s rugged, sexy performance. With his Deep South accent and easy smile, Black makes Sean both cocky and self-depreciating, instilling a stock bad-kid-with-a-good-heart role with ample charisma. Including his turns in Friday Night Lights and Jarhead, he has consistently shown an unassuming star appeal that certainly makes him worth following.

But while Lin and Black both make the most of their moment, Tokyo Drift is weighed down by the franchise’s slavish need to have everything be bigger and louder than the earlier films. Though several of the driving sequences are stunningly executed, they grow monotonous as Lin struggles to find new angles and tricks for shooting one automobile in pursuit of another.

Also problematic are Sean’s confrontations with local tough guy DK (a hammy Brian Tee), which veer off into silly cliché when DK’s uncle (an intimidating mob boss played by JJ Sonny Chiba) enters the film more than halfway through. What starts off as a high-octane, superficial coming-of-age action drama awkwardly then evolves into a would-be adult crime thriller, and the skin-deep characters do not have the weight to pull off the tonal shift.

Obviously a film bearing the title The Fast And The Furious simply needs to provide sufficient crashes and chases to satisfy its target audience. But even though Lin and Black give this latest installment much more vitality than one would reasonably expect, it’s ultimately disappointing that they’re trapped in an overly familiar summer blockbuster. Hopefully, they’ll team up in a newer model next time out.

Production companies
Universal Pictures
Neal H. Moritz Production

US distribution
Universal Pictures

International distribution
UIP

Executive producers
Clayton Townsend
Ryan Kavanaugh
Lynwood Spinks

Producer
Neal H Moritz

Screenplay
Chris Morgan

Cinematography
Stephen F Windon

Editor
Fred Raskin
Kelly Matsumoto

Production design
Ida Random

Music
Brian Tyler

Main cast
Lucas Black
Bow Wow
Nathalie Kelley
Brian Tee
Sung Kang
Leonard Nam
Brian Goodman
JJ Sonny Chiba

[Brian Thibodeau]

Also noticed Jimmy Lin's in this, according to the credits over at IMDB.com. And Vin Diesel, according to the latest commercials popping up.