The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

This drifter is not exactly what I had in mind or to put it mildly, I just was not in the frame of mind for a such. Nor will I ever for that matter. Meaning, I prefer a summer-breeze drifter cruise down French coast or a Sport Utility Vehicle drifter which I had myself already without films or reality shows of this kind. Walker is dreadful even for Johnny handsome and Vin Diesel is completely cancelled due to his nonsense of prefering an erased Beyonce's shape and an erased musical opus.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift was prime evidence that the franchise desperately needed a makeover. Not only did it dispose of its popular protagonist in exchange for a cheap lookalike, but also, aside from a couple cool race scenes, it's really just a huge mess. The plot simply advances because the writers need it to, there aren't any real substantial plot elements that keep the audience involved. The story itself seems just like a rehash of any classic gang feud film, and it comes as no surprise to me that the franchise was turned towards high-octane heist films. That transition was definitely for the better, because this formula quickly ran thin.Not even a quick appearance from Vin Diesel could save this film, as his appearance only served to up audience ratings before its release. It may seem like a cool little nod to the previous films, but it doesn't make me care about this new character any more than I already didn't. The film's look is extremely dated, even for 2006. It felt like a real step back from 2 Fast 2 Furious, rather than a revolutionization of the series. I wouldn't have minded Paul Walker's absence if these characters could have held their own, but sadly they just fall flat before the story can even pick up steam.This is probably my least favorite entry in the franchise, and not because Paul Walker wasn't in it. While his absence didn't help matters, the story as a whole felt very uneven and didn't flow through very well. It was pretty unbelievable at times as well, not because of the stunts, but because of the plot itself. Certain things happen just for the sake of happening, with no real substance or process shown in between. It's too convenient to be a good film, despite the stylish driving tactics. Drifting car races are the highlights of the film, but everything in between is just too pointless and shallow to make this a good film. It's a mediocre at best effort, and the weakest entry in the franchise.

Constantly in trouble due to illegal racing, a high school senior named "Sean Boswell" (Lucas Black) is sent to live with his father who is in the military and stationed in Japan. When he gets there he immediately gravitates to a group of other students his age who are also involved in racing fast cars. However, because of the limited space in Tokyo the sport has changed to one that involves negotiating extremely tight corners in either an underground parking garage or a narrow road along the side of a mountain. The problem Sean has is not only that he is not used to this type of racing—known as drift racing--but also that his main rival is an arrogant punk named "Takashi" (Brian Tee) who is extremely jealous whenever his girlfriend, "Neela" (Nathalie Kelley) even looks at another guy. And there is some definite chemistry between her and Sean. It also doesn't help that Takashi thinks he can do whatever he wants because his uncle, "Kamata" (Sonny Chiba) is a high-ranking member of the Yakuza. One other problem is that Takashi is also extremely good at drift racing. In any case, with all of these areas of disagreement it is only a matter of time before Sean and Takashi have it out and when they do the stakes will be very high. Now, rather than reveal any more I will just say that this movie certainly had some good moments here and there. Unfortunately, there were some scenes which were a little over-the-top and which caused the film to seem a bit uneven. That being the case, I rate this movie as about average and recommend it only to those who might enjoy a film of this type.

OK Now I'm on Tokyo Drift .... Let's see, What I like about TD is the introduction of H A N Z. I love him in this installment with his fine self. I love his calm cool demeanor and those eyes. Yes those eyes ... He came in and played himself it's not like he took on the role of any of the other characters but then again I guess that may have been part of being allowed to use the franchise name and continue to push out installments. Just in case the originals ever got on the same page and in agreement to all come back and do another installment. But this installment I like because of the "drifting". It was a fresh and new at the time and I thought it was some of the better drifting I'd ever seen had me wishing I could do that and wanting to move to Tokyo ....I'm such a big kid, I know LOL. I don't think Bow Wow brought anything to the line up or the franchise. He was like a Luda type character. All the while I'm sitting here typing this review I'm watching TD and other than the drifting and Hanz, it was not as good as I remember.