The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)

I was fortunate enough to see an advance screening of the film last night. I'm not usually one to seek out action films but this one seemed different. First of all, the setting was intriguing. Secondly, trailer made it out to be a fun summer flick. And guess what? It delivers. I would strongly recommend this movie to be seen in a theater as opposed to DVD for one huge reason: the audience. I can't remember the last time I was in a movie theater laughing, cheering, and gasping with everyone else. That environment is what these movies are made for. I loved the first fifteen minutes of the film. From the creepy pep rally to the metal detectors, the film was able to slip a little social commentary. The first race in the construction site was not only amazing but a great comment on capitalism. Even if the rest of the film doesn't quite live up to the beginning it doesn't matter. The film flows effortlessly and what would have been contrived just feels real. I know these films get all the feminists all up in arms but hey, beautiful girls exist in this world and the way it's shot it never feels exploitive. Enough of the politics. Grab a few friends and try to watch it with a sellout crowd. You won't be disappointed.

The Movie:

Sean Boswell is an outsider who attempts to define himself as a hot-headed, underdog street racer. Although racing provides a temporary escape from an unhappy home and the superficial world around him, it has also made Sean unpopular with the local authorities. To avoid jail time, Sean is sent to live with his gruff, estranged father, a career military-man stationed in Tokyo. Now officially a gaijin (outsider), Sean feels even more shut out in a land of foreign customs and codes of honor. But it doesn't take long for him to find some action when a fellow American buddy, Twinkie, introduces him to the underground world of drift racing. Sean's simple drag racing gets replaced by a rubber-burning, automotive art form with an exhilarating balance of speeding and gliding through a heart-stopping course of hairpin turns and switchbacks. On his first time out drifting, Sean unknowingly takes on D.K., the "Drift King," a local champ with ties to the Japanese crime machine Yakuza. Sean's loss comes at a high price tag when he's forced to work off the debt under the thumb of ex-pat, Han. Han soon welcomes Sean into this family of misfits and introduces him to the real principles of drifting. But when Sean falls for D.K.'s girlfriend, Neela, an explosive series of events is set into motion, climaxing with a high stakes face off.

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