The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift landed in 2006 as the third entry in a franchise that had already changed coasts once. Universal Pictures put it in U.S. theaters on June 16. Justin Lin directed it, Chris Morgan wrote it, and it runs 104 minutes.
It is the lowest-grossing film in the franchise, at $159 million worldwide. Metacritic scores it 45 out of 100. That number is the publication’s own, and it is a fair one.
Trailer, via The Fast Saga.
Sean Boswell and the 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo
The film opens in Oro Valley, Arizona, where high school troublemaker Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) races classmate Clay in a 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo against Clay’s 2003 Dodge Viper SRT-10. They ram each other. Clay crashes into a cylinder pipe. Sean wins the race and wrecks his Monte Carlo.
Clay’s family wealth gets him out of trouble. Sean, a repeat offender, is sent to Tokyo to live with his father, a U.S. Navy lieutenant, to avoid jail time. That premise is the film’s best idea, and it spends the rest of its runtime failing to use it.
Twinkie and the Hulk-Themed Volkswagen Touran
Sean befriends military brat Twinkie (Shad Moss), who introduces him to drift racing and drives a 2005 Hulk-themed Volkswagen Touran to an underground car meet. There, Sean confronts Takashi, the “Drift King” (Brian Tee), over Takashi’s girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelley).
Sean agrees to race Takashi’s Nissan 350Z in a Nissan Silvia S15 lent to him by retired drift racer Han Lue (Sung Kang). He loses and severely damages the Silvia because he does not know how to drift. To repay the debt, he agrees to work for Han, who teaches him.
The film explains that Han stood up to Takashi because Takashi’s uncle Kamata is a member of the yakuza. Sean masters drifting in a 2003 Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII and gains respect after defeating Takashi’s lieutenant, Morimoto (Leonardo Nam).
Neela, Kamata and the Gun
Sean asks Neela out. She explains that after her mother died, she moved in with Takashi’s grandmother. Takashi assaults Sean the next day and warns him off Neela. She leaves Takashi for Sean and Han’s place.
Kamata then reprimands Takashi for letting Han steal from him. Takashi and Morimoto confront Han, Sean and Neela. Takashi threatens Han with a gun. Twinkie creates a distraction, and the three flee.
That is the plot. What the film does with it is the problem.
Sung Kang Is the Only Actor Working
Sung Kang gives Han Lue a stillness the rest of the cast cannot match, and the franchise kept him around. Lucas Black, by contrast, plays Sean as a sullen blank, and Nathalie Kelley’s Neela is written as a prize two men fight over rather than a person.
The screenplay by Chris Morgan is the real failure. It moves Sean from Arizona to Tokyo in minutes and never asks what it costs him. The yakuza subplot arrives late and leaves much unexplained. Takashi threatens with a gun, but the film never gives the audience a reason for his actions beyond jealousy.
The Drift Sequences Earn Their Place
The driving is the one thing Tokyo Drift gets right. The drift sequences in the low-rent sections of Tokyo are shot with real weight, and the film’s tagline — “On the streets of Tokyo, speed needs no translation” — is the rare marketing line the movie half-deserves.
The franchise’s longtime association with Lin, Morgan, Kang and composer Brian Tyler starts here. That is the film’s clearest mark. As a movie, it is a 104-minute audition reel.
It premiered at Gibson Amphitheatre in Los Angeles on June 4, 2006. It is set between Fast & Furious 6 and Furious 7. Some critics have since warmed to it. The warmth is misplaced. This one is the proof of concept, not the payoff.
The Numbers
- Release: June 16, 2006 (US), Universal Pictures
- Premiere: June 4, 2006, Gibson Amphitheatre, Los Angeles
- Director: Justin Lin
- Writer: Chris Morgan
- Runtime: 104 minutes
- Worldwide gross: $159 million — lowest in the franchise
- Metacritic: 45/100
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