The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Directed by Justin Lin. Starring Lucas Black, Sung Kang, Brian Tee, Nathalie Kelley, Shad “Lil’ Bow Wow” Moss, Brian Goodman, Sonny Chiba, Leonardo Nam, Zachery Ty Bryan, Nikki Griffin, Lynda Boyd. [PG-13]

After getting busted for racing Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor’s kid, American teen Black is shipped off to Tokyo to live with his Naval officer father (Goodman); there he attracts the attention of a girl (Kelley) who looks like she came from Japanese High School Musical, and her flat-nosed boyfriend (Tee), whose uncle (Chiba) has powerful Yakuza ties. Third outing has little connection to the rest of the series—at least, until a little retconning was done—but offers much of the same thing one has come to expect from the franchise: sleek autos, bare mid-riffs, incessant soundtrack cues, instructions to turn off the brain, etc. Lame, barely-existent plot spends way too much time away from revving engines; of the cast, only Kang’s zen calm style is worth positive notice. The drifting scenes are sometimes engaging, except when mediocre CGI and aggressive editing spoil the fun (good luck figuring out what the heck happens during the last minute or so of the climactic chase). Even though it was and still is the least successful Fast and Furious movie—and nearly killed the then-flimsy franchise—director Lin proved the best fit yet, and was brought back for the next three entries. (Not much of) a surprise cameo pops up at the end for those who stick around that long.

37/100