Tokyo Drift, a Fast film that doesn’t land on the same level as the first film… being with a different everything – from director, main character, and setting, it does not give that same vibe. First, the representation of the Japanese street racing scene was well represented. Though, I hated the main character, Sean Boswell (played by Lucas Black). At first, I assumed he was supposed to be the younger version of Brian O’Connor (the role Paul Walker held in the Fast and Furious series, while also my favorite character), but it wasn’t that. He was just a real lame protagonist with no interesting aspects to him. At least, to Brian.
While having a good racing rep, and a bad main character, the film’s soundtrack is very well thought out. It includes artists like Teriyaki Boyz, DJ Shadow with Mos Def, N.E.R.D., The 5.6.7.8’s, Slash, Don Omar with Tego Calderon, and way more. If it’s one thing first few of the Fast films had, it was always an amazing sound. I take music very seriously – so that’s even why I’m truly ecstatic on the soundtrack discussion.
My favorite character from the film, and also another one of my favorite characters in the series, is Han Lue. He’s another one of the main characters in the film, and a nice guy with a great car. I loved Han more than Sean, being that he was (spoiler but not really) Sean’s mentor in learning how to drift,
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, Sean and Neela
and to beat the current Drift King. Han is not an original Fast character, by the way. Director Justin Lin grabbed him from one of his older projects, ‘Better Luck Tomorrow’. Would I recommend this film…? If you liked seeing Sung Kang, sure. But as an actual film, probably not. It is not for everyone, and that’s okay.
Overall, there were very few things that I took from the movie and enjoyed, and the rest I did not. As someone who is a real fan of the Fast series (not totally all of it), I was just truly disappointed when this came out. It wasn’t what I expected at all. If I was a director and was ever asked to rework this film – I would. Maybe… but then again, I’m not a director…
Leave a Reply