THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): **
In STUNT DRIVERS GONE WILD 3, a.k.a. THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT, the plot stays the same although the style of driving differs slightly this time and the setting is transplanted from American streets to the neon-lit world and claustrophobic parking garages of downtown Tokyo.
None of the original cast returns -- although, if you keep it between just you and me, I'll let you in on a secret. Moviegoers who don't walk out will have a very tiny treat in the form of a cameo appearance just before the ending credits roll. But trust me, if you're inclined to bolt, this "big surprise" will not be worth your waiting to see it.
Paul Walker isn't much of an actor, but, compared to Lucas Black, who replaces him as the new lead, Walker is a veritable Marlon Brando. Black looks and sounds like Walker but is as generic an actor as they come.
As a nominally bad boy named Sean Boswell, Black is, of course, really a good kid, even if the cops have run him out of three towns for his dangerous street racing. After being kicked out of the house by his mother, Sean goes to Tokyo to live with his father, who is in the Navy.
Although he sucks at it initially, Sean eventually learns how to drift around the turns in the "cute little toy" cars all the kids drive in Japan. The style of driving has the driver pulling up on the emergency brake as he makes the turns.
Although there is a minimal story about the rivalry between Sean and DK (Brian Tee), a street-smart kid with a Mafia uncle, the only reason to see the film is the eye candy of the fast driving, of which there just isn't nearly enough to make up for the price of admission. There is also a very standard story about DK's girl (Nathalie Kelley), who, of course, falls for Sean.
The movie is loud, with bright, bold colors, and has ever-present music with an intense beat like Godzilla's heart. It also has plenty of clichéd thoughts to share, such as, "Life's simple. You make choices, and you don't look back." Well, when you choose to do the third version of the same story and all it has going for it is some minimally interesting racing, then you should give us a lot more racing and not the painfully awkward moments in which talentless actors drone on and on, waiting for the cars to crank up.
THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT runs 1:40. The film is in English and in Japanese with English subtitles. It is rated PG-13 for "reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content" and would be acceptable for kids around 12 and up.
The film is playing in nationwide release now in the United States. In the Silicon Valley, it is showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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