Branching away from any original cast members of the first two films, thankfully, Tokyo Drift provides a refreshingly new look to the franchise.
Tokyo Drift is possibly my favourite of the series, or at least its up there with the first film; it only has a few problems that can be swept under the "It's Fast and the Furious, what do you expect" carpet. The story follows American "teenager" Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) whose reckless driving lands him prison time, but to avoid this he moves in with his father in Tokyo. He attempts to move on a dangerous rival's girl, and must become a competitor in the street racing's drifting scene.
I say "teenager" as that's what IMDb says, and he does go to school in the movie
but honestly, he's the oldest teen I've ever seen. Along with every other "teen" in this movie! While I talk negatives, the majority of the film is set in Tokyo yet 95% of the dialogue is English and Sean has a knack of meeting every foreigner in the city. I don't mind this so much, but I fully expect all of the Japanese characters to speak Japanese, especially when Sean isn't present!
But, unlike 2 Fast 2 Furious (choke) this film actually cares for its characters and their personalities (as Sean says early on: "It's not about the ride, it's about the rider") from Sean's fish-out-of- water acceptance, to his mentor Han's closet of skeletons. The villain isn't ridiculous either, his uncle is part of the Yakuza and he has a serious "king of a little hill" problem. Again unlike 2 Fast 2 Furious (gag) the cars have never looked better, sleek and refined and the drifting action is spectacular, especially when synchronized. Plus, no CGI, just skilled professional drivers, making the film worth seeing solely for the racing.
There's no stupid Tyrese Gibson mugging at the camera, no rats in buckets, no CGI, just an entertaining (albeit poorly localized) flick featuring excellent car racing and professional stunts.
