The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search "Tokyo Drift" redirects here. For 1966 Japanese crime film, see Tokyo Drifter. This article's plot summary may be too long or excessively detailed. Please help improve it by removing unnecessary details and making it more concise. (August 2012) The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Theatrical release poster Directed by Justin Lin Produced by Neal H. Moritz Written by Chris Morgan Based on characters by by Gary Scott Thompson Starring Lucas Black Sung Kang Bow Wow Brian Tee Nathalie Kelley Jason Tobin Vin Diesel Music by Brian Tyler Cinematography Stephen F. Windon Editing by Kelly Matsumoto Dallas Puett Fred Raskin Studio Relativity Media Original Film Munich Pape Filmproductions Distributed by Universal Pictures Release date(s) June 4, 2006 (Universal City, California) June 15, 2006 (Australia) June 16, 2006 (United States and United Kingdom) Running time 104 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $85 million (est)[1] Box office $158,468,292[2] The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is a 2006 Japanese-American illegal street racing action film directed by Justin Lin. It is the third installment in the Fast and the Furious film series and the final installment chronologically. The film, featuring an all-new cast, was shot in Tokyo, and parts of Los Angeles, the latter often covered with props and lights to create the illusion of the Tokyo style. While Paul Walker and the rest of the actors from the original series are not in the film, Vin Diesel reprises his role as Dominic Toretto in a cameo at the end of the film, in a 1970 Plymouth Satellite with Roadrunner and GTX trim appearance. Contents 1 Plot 2 Cast 3 Reception 3.1 Box office 3.2 Critical reaction 3.3 Cameos 3.4 Technical 4 Soundtrack 5 References 6 See also 7 External links Plot 17-year old Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is a social outcast from Alabama in his high school in Arizona with a passion for vehicles. His parents got divorced when he was young, and he has a police record due to reckless driving with two offenses. To avoid solitary confinement, he and his mother move frequently. One afternoon after school, a local rich student named Clay (Zachary Ty Bryan), mocks Sean's 1971 Chevrolet Monte Carlo after seeing him talk to Clay's girlfriend, Cindy. Sean insults him about his "daddy's Viper", which causes Clay to throw a baseball to shatter the rear windshield of Sean's Monte Carlo. Sean challenges Clay to a street race, and Cindy offers herself as the prize. The racetrack is set at a construction site. Sean drives through an alley to catch up, and he drives through an unfinished house. He passes Clay, who retaliates by trying to run him off the road, damaging his Viper in the process. Sean T-bones Clay and he crashes into a cement pipe, but Sean loses control and he flips over several times, totaling his car. Only Sean is charged for illegal street racing and property damage. Because of his numerous brushes with the law in the past and tired of moving away all the time, Sean's mother sends him to Tokyo, to live with his dad, who is stationed there as a Navy officer. Upon arriving at his dad's home, he is warned by his dad not to stir up any trouble, and to not go anywhere near a car or he'll get deported back to the United States to go to jail. At his new school, Sean meets Twinkie (Bow Wow), an extremely business-minded fellow American immigrant, who sells pre-owned goods around the school, and he drives a custom-designed, but odd Hulk-themed 2004 Volkswagen Touran van. Twinkie introduces Sean to the drift racing scene in Tokyo at the parking lot reserved for street racers and audience. On the lot, Sean has a verbal confrontation with Takashi (Brian Tee) – also known as "Drift King" or DK, because he was talking to DK's girlfriend, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), whom Sean met earlier in school. After the confrontation, Takashi challenges Sean to a race, and Han Seul-Oh (Sung Kang), Takashi's business partner, lends him his Nissan Silvia S-15. Due to Sean's lack of knowledge on how to drift, he is defeated by Takashi's Nissan 350Z and his skills, and destroys the Silvia. Han warns him not to leave town. Sean is also confronted by his father, and Sean agrees again to stay away from racing. The next day, Han meets Sean after school with his Mazda RX7 (Veilside edition) and tells him that he must work for him to repay for the damage to his vehicle. Han becomes Sean's friend and teaches him to drift, giving him a Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution IX (with the WRC tuning) to represent Han in future races. Han explains to him that he is helping him because Sean is the only one who is unafraid of Takashi (calling him DK's "kryptonite"). Sean leaves his dad's house and bunks with Han, and learns that Han arrived in Tokyo to prevent conviction also. Sean soon masters drifting and gains some reputation after racing Takashi's right-hand man, Morimoto, and winning against him. Sean soon asks Neela out on a date, and learns she is an outsider because, when her mom arrived in Tokyo, she worked as a barmaid. After she died, DK's grandparents took Neela in, and she hooked up with DK. DK beats up Sean the next day, telling him to stay away from Neela. Angry after seeing Sean's bruises, Neela leaves Takashi, moving into Han's garage. One evening, Takashi's uncle Kamata (Sonny Chiba), a high-ranking member of the local yakuza, visits him and informs Takashi that the business is not meeting expectations, and Takashi realizes that Han has been nabbing some of his merchandise. Later that night, Takashi and Morimoto arrive at Han's garage and confront Han, Sean, and Neela about the goods, and Takashi pulls out his gun and theatens to shoot at Han. Twinkie causes a distraction, and Han, Sean and Neela use the moment to escape from the garage, with Morimoto and Takashi in close pursuit. The driving continues throughout the Tokyo community, with Han in the lead, Sean and Neela behind him, with Morimoto and Takashi chasing them. Morimoto closes up and tries to T-bone Sean over the road, but he misses, avoiding traffic and collides with an oncoming driver, killing him instantly. Takashi continues along, and he manages to catch up with Sean, ramming him over the road. Han slams the brakes, switching the tables, with Sean heading on the front. Sean tries to help Han, but he finds himself in front of the large Shibuya square, honking to move the crowd, making a line to drift around the next corner. Takashi uses the moment and pulls an 180 spin, shooting on Han's windshield. Sean, noticing this, doesn't look at the traffic, and another driver rear-ends him. Meanwhile, Han pushes Takashi out of the road, and an oncoming car colides with him, flipping him over several times. Sean tries to help him, but Han's Mazda explodes, killing Han in the process. Horrified by this event, Sean and Neela retreat and get back to where Sean's dad lives, but Takashi shows up and attacks Sean. Sean gets the upper hand, but Takashi pulls his gun on him. Sean's father shows up on the scene, forcing Takashi to leave with Neela. Sean's father demands that Sean return to the United States, but Sean insists on staying to make things right. With help from Twinkie, Sean goes to the Yakuza neighborhood and returns Kamata's stolen money. Sean then proposes a race against Takashi to determine who will leave Tokyo. Kamata agrees to the challenge, but it will take place on DK's mountain, because he has been the only one to make it down all the way. The next day, Sean and Han's friends check Han's garage, but find that the police confiscated all of their cars, except for the Silva Sean crashed. Sean takes the 1967 Ford Mustang GT which his dad found, and remodels it with the help of Twinkie and the rest of the crew, using the engine components of Han's Silvia. The group restores the Mustang to the original shape. On the mountain, Han's crew and Takashi's crew show up, gathering signal through local video calls to watch the race. Kamata shows up with Neela. One of Kamata's men gives the signal to start the race. Although Takashi takes the lead in front, Sean passes him a couple of times, to which Takashi responds by ramming him multiple times, trying to scare him off the mountain road. As the race progresses, Takashi almost totals his car trying to stop Sean from winning, but Sean gains the lead at the end of the race, managing to turn just before finish line as Takashi tries to ram him, sending Takashi off the cliff. As Takashi's crew pulls him from the totaled car, Sean crosses the finish line. Neela reunites with Sean, and Kamata lets them both go. Months later, Sean is now the Drift King. One night, Twinkie informs Sean that he has a challenger to a race who has become well known around Asia. Sean accepts when Twinkie says the challenger knew Han, and that he was family to him. The challenger turns out to be none other than Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel), who is driving "the Hammer", an old custom-built silver 1970 Plymouth Satellite. Sean, driving a Nissan Silvia like Han's - already knowing Dominic's reputation - tells him that this won't be a ten second race. Dominic responds with a smile and says that he has nothing but time. The film ends as both cars race off towards the first straight. Cast Main article: List of The Fast and the Furious characters Lucas Black as Sean Boswell, a 17 year old social outcast interested in illegal street racing. Sung Kang as Han Seoul-Oh, Takashi's business partner (and old friend of Dominic Toretto) who befriends Sean and teaches him how to drift Bow Wow as Twinkie. He is Sean's first friend who he meets in Tokyo and who sells hustled American goods to classmates and introduces Sean to drifting. Brian Tee as Takashi/"Drift King"/DK who is the illegal street racing champion prepared to humiliate Sean. Nathalie Kelley as Neela, an Australian who is Takashi's girlfriend, but later on falls for Sean. Jason Tobin as Earl, one of Han's friends. Keiko Kitagawa as Reiko, Earl's friend. Sonny Chiba as Kamata, Takashi's uncle, a local high-ranking Yakuza member. Leonardo Nam as Morimoto, Takashi's closest friend and right hand man. Brian Goodman as Lieutenant Boswell, Sean's dad who works as a naval officer. Lynda Boyd as Ms. Boswell, Sean's mom, who, fed up with moving her and Sean around, sends him to Tokyo, to live with his dad. Zachery Ty Bryan as Clay, the football quarterback of Sean's school whom Sean challenges at the beginning of the film. Nikki Griffin as Cindy, Clay's girlfriend, who suggests that Clay and Sean compete to win her. Keiichi Tsuchiya as an old man fishing at the wharf Shuichi Shigeno as an old man fishing at the wharf Vin Diesel as Dominic Toretto, who makes an uncredited cameo appearance at the end of the film. Lee Black as the young sheriff's deputy.[3] Reception Box office Despite mixed reviews, Tokyo Drift brought in over $24 million on its opening weekend. The movie itself was in limited release in Japan (released under the name Wild Speed 3). As of January 28, 2007, the domestic box office take has totalled $62,514,415 with another $95,953,877 from the foreign box office, resulting in total receipts of $158,468,292.[2] Tokyo Drift grossed lower than its predecessor films. Critical reaction The film received largely mixed reviews from critics. The film holds a rating of 35% on Rotten Tomatoes[4] and a score of 46 out of 100 on Metacritic.[5] Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times praised the film, giving it three out of four stars, saying that director Justin Lin "takes an established franchise and makes it surprisingly fresh and intriguing," adding that Tokyo Drift is "more observant than we expect" and that "the story [is] about something more than fast cars."[6] Michael Sragow of the Baltimore Sun felt that "the opening half-hour may prove to be a disreputable classic of pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking."[7] Kirk Honeycutt of The Hollywood Reporter said that "it's not much of a movie, but a hell of a ride."[8] Michael Medved gave Tokyo Drift one and a half stars out of four, saying: "There’s no discernible plot [...] or emotion or humor."[9] James Berardinelli from Reel Views also gave it one and a half stars out of four, saying: "I expect a racing film to be derivative. That goes with the territory. No one is seeing a Fast and the Furious movie for the plot. When it comes to eye candy, the film is on solid ground—it offers plenty of babes and cars (with the latter being more lovingly photographed than the former). However, it is unacceptable that the movie's action scenes (races and chases) are boring and incoherent. If the movie can't deliver on its most important asset, what's the point?"[10] Richard Roeper strongly criticized of the film saying, "The whole thing is preposterous. The acting is so awful, some of the worst performances I've seen in a long, long time."[11] Similarly, Peter Travers of Rolling Stone said that Tokyo Drift "suffers from blurred vision, motor drag and a plot that's running on fumes. Look out for a star cameo—it’s the only surprise you'll get from this heap."[12] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle said: "[The main character] has no plan and no direction, just a blind desire to smash up automobiles and steal a mobster's girlfriend. [...] As for the racing scenes, who cares about the finesse move of drifting, compared to going fast? And who wants to watch guys race in a parking lot? For that matter, who wants to watch guys race down a mountain, with lots of turns?"[13] Cameos Vin Diesel reprises his role as Dominic Toretto, claiming to be a friend of Han. In the 2009 film Fast & Furious, the opening scene shows Toretto and Han working together to hijack fuel tankers in the Dominican Republic. Also, in the 2011 film Fast Five, Han reappears as a member of their crew along with many other former cast members. Paul Walker was asked to star but he turned it down due to other projects and Universal decided to get a new cast and a new script. Real-life "Drift King" and drift pioneer Keiichi Tsuchiya also makes an appearance during the scenes where Lucas Black (Sean Boswell) is learning how to drift. He appears as an old fisherman who makes a side comment on Sean's lack of proper drift technique, which is obviously an inside joke. Drift driver Rhys Millen can be seen talking to a Japanese couple during the transition from America to Japan. Keiko Kitagawa makes an appearance in the film as Earl's friend "Reiko". Kitagawa, known primarily for her role in Pretty Guardian Sailor Moon (a live action Sailor Moon series from 2003-2004) where she played Rei Hino a.k.a. Sailor Mars, makes her first appearance in an American action film. This is the second movie in the franchise not to star Vin Diesel, and the only one not to star Paul Walker. Diesel's cameo appearance was uncredited. Technical The S15 Silvia which Black's character trashes in his first race in Japan is depicted as having an RB26DETT engine swap which itself is donated to the Mustang. However, the car was actually powered by the S15's base SR20DET engine.[14] The Veilside Fortune body-kitted RX-7 driven by Sung Kang's character was originally built by Veilside for the 2005 Tokyo Auto Salon but was later bought by Universal and repainted (the original was dark red, not orange and black like in the film).[15] The car in which Vin Diesel's character appears at the end of the film is a highly customized 1970 Plymouth Satellite, Steven Strope's "Hammer", built for the SEMA show. It started life as a Satellite, but now is a GTX clone. SCC tested the cars of the film, and noted that the cars in Tokyo Drift were slightly faster in an acceleration match up with the cars from 2 Fast 2 Furious.[16] Notable drifting personalities Keiichi Tsuchiya, Rhys Millen, and Samuel Hubinette were consulted and employed by the movie to provide and execute the drifting and driving stunts in the film.[17] Tanner Foust, Rich Rutherford, Calvin Wan, and Alex Pfeiffer were also brought in when it was revealed that none of Universal's own stunt drivers could drift.[18] Some racing events were filmed within the Hawthorne Mall parking lot in Los Angeles.[19] Toshi Hayama was also brought in to keep elements of the film portrayed correctly after being contacted by Roger Fan, an old high school friend that starred in Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow, the organizers of the Japanese series, and his former boss at A'PEXi. Among them are keeping certain references in check (the usage of nitrous oxide in straights but not in turns, keeping the usage of references from sponsors to a minimum, etc.).[20] Hayama also jokes that a prop car was "stolen" by some of the action stars who took the car for an impromptu "Drift Session" from which the car never returned.[18] Soundtrack Main articles: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (soundtrack) and The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift (Original Motion Picture Score) References ^ "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - Box Office Data". The Numbers. Retrieved 29 July 2011. ^ a b "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift - Box Office Mojo". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 29 July 2011. ^ DVD commentary from director ^ "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift reviews". Rotten Tomatoes. Flixster. ^ "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift reviews". Metacritic. CBS. ^ "Review, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times, June 16, 2006 ^ Review by Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun ^ Review by Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter ^ Review, Michael Medved, MichaelMedved.com, 21 June 2006 ^ Review, James Berardinelli, Reel Views ^ Review, Richard Roper, rottentomatoes.com, July 18, 2006[dead link] ^ Review, Peter Travers, Rolling Stone ^ Review, Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle ^ "IGN Cars: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Car of the Day: Han's S15." IGN Cars Accessed June 19, 2006 ^ "IGN Cars: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Car of the Day: VeilSide RX-7." IGN Cars Accessed June 19, 2006 ^ Sport Compact Car "Fast, Furious, & Drifting" By John Pearley Huffman July 2006 Pg. 56-92 ^ "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Video 1535879". IGN. News Corporation. ^ a b Wong, Jonathan. "Interrogation Room: What up, Toshi?" Super Street, September 2006, pg. 116 ^ Drift and Driven: The drivers, stunts and stuntmen of The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift ^ Interrogation Room: What up, Toshi? by Jonathan Wong Super Street September 2006, pgs. 144-118 See also