Testosterone Overdrive
Lucas Black (the kid from the "American Gothic" TV series and the "X-Files" movie) has matured into a charismatic young actor with a brooding screen presence. He does a terrific job picking up the franchise torch from Vin Diesel and Paul Walker in this killer sequel, a well crafted guilty pleasure that delivers the Fast and Furious goods.
Sexy, colorful, edgy, expertly paced, with a great opening sequence and a knockout ending, "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is formula genre filmmaking at its absolute finest. The movie has a beautiful female lead (Nathalie Kelley), cool sidekicks, wonderfully over the top villains, and a great setting (the filmmakers do a great job utilizing the Tokyo locations).
This movie is a real rush of adrenaline. A wicked guilty pleasure that lives up to its title.
won't win any awards, but quite entertaining and well put together
The cast in this movie was extremely well chosen, and they all acted very well. Sean is a reckless, charming, somewhat troubled teenager, but he doesn't come across as stupid and careless--despite his angst and frequent bungles, he is immediately likable. When a car race with a peer at his school results in two wrecked cars and extensive damage to a local construction site, the only alternative he has to jail is to move to Tokyo and live with a relative (his father, I thought, but maybe his uncle...).
In Tokyo, Sean quickly discovers the racing scene. After trashing a race car, he has no choice but to work for Han, the car's owner, as compensation. Han is by far the best character in this movie, to the point that he seems out of place--you just don't expect a character THAT good in this sort of action flick. Han is a whimsical, philosophical and intense character. He completely upstages Sean and almost from the first moment you see him, calmly eating his chips while...
Revved Up
Loud, Brash, Noisy, Sexy, Morally Murky, Bursting with Energy and Guts, Justin Lin's (the terrific "Better Luck Tomorrow") take on episode 3 of the "Fast and Furious" franchise is a great way to spend a hot Summer afternoon along with a gallon size soft drink and a tub of Popcorn.
Here Lin is in Tokyo with the stoic, deadpan line reading Lucas Black (as the booted out of the US to avoid Juvenile detention, Shane Boswell...a car nut addicted to driving fast and grinning like a Cheshire cat) who, of course finds the local car culture and its inhabitants by way of a school pal, Twinkie played by the appealing Bow-Wow. And he just as quickly falls in with the "wrong crowd" consisting of Han, a sort of Sensei to Shane (the enigmatic and excellent Sung Kang from "Face" and "Better Luck Tomorrow"), and the villain of the piece, Yamata played with his face crunched and a constant sneer by Sonny Chiba. Then there is the lovely Neela (Nathalie Kelley...a dead ringer for FFI's...
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