The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift

It ultimately goes without saying that The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift is unable to live up to the promise of its surprisingly engaging opening half hour, as director Justin Lin, working from Chris Morgan’s screenplay, inevitably bogs the proceedings down with elements that couldn’t possibly be less interesting (including a hopelessly uninvolving love triangle and several thoroughly dull training sequences). The storyline follows rebellious American teenager Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) as he’s shipped off to Tokyo following a high-profile arrest, although it’s not long before Sean finds himself embroiled in the bustling city’s underground street racing scene. There’s little doubt that Lin does a nice job of initially offsetting the familiarity of the plot by playing up the title locale’s inherently exotic nature, and it’s awfully difficult not to get a kick out of the filmmaker’s penchant for incorporating recognizable Tokyo landmarks into the narrative (eg Sean and a racing opponent “drift” through the city’s famed Shibuya crossing). It’s only as the film enters its increasingly stagnant midsection that the viewer’s interest is seriously tested, as Morgan plum runs out of interesting things for the various characters to do and, in a blatant effort at killing time before the final showdown, subjects them to a series of aggressively tedious episodes and confrontations. The oppressive build-up ultimately does dampen the effectiveness of the climactic race, although – bottom line – the movie’s striking setting and compelling lead performance ensure that it remains a slight cut above its immediate predecessor.

**1/2 out of ****