The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

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The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Poster for the film
Directed by	Justin Lin
Produced by	Neal H. Moritz
Written by	Chris Morgan
Starring	Lucas Black Bow Wow Zachery Bryan Sung Kang Brian Tee Jason Tobin Leonardo Nam Nathalie Kelley Keiko Kitagawa
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Jan Kiesser Stephen F. Windon
Editing by	Dallas Puett Fred Raskin
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	June 16, 2006
Running time	104 min
Language	English
Preceded by	2 Fast 2 Furious
IMDb profile

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (also known as F&F:TD and Wild Speed X3 TOKYO DRIFT in Japan) is a 2006 motion picture directed by Justin Lin and the 3rd installment of The Fast and the Furious film series. The film features an all-new cast and a different setting (Tokyo, Japan) from the previous two films. The movie was shot in Tokyo and in Little Tokyo, Los Angeles, the latter often covered with props and lights to create the illusion of the Tokyo style.

In the movie, we meet Sean (Lucas Black). After getting himself into more trouble than he or his mother can get him out of, he is sent to live with his father, a Navy officer who is stationed in Tokyo, Japan. Sean meets new friends and learns a new way to race, at the same time gaining a few enemies. Testing his patience and skill, he learns courage and gains respect from his friends and his father.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Featured cars 3 Pre-release speculation and leaks 4 Reactions 4.1 Box office performance 4.2 Critics' response 5 Production Notes 5.1 Cameos 5.2 Technical 6 Soundtrack 7 References

[edit] Plot

Sean (Lucas Black) is sent to Tokyo to live with his father, stationed in Japan as a U.S Naval Officer, after a street racing incident in the United States almost lands him in jail. He is introduced into the world of drifting after a chance encounter with another expat, Twinkie (Bow Wow), a hustler who sells American goods to the Japanese.

However, Sean runs into Takashi, or DK, short for Drift King, (Brian Tee) and his business partner Han (Sung Kang). Sean challenges DK to a race, where DK ends up winning in a blowout. Afterwards, Han tells Sean that he will be working with him to pay off the car that Sean smashed in the race with DK. Sean later finds out more about his friends, namely Han being involved in a business partnership with DK, a "wannabe" Yakuza.

Sean gets involved with Neela (Nathalie Kelley) and his budding relationship with her puts him at odds with DK. Neela tells Sean that she and DK grew up together, and provides some insight to DK. Sean also slowly gains a reputation in the drifting scene after some tutelage and support (both financial and friendship) from Han and his gang of "misfits."

DK's uncle, Kamata, a high ranking Yakuza (portrayed by Sonny Chiba), tells him that there is a discrepancy in the books, and that Han must be cheating them out of money. DK confronts Han and his group, but Han, Sean & Neela flee. A car chase ensues through the Tokyo streets, where DK chases Han and causes Han's car to flip over and explode, killing him.

Sean attempts to make amends by appealing to DK's uncle by returning the money and offering to an honor race, where whoever loses is run out of town. The race is on a touge (mountain pass) that DK has the advantage on, because he's the only one to ever make it down to the bottom in one piece.

After a long race battle, Sean makes his way across the finish line, victorious, while DK survives a last-minute crash but suffering a humiliating defeat at the hands of Sean. DK's uncle tells Sean he is free to go, and DK presumably leaves Tokyo. (During the end credits, humorous photos of DK as a dairy farmer flash briefly onto the screen).

Later, Sean is hanging out in the underground parking lot with his friends and Twinkie comes up and tells him someone wants to race the new Drift King. The mystery car and driver pulls up and it's none other than Dominic Toretto (from the first "Fast and the Furious" movie). Toretto and Sean hold a brief conversation, with Toretto saying that Han was once riding with him. Neela counts off the race; the cars take off, and the movie ends without disclosing the race results.

[edit] Featured cars

The following cars are featured in the film:^[1]

Car	Color/Engine,Transmission etc.	Year	Driven by	Condition/Fate in Film
APR Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII GSR (Specially modified for rear wheel drive only)	Red/Black APR Sponsor Graphics	2006	Sean Boswell[2]	Driven by Sean when he was learning on how to drift. Wrecked by the incoming car on the side while fleeing before Han died, triggering few more cars crashing.
Ford Mustang Fastback	Dark Green/White Stripes. 2001 Nissan Skyline RB26 Engine. 1998 Nissan Skyline 5 speed 2WD Transmission. Brackets and Pulleys are Custom Fabricated.	1967	Sean Boswell[3]	RB26DETT engine from wrecked S15 (originally taken out of a Nissan Skyline GTR [2.6L Straight Six, Twin Turbo]). used in the last race between D.K. and Sean to see who would leave Tokyo.
Chevrolet Monte Carlo	Beige/Gray Primer ( Matte/Flat )	1970	Sean Boswell[4]	Rolled multiple times during race with Clay's Dodge Viper. Wrecked and landed upside down. Scrapped by Pima County Sheriff's Department following Sean's arrest.
C-West Nissan Silvia S15	Dark Blue/Orange	2000	Sean Boswell (originally Han)[5]	Major cosmetic and suspension damage due to Sean's inexperience with drifting. RB26DETT engine taken out of a Nissan Skyline GTR [2.6L Straight Six, Twin Turbo].
Veilside Mazda RX-8	Aqua/Blue/Black fade	2006	Neela[6]
Veilside #1 '02 Nissan 350Z	Grey with graphics	2006	D.K.[7]	Used by D.K. in the parking lot when he was racing with Sean. Flipped multiple times and fell off the mountain "Touge"several hundred feet down and landed upside down during the race with the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Veilside '94 Mazda RX-7	Black and Orange: House Of Kolor Paint PBC31 Sunset Orange Pearl. Engine Management System:APEXERA FC. HKS T04Z Turbo Kit. VEILSIDE Custom Intercooling Piping. NKG Racing Spark Plugs. Nissan GT-R Fuel Pump. ATS Carbon Clutch. VEILSIDE BUILT	1994	Han[8]	Wrecked after a side collision with a Mercedes-Benz S-Class and flipped upside down. Ruptured fuel lines leaked, ignited, and exploded, killing Han.
DRIFT Nissan Silvia S13	Medium Blue/White Side Stripes/DRFT on hood	1993	Virgil[9]
Dodge Viper SRT10	Red	2005	Clay	Collided at high speed with a large concrete pipe, completely destroying it.
Plymouth Roadrunner GTX	Silver/Blue	1970	Dominic Toretto	Ended the movie by racing Sean's Nissan Silvia.
Volkswagen Touran	Green with graphics	2004	Sean (owned by Twinkie)	Exhibited to Sean by Twinkie and later driven by Sean in the film. The car is inspired by The Hulk and is the car in which Sean drives to his introduction to Tokyo's Drift racing circuit.
Veilside #2 '02 Nissan 350Z	Yellow/Gold with Graphics	2006	Morimoto	Collided head-on with a dark green Toyota Aristo, damaging it extensively and causing a massive car pile-up, presumably killing Morimoto.

A full list of all cars in the film is available here.

[edit] Pre-release speculation and leaks

Given the nature of the movie, fans of the import and drifting scenes cast a critical eye on information that leaked prior to the release of the movie.

• Modified Magazine pictured in their October 2005 editorial that two of the cars in the film were a Veilside RX-7 and a 1960s Ford Mustang Fastback with an engine swap from a Nissan Skyline. The article also mentioned possible appearances of other show cars from the various Tuning firms.
• The website MovieCarZ was one of several car locating firms that posted a list of wanted cars for the film, mainly background and set cars. According to the Modified Magazine editorial, most of the "Star Cars" were ones from Tuning firms and already filled. Among some of the wanted cars on their list were the Toyota Corolla AE86 (a homage to the anime Initial D); mainstays in the tuning world like Toyota Supra, Mazda RX-7, and Nissan JDM tuner favs-- Silvia, Z, and the GT-R, aka the legendary "Godzilla;" Luxury and Exotic Cars (possibly Japanese luxury cars like the Toyota Celsior/Lexus LS400 and the Nissan Cefiro/Infiniti I30, Infiniti G35, RHD (Right-Hand-Drive) cars, and even Japanese Classics.
• The forums at Toyota Nation had a posting where the set of F&F: Tokyo Drift took over a portion of downtown LA. In the spy shots, a fleet of modified RX-7's, Nissan 350Z's, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolutions, and a fleet of keicars were stored in a lot, while other shots showed the set crew putting up Japanese signs over existing signs and setting up shots.^[10]

[edit] Reactions

[edit] Box office performance

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 $95,886,987 from the foreign box office, resulting in total receipts of $158,401,402.^[11] Tokyo Drift did, however, gross lower than its predecessor films.

[edit] Critics' response

• Michael Medved gave Tokyo Drift 1 1/2 stars (out of four) saying, "There’s no discernible plot...or emotion, or humor."^[12]
• James Berardinelli from Reelviews also gave it 1 1/2 stars out of four, saying that "There's something odd about Tokyo Drift. It fetishizes cars in a way that's almost unhealthy. When the vehicles appear in the same scene as a bunch of scantily clad Asian women, the camera is drawn not to cleavage but to carburetors."^[13]

• Richard Roeper also levelled strong criticism of the film, writing: "The whole thing is preposterous. The acting is so awful, some of the worst performances I’ve seen in a long, long time."^[14]

• Several critics found much to like about the film, including Roeper's cohort Roger Ebert, who rated the film three out of four stars saying director Justin Lin "takes an established franchise and makes it surprisingly fresh and intriguing," and also concludes that the film is "more observant than we expect... the story about something more than fast cars."^[15]

• Empire Magazine in the UK gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.

[edit] Production Notes

[edit] Cameos

Drift driver Rhys Millen can be seen talking to a Japanese couple during the transition from America to Japan

Vin Diesel makes an uncredited appearance as Dominic Toretto (his character from the original Fast and the Furious film), claiming to be a friend of Han's.

Real-life "Drift King" and drift pioneer Keiichi Tsuchiya also makes an appearance during the scenes where Lucas Black's character (Sean Boswell) is learning how to drift. He appears as an old fisherman who makes snide comments on Sean's lack of proper drift technique. The cameos stem from a chance encounter with Lin at the Sundance Film Festival before he made Better Luck Tomorrow.^[16]

When the camera zooms out on Lucas sitting inside a plane, nearly every passenger are stuntmen, and actors (eg. John Cho).

[edit] Technical

The RB26DETT motor found in the Nissan Skyline GT-R, which powered the Mustang in the film, has been subject to much criticism by fans of both USDM cars and JDM cars. The criticism grew when it was revealed that the car itself barely had any screen time, and regular stunt Mustangs used for the drifting scenes were powered by 351cid Windsor V8 engines.^[17] Hot Rod Magazine lamented the possibility that tuners might swap in Japanese motors into American cars.^[17] According to SCC, 1 Mustang received the RB26 swap, while 5 other Mustangs were created for drifting purposes. 2 were destroyed in the process.^[18] In addition, the RB26 Mustang was shown to be faster than its V8 powered kin, with times of 0-60 in 5.38 seconds, and the quarter mile in 13.36 seconds at 109.83 MPH. The V8 powered machine was designed for drifting and suffered from no traction, while the inline 6 version was set strictly for straight line performance.^[19]

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 used was actually powered by the S15's base SR20DE engine.^[20] 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).^[21]

SCC tested the cars of the film, and noted that the cars in Tokyo Drift were slightly faster in an acceleration matchup with the cars from 2 Fast 2 Furious.^[22]

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.^[23] 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.^[16]Some racing events were filmed within the Hawthorne Mall parking lot in Los Angeles. ^[24]

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.).^[25] Hayama also claims that a prop car was "stolen" by some of the action stars and taken for an impromptu "Drift Session" and never returned by the stars.^[16]

[edit] Soundtrack

Main article: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (soundtrack)

[edit] References

v • d • e   The Fast and the Furious Films The Fast and the Furious (2001) · 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003) · Tokyo Drift (2006) · Fast and Furious (2009) Soundtracks The Fast and the Furious · 2 Fast 2 Furious · Tokyo Drift Video games The Fast and the Furious (arcade game) (2004) · The Fast and the Furious (video game) (2006) · Super Bikes (2006) · Drift (2007)