'Furious' will have hearts racing

I_Like_Turtle_s

score 7/10

As expected, it doesn't take long for ''The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" to hit the gas.

As the film opens, we meet Sean (Lucas Black), the new kid at a Southern high school who's harboring a need for speed. After Sean ruffles the feathers of a resident jock (Zachery Ty Bryan), a scantily clad girl suggests, ''Why don't you boys let the cars do the talking?" And so the adrenaline rush begins.

''Lost in Translation" with a driver's license, the third installment of the popular franchise takes its car chases and souped-up engines to the Far East. Fans of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker will miss the tough-talking duo, but the mean streets of Japan deliver some action-packed goods.

Of course, don't expect more than a load of eye candy and the regular rumbles. The flashy drama begins when Sean is shipped to Tokyo to avoid jail time and live with his strict, military officer dad (Brian Goodman).

Making nice with the tough crowd, the American befriends Twinkie (Bow Wow), an army brat with a car that looks like it came straight out of ''Pimp My Ride." It isn't long before Sean is taking test drives with a new set of wheels, not to mention getting on the bad side of the mafia-affiliated DK (Brian Tee) and falling for his girl, Neela (Nathalie Kelley).

Directed by Justin Lin (''Better Luck Tomorrow"), ''The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" is injected with testosterone and saturated in masculinity. Branded a gaijin (Japanese for foreigner), Sean tries to master the driving skill of drifting while trying to impress his crush and settle the score with DK and his crew. What's the best way to solve the world's problems? Racing, of course.

Sure, it's not the wittiest, smartest or most memorable piece of cinema. But the film delivers everything it promised: loud music, loud cars and a whole lot of glitz.

I_Like_Turtle_s 15 June 2006

Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw1396267/