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 Sung Kang Brian Tee Jason Tobin Nathalie Kelley Keiko Kitagawa
Music by	Brian Tyler
Cinematography	Jan Kiesser Stephen F. Windon
Editing by	Dallas Puett Fred Raskin
Distributed by	Universal Studios
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 (2006) is a spin-off to The Fast and the Furious and its sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious. The film features a new cast of characters and a different setting (Tokyo, Japan) from the other two films. Contrary to popular belief, the movie was not entirely shot in Tokyo. Some parts of the movie were shot in a Japanese American ethnic enclave north of downtown Los Angeles. The background in the movie was digitally programmed into the movie, as many filmmakers traveled to Tokyo and filmed various settings over there.

Contents 1 Plot outline 2 Featured cars[1] 3 Rumors and information leaked prior to release 4 Reaction to the film 4.1 Fans' Response 4.2 Critics' Response 5 Trivia 5.1 Cameos 5.2 Technical 5.3 Inside references 5.4 Miscellaneous 6 Original Soundtrack 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Plot outline

The story starts with a typical day in a middle class American school where a young man named Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) is being given the once over by the security detail. Sean is a loner who has no friends and looks at the pep rally after school with contempt. As he's approaching his car,(a beat-up 1970 Monte Carlo), a girl in a 2004 Viper flirts with him. Her boyfriend (Zachery Ty Bryan) notices this. He and his friends make fun of this car and how it's a pure crap. As Sean drives off, Clay throws a baseball through the back windshield. Sean steps out of his car with a wrench, but before he can attack Clay, Clay's girlfiend says she'll go out with whoever wins a race between the two, and as an added incentive, they're racing for pinks.

The race is really a great scene through a new construction area and things are not going well for Sean at first. However, he manages to take a side road and ends up beating Clay's viper in the end, after demolishing a house. Clay's girlfriend says "Looks like I have a new date for prom" and then Clay totals Sean's car by ramming it with his own, thereby he can give him a wrecked Viper in the process.

After getting booked by the police, Clay's parents and his girlfriend's get the two off, as they're well connected, but Sean is looking to go to jail because they're willing to try him as an adult. Sean's mother (Lynda Boyd) comes in, and after flirting with the officer interrogating Sean, reveals that they've had to move several times due to Sean's racing. She ends up exhausting her last option by sending Sean to Tokyo to live with his dad, who serves in the American army's outpost there.

As Sean arrives and rings the doorbell, his dad (Brian Goodman) ushers out the hooker he rented for the night. Sean comes in and sees the tiny dump which will be his new home. The next morning, he finds a VERY formal looking uniform on his bed, and gives it another look of contempt.

Next, Sean is off to school, and he notices an attractive girl, named Neela (Nathalie Kelley), in his homeroom. Later, as he's eating lunch, another Army brat comes in and introduces himself as Twinkie (Bow Wow), a cheap hustler who sells American goods such as Jordans, Snickers, and the like. After they leave school, Twinkie shows him his ride, which is a van that has basically been made to resemble the Hulk. Sean asks where all the action is, and Twinkie takes him to an underground parking lot, where we see a bunch of souped up Silvias, RX-8, etc.

Sean sees Neela, and they are talking while DK, abbreviated means Drift King, (Brian Tee) and his business partner Han (Sung Kang) talk and wonder who this Gaijin (Japanese for outsider) is. DK walks over and claims her. Twinkie stops Sean from getting into a confrontation and tells him that DK's uncle is part of the Yakuza syndicate. Sean doesn't back down though, and DK offers to race him. Han gives Sean the keys to his ride, and the race is on.

At the very beginning, Sean has a big lead on DK, but DK continues to smile at Sean. Sean sees a very sharp turn, but doesn't go around in time, and smashes Han's ride. But DK on the other hand pulls off some perfect drifts, and before we know it, he's miles ahead of Sean. DK ends up winning in a blowout, and afterwards, Han just tells Sean not to leave town. Han also reveals he's been doing business with DK, and that DK is trying to prove his worth to his uncle by helping the money laundering.

After Sean came home, his dad told him that he knew what was going on. He threatened Sean that he would send him back home if he would ever street race again.

The next day, Sean gets picked up by Han, who tells Sean that he will be working with him to pay off smashing Han's ride. Sean is sent inside a public bath/sauna, and is forced to ask a Sumo wrestler for money, and after getting tossed outside, the wrestler gives Han his money.

Later that night, Han is driving down the highway and as he takes the off-ramp, two cops register his speed around 197 km/h but Sean notices that they don't give chase. Han explains that the cop cars are just stock models, and can't go over 180, so they don't bother to try and catch you. Sean asks Han why he doesn't drift, and he says that there is rarely any good reason to do so. Sean asks why people do it then, so Han shows him by doing donuts around some girl's car, and she proceeds to give him her phone number.

Han takes Sean to a party, with lots of beautiful girls, and takes him to his garage inside. Han gives him an Evo, and later on the roof, Han tells Sean that "Life is simple, you make choices, and never look back". Later Sean breaks up a fight between Twinkie and a righthand man of DK's over a broken IPod. Twinkie is pissed and tells him that everyone will want refunds now.

Sean begins to learn how to drift with the help of Han. The pioneer of drift racing (Kunimitsu Takahashi) making snide comments about Sean's initial technique. However, he starts getting better and before we know it, he's racing DK's righthand man, and smokes him easily. DK is noticeably mad because earlier he promised Han a 1970 Skyline if Sean beat his friend.

In class later, Sean sends Neela a message on her laptop in class, asking why she never shows him her drifting. She responds with "You never ask" and next, we see them in Neela's RX-8, where she tells him that her mother was pretty much a prostitute, and she died when Neela was young. Neela reveals that DK's grandmother took her in, and as they grew up, they came to the current mountain she's drifting on, watching the older kids drift.

Next day, DK pulls up to the harbour where Sean is practising drifting, and beats the crap out of Sean, and tells him to stay away from Neela. At school, Neela notices his bruises, and confronts DK in his shop, and tells him that they're done. DK though says that she owes him, and that she'll never be anything except her mother if it weren't for him. She slaps him, and promptly leaves. She comes to Han's garage, crying, and Sean immediately holds her and takes care of her.

Meanwhile, DK's uncle comes to see him. His uncle tells him that there is a discrepancy with their funds, and that Han must be cheating them of money. His uncle sighs that "I wish your father was here", but starts to laugh, indicating his father possibly did the same thing as Han, and payed the price. DK starts to cry a bit.

DK confronts Han in garage, and after pulling out a gun, tells Han that he put his honor and reputation on his line. Han tells him that "this is what we do", and DK cocks his gun. Twinkie thinks fast, and starts a distraction. Han escapes, and Sean takes Neela in his Evo, and there's a great car chase through Tokyo streets. DK shoots at Han long enough to distract him and he's hit by another car. His oil starts leaking, and then his car explodes, killing him.

Sean and Neela go to his dad's abode. But DK follows and points his gun at them. Sean's dad however pulls his gun on DK and tells him to leave, but DK says he won't unless Neela goes with him. They leave, and his dad wants him to leave that night however he says its his mess and he has to fix it.

Twinkie meets Sean and tells him that Han gave him some money for Sean, which he believes was to be used in case he was caught. Sean takes it to the local Yakuza club, and gives it to DK's uncle. He goes to tell him that he's willing to race DK, and whoever loses has to leave town because they've both dishonored him. DK's uncle agrees.

Sean goes back to Han's garage, but all the cars are gone, except for the Skyline he ruined in the beginning of the movie. They take all of it's parts, and put them into his dad's Ford Mustang, which he was fixing earlier. We find out the race is on the mountain Neela took him too, but that DK has the advantage because he's the only one to ever make it down in one piece.

The race is an amazing sequence on the hills with many twists and turns and at every turn kids with cell phones monitor the progress. On the last turn, Sean forces DK off the mountain, and wins. DK's uncle tells him that he's free to go

In the end, we see Sean in the underground parking lot, and Twinkie comes up and tells him someone wants to race the new drift king. He says the guy has been beating every one in Asia, and that he considered Han to be family. Sean pulls up, and sees that it's none other than Dominic (Vin Diesel), Dominic tells him that he won his car from Han a few years ago, Sean says that he didn't know Han was into american muscle, and Sean tells him its no 10 second race. He responds with "I got nothin' but time", Dominic then says "You ready kid?", Neela then comes to start the race and they go off. There is no resolution as to who won the movie then cuts to credits.

[edit] Featured cars^[1]

Car	Color	Year	Driven by	Condition/Fate in Film
Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution VIII	Red	2004	Sean Boswell[2]	Wrecked during city chase after colliding with a dark green Toyota Aristo, or Lexus GS given that the scene was filmed in LA.
Ford Mustang Fastback (RB26 engine swap)	Highland Green/White Stripes	1967	Sean Boswell[3]	Cosmetic damage throughout the entire body. Still driveable.
Chevrolet Monte Carlo	Beige/Gray	1971	Sean Boswell[4]	Flipped multiple times during race with Clay's Dodge Viper. Crushed by Phoenix police following Sean's arrest.
Nissan Silvia S15	Blue/Orange	2000	Sean Boswell (originally Han)[5]	Major cosmetic and suspension damage due to Sean's inexperience with drifting. RB26DETT engine taken out and transplanted into 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Mazda RX-8	Aqua/Blue/Black	2006	Neela[6]
Nissan Fairlady 350Z	Black/Gunmetal	2006	D.K.[7]	Flipped multiple times and fell off the road several hundred feet down during the race with the 1967 Ford Mustang Fastback.
Veilside RX-7	Orange/Black	1994	Han[8]	Collided with a white Mercedes-Benz S-Class and flipped upside down. Ruptured fluids ignited and exploded, killing Han.
Nissan Fairlady 350Z	Gold/Black	2002	Morimoto [9]	Direct front-end collision with a dark green Toyota Aristo at a high rate of speed during the city chase.
Nissan Fairlady 350Z	Blue/Silver	2003	Tea Hair[10]	Major cosmetic damage to roof when crushed by Han's garage door
Nissan Silvia S-13		1993	Virgil [11]
Mazda RX-8	Red	2006	Jan Rodriguez[12]
Mercedes-Benz S-Class	Black	1999	Kamata
Volkswagen Golf R32		2006	Reiko	Possible front end damage.[13]
Volkswagen Touran	Green with The Incredible Hulk design scheme	2006	Twinkie
Dodge Viper SRT10	Red	2004	Clay	Wrecked after colliding with concrete pipe at a high rate of speed while racing Sean's Monte Carlo.
Plymouth Roadrunner	Silver	1970	Dom Toretto	Ended the movie by racing Sean's Nissan Silvia

[edit] Rumors and information leaked prior to release

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 1960's 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, Nissan Silvia, and Honda Civic; Luxury and Exotic Cars (possibly Japanese luxury cars like the Toyota Celsior/Lexus LS400 and the Nissan Cefiro/Infiniti I30), RHD (Right-Hand-Drive) cars, and even Japanese Classics.
• On the website Streetfire.net, spy footage from a set shoot shows a Nissan 350Z and a Ford Mustang Fastback in what appears to be Touge action.
• 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.^[14]
• Sport Compact Car 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.^[15]
• Hot Rod Magazine reviewed the domestic cars of the film (The RB26 equipped Mustang, the Monte Carlo, and the Dodge Viper) and noted that most of the drifting action done by the Mustang were handled by Mustangs equipped with the Windsor Engine. They also lamented the possibility that tuners might swap in Japanese motors into American cars.^[16]

[edit] Reaction to the film

[edit] Fans' Response

Despite mixed reviews, Tokyo Drift brought in over $24 million on its opening weekend. The movie itself was in limited release in Japan and South Korea. As of November 17, 2006 the domestic box office take has totalled $62,514,415 with another $95,318,994 from the foreign box office, resulting in total receipts of $157,833,409.[1]

[edit] Critics' Response

The film received mixed reviews by film critics, such as Michael Medved, who gave Tokyo Drift 1 1/2 stars (out of four) saying, "There’s no discernible plot...or emotion, or humor."^[17] 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."^[18]

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."^[19]

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."^[20] Empire Magazine in the UK gave the film 3 out of 5 stars.

[edit] Trivia

[edit] Cameos

• 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.
• Rhys Millen, the primary stunt driver in the film, has a cameo appearance as one of the passengers in the airplane scene.
• John Cho, the Korean American actor who appeared in Justin Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow also appears in the airplane scene.
• Former sumo wrestler Konishiki makes an appearance in the bathhouse scene as one of the collection marks that owes money to Han.
• Japanese pop superstars Ayumi Hamasaki and Mika Nakashima can be seen in background pans around Tokyo.
• Import Models Verena Mei and Mari Jaramillo are in the Skyline drifted around in circles by Han.
• During the start lines near the beginning and at the end of the movie, Import Models Aiko Tanaka (Setto) and Kaila Yu (Ready) flank the start line. Satoshi Tsumabuki (Go) starts off the first race in the parking garage.
• Toshi Hayama, the English language speaking commentator at both the US and UK D1 Grand Prix events, makes an appearance at the gate to the parking garage.
• MC Hammer makes numerous cameo appearances throughout the film, hawking electronics and cell phones on advertisements. The cameos stem from a chance encounter with Lin at the Sundance Film Festival before he made Better Luck Tomorrow.^[21]

[edit] Technical

• The RB26DETT (Motor found in the Nissan Skyline GT-R) powered 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 430cid Windsor V8 engines.^{[22] [23]}
  • According to SCC, 1 Mustang received the RB26 swap, while 5 other Mustangs were created for drifting purposes. 2 were destroyed in the process.^[24]
  • 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.^[25]
  • Actually the RB26 powered car was setup with exactly the same suspension as the rest of the Mustangs. The RB26 powered car was setup as the "hero" car, so it was never planned to use in any scene where it could be damaged. The RB powered car was faster than the V8 car, and the picture car coordinators didn't like it being faster. If you watch the Edmunds tests on the two cars, you will see that the RB Mustang is on the 19" Volk wheels, while the V8 Mustang was on slicks.
  • Behind the scene pictures[2] of the RB26 powered Mustang, and other cars.
• The S15 Silvia which Black's character trashes in his first race in Japan is depicted as having an RB26DET engine swap which itself is donated to the Mustang. However, the car used was actually powered by the S15's base SR20DET engine^[26].
  • There were several copies of each car. The S15 shown to have the RB26 in it, had an SR20DET in it prior to the RB26DETT being mocked up in it.
• The Veilside Fortune body-kitted RX-7 driven by Sung Kang's character was originally built by Veilside for the 2005 Auto Salon but was later bought by Universal and repainted (the original was dark red and not orange and black like in the film)^[27].
• 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.^[28] Tanner Faust, 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.^[29]
• 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 D1 Grand Prix 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.).^[30]
• Toshi 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.^[31]
  • An Evo IX was crashed by an actor, during an unauthorized session...

[edit] Inside references

• The sentō proprietor is reading Initial D, an anime and manga franchise about a young teenage boy whom has a hidden talent for drift racing in the mountain passes of Gunma Prefecture.
• DK bets his "86 Corolla" with Han on the result of a race, while Han puts up the "72 Skyline". "Drift King" Keiichi Tsuchiya is famously known for drifting in a Toyota AE86 Corolla Sprinter Trueno, while the 1972 Nissan Skyline (popularly known by the Japanese as the Hakosuka (ハコスカ), meaning box-Skyline) happens to be Keiichi Tsuchiya's first drift car.

[edit] Miscellaneous

• The drifting done inside the parking lot was actually filmed in Los Angeles's old Hawthorne Mall parking lot. ^[32]
• A section of Wilshire Blvd. in Downtown Los Angeles was retrofitted with signs and other props to resemble Tokyo's Shinjuku District during the city chase scene.
• An intersection in Burbank, CA, was used to film the Shibuya District high-speed drift scene. Thousands of boxes were placed to represent the buildings, which were later added to the final print via CG, along with the swarm of pedestrians.
• Subtle locality/regional flaws can be seen in the movie, such as the appearance of American Market Japanese Cars (Nissan Maxima & Mazda 626) in the street chase scene and numerous left-hand drive imports in the parking lot scene.
• When Sean takes his Evo for the first mountain drifting lesson, video editing flaws are seen when his car appears with and without the rear wing alternately. As a side note, the rear wing was lost in his first practice at the bay.

[edit] Original Soundtrack

• 1. Teriyaki Boyz - "Tokyo Drift (Fast & Furious)" - 4:19
• 2. DJ Shadow feat. Mos Def - "Six Days the Remix" - 3:54
• 3. The 5,6,7,8's - "The Barracuda" - 2:34
• 4. Evil Nine - "Restless" - 4:56
• 5. Far*East Movement - "Round Round" - 3:22
• 6. N.E.R.D. - "She Wants to Move" (DFA) Remix - 7:42
• 7. Teriyaki Boyz - "Cho Large" - 5:17
• 8. Dragon Ash - "Resound" - 4:49
• 9. Atari Teenage Riot - "Speed" - 2:49
• 10. Don Omar feat. Tego Calderon - "Bandoleros" - 5:07
• 11. Don Omar - "Conteo" - 3:16
• 12. Brian Tyler feat. Slash - "Mustang Nismo" - 2:30
• 13. Pharrell feat. Daddy Yankee - "Mamacita"- 3:30
• 14. Juelz Santana - "There It Go (The Whistle Song)"- 3:40
• 15 GRITS - "Ooh Ahh" - 3:53

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official site
• Official site in Japan
• Russian Fast and Furious (Error 404: Page not Found)
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift at the Internet Movie Database
• Tokyo Drift Reviews at Metacritic
• Yahoo! Movies - Theatrical trailer
• The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift at Rotten Tomatoes
• Internet Movies Car Data Base Info and pics of the cars @ IMCDB
• Nichi Bei Times commentary Analysis of API representation