Stars Lucas Black, Sung Kang, Bow Wow, Brian Tee, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Goodman and Sonny Chiba Directed by Justin Lin In the unusual attempt to recreate a seemingly ailing franchise after only two entries, three things were injected into this third movie that would somehow invigorate The Fast and The Furious. Sure it still looked at the car culture and street racing element that was key to the series as a whole, albeit in a whole other country, but at the same time, it was a breakaway from the ‘formula’. Gone was the cop angle, for one. Gone too, were ties to the original characters, it seemed. For me, the three new elements were director Justin Lin, writer Chris Morgan and composer Brian Tyler, a trio that would drive the franchise in a new direction. While this movie still opened with the typical race, done with far more practical means than before, it quickly relocated to Tokyo for the rest of the story, and the introduction of a different kind of street racing that involved the skill, and art, of drifting. Anyone who was into anime - or manga - at the time would already have been aware with Japanese drifting, primarily from the series, Initial D. That started in 1995 (the anime premiered in 1998, a live action movie was made in 2005 with Jay Chou) where they had a character who, in an effort to deliver tofu, would drive at high speeds, drifting his car around the twisting curves of the mountain road. There’s no real record of when drifting in racing actually started. The nature of drifting however gave the movie a different visual aesthetic which also did give the energetic races and chases a different energetic verve, as the cars would seemingly slip and slide through traffic. As one scene noted too, it’s hell on the tyres. Most of the drifting scenes were done for real while the actors were often filmed against a green screen to show what was going on inside the car. The drift driving was done by professionals, and with such a precision that gave the cinematography many a close call as the cars would brush past the camera. One bravura sequence in particular is a drift through Shibuya junction. While that sequence alone would take your breath away, it’s also amazing to note the camera movement as it follows one car through the junction first, move into the crowd to pan around to the two other cars drifting around the same corner - all in one very quick take. (see the clip below, at approx the 1:25 mark) The new plot follows, partially, that of a sports movie - complete with a training montage, by the way - and a little of a Western, a reference made more than once throughout the movie. In that, the plot and story is fairly typical although it is driven by some decent performances from the leads - Lucas Black in particular, Sung Kang, Nathalie Kelley and Brian Tee - and some very imaginative application of practical vehicular stunts, and a glimpse into the world of the young adults in Tokyo.
The car stunts remain the core of the series and Lin delivers well on that front, layered with some decent dramatic beats to drive the story, that’s courtesy of writer Chris Morgan. Add in the pulse pounding score by Brian Tyler, here aided by Slash for some electric guitar riffs, and it all drove the movie to a decent success. Enough that studio Universal decided to hand the reins of the franchise to him for the next two instalments. Of course, the surprise and uncredited cameo at the end may have had something to do with direction the series headed off in. Rating: ***
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