The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (PG-13)
Car crashes, drinking, guns. You can do better.
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- Studio: Universal Pictures, Universal Pictures
- Directed By: Justin Lin
- Cast: Lucas Black, Bow Wow
- Running Time: 90 minutes
- Release Date: 06/16/2006
- Video/DVD Release Date: 09/26/2006
- Genre: Action/adventure
- MPAA Rating: PG-13
- MPAA Explanation: reckless and illegal behavior involving teens, violence, language and sexual content.
Parents need to know
Families can talk about the relationship between Sean and his father. How does Sean's rebelliousness mirror his dad's stubbornness? How does the movie point out differences and similarities between U.S. and Japanese kids' interests? Does the movie paint a realistic view of high school life?
Message
Social Behavior:
High school kids race cars, smoke, and drink, Yakuza villains deal illegal merchandise and beat up rivals.
Consumerism:
Cars galore (including Volkswagen, Mustang, Toyota, VeilSide autos and Toyo tires), Tabasco sauce, neon billboards in Tokyo (Sanyo, KFC, McDonald's, Citibank, Il Primo); iPod, Snickers.
Drugs/Alcohol/Tobacco:
Villains smoke cigarettes repeatedly (and a cigar); background smoking in clubs and at races; high school students drink in clubs and parties.
Violence
Cars crash repeatedly, sometimes flipping over horribly, and in one instance, exploding and killing the driver; boys beat each other up, leading to bruised faces, crumpled bodies, bloody mouths.
Sex
Girl takes off and waves her bra to start a race; high school age girls wear short skirts (schoolgirl outfits) and show cleavage; boys and men adorn their arms with pretty girls; two girls appear very briefly, kissing passionately (elicting comment by passing boy); sinuous dancing with focus on girls' bottoms.
Language
Tough guys talk hard: several uses of s-word, occasional "damnit," Bow Wow boasts he's such a good salesman he "could sell a rubber to a monk."
Common Sense says
What's the story?
Reviewed by Cynthia Fuchs
Young Sean (Lucas Black) is in fast trouble, racing a bully in order to "win" a girl, which leads immediately to Sean's punishment: he's sent to live with his grumpy father (Brian Goodman, who played the grumpy father in director Justin Lin's last movie, Annapolis). When dad, a Navy lifer, lays down strict rules, Sean disobeys immediately: he finds the jaunty car scene and a new form of driving called drift (a photogenic form of racing where the car slides along the pavement sideways, the driver shifting, braking, and steering like a madman, typically undertaken on parking garage ramps). He also makes two new friends, an "Army brat" and charming super-salesman named Twinkie (Bow Wow), and a philosophical crook and playboy, Han (Sung Kang, who also appeared in Lin's Better Luck Tomorrow as a guy named Han). Encouraged to think through his choices (why does he race? Why does he rebel?), Sean becomes a better racer and smarter rebel. He also falls in love with a girl, Neela (Nathalie Kelley), who happens to be attached to the villain, D.K. (Brian Tee).
Is it any good?
Slick and shiny, THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT is part coming-of-age tale, part auto show, and part parade of girls in high school uniforms. The eye candy is generic, but the race scenes are terrific, inventive and witty (even as they occasionally end in crashes).
Because D.K. is the nephew of a Yakuza (Sonny Chiba, looking dapper in white suit and fedora), he has money and a sense of privilege, which means he's determined to take down Sean. They race repeatedly, make mean faces at each other, and compete for Neela's loyalty. While the movie pays some attention to Sean's "outsider" status as a Gajin in Japan, for the most part, he's another triumphant American in a strange land. Upfront about its generic stereotypes (villain is grim, hero earnest, girl pretty), the film glories in its gorgeous action sequences: plot becomes irrelevant.
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