Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift

I'll be honest, all of the films out in the cinema I've either watched once or twice, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to revisit one of my favourite films and to give it my review! Tokyo Drift is from the time when Fast and Furious films were actually about cars and modifying, not the unpopular mess that many people seem to think that it is now! This film was right at the core of the Fast and Furious franchise and that is exactly what makes it a fan favourite of the series, but does the film still stand as being great nearly 12 years later?

The film begins amazingly by not only setting the scene, but also introducing us to the main character in the film too. Sean is introduced to us as a petrol head who keeps himself to himself but can't stay out of trouble. A strange combination. But the manner in which his character is established is great, through pan camera shots to show the audience, the school setting, the typical music and quick shots of him, the film is able to introduce us to who he is very well. The nice compilation of camera shots really help to set the scenery very nicely as well. I also really liked how the film was able to get the audience involved within the plot early on too, by showcasing a fight and then race for a girl, we are instantly thrown into the deep end of experiencing life as Sean Boswell. The film was able to use scenes similar to the fight and race to establish the different character relationships not only between them but also between them and the audience in a quick and effective way. Which again, really helped to kick of the film strongly. The film also keeps the audience on edge, by using a variety of quick and short camera shots, we as an audience have a great perception of racing and speed - of which there is a lot of in this film, perfect! I feel that the variety of dialogue throughout the film matched that of the feeling, it was very interesting and gave off a good impression of the characters whilst allowing the audience to get a real idea of the different personalities within the film. The characters were established well too, as the film progressed, we were introduced to a variety of interesting and intriguing characters who mainly seemed to have a positive effect on the film - simply because they were introduced slowly and they all had a key part to play within the plot of the film. Speaking of the plot, not only was it established well but the film was able to walk the audience through the plot too. Which kept us informed and updated whilst still using the element of surprise to produce unexpected surprises and twists. One of my favourite elements of this film was that great combination of audio and the atmosphere that it produced, not only did this combination really help to represent the mood to the audience, but it just established scenes and characters amazingly well due to the vibe that it created. There were great cheers from the crowds of people before and after races and it just really added some authenticity and emotion to the races, as if the audience were there watching the race with the others characters - it was really well executed. The film was able to use these moods to completely surprise the audience too, by transitioning from a race scene with cheering crowds, to Sean's father's 'place', we were quickly taken from one mood to another and this really kept the audience on their toes and just really helped us to delve into Sean's character and his life. Again, enhancing the visibility and authenticity of the film. Many of these scenes were really intense, whether they were from crowds roaring after a race win, or from two characters having a heart to heart, the film really made an intense connection with the audience that didn't just display Sean as a racer but as a real life character and most importantly as a person which I really liked. These intense scenes were gripping and really helped to keep some parts of the film interesting and on topic.

I must add in that the camerawork and the special effects were amazing too, not only did the constant character switches in races intensify the race, but using quick transitions and close up camera angles we were really involved within each of the races - regardless of the importance. The camerawork was great, my personal highlight was the camera along the floor following the whole track at the ending of the film, not only did it intensify the race but it also gave the audience an impression of danger due to all of the tight turns and drops at the edges of the mountains. This film is not just everything that I love about cars but it's everything I love about the Fast and Furious series too, even if they have gone a little 'off topic' recently!

The film made millions of its viewers fall in love with the modified car scene, but what it didn't do so well was creating solid characters with real, believable emotions in a professional feeling film. My main issue with this film is that the creators just didn't seem to push the boundaries enough, I feel that much more experimentation could've been done which would have pushed the bar even higher. The film is good yes, but it just feels as if the creators said "enough is enough" without any ambition. Some elements of the film were slightly overdone too, from over to under emotional responses from characters, to the extremely poor drifting shown by Sean at the beginning of the film it just seemed as if the film tried too hard to show Sean's story of 'zero to hero'. I was also not impressed by some of the editing within this film, many of the scenes were clearly fast forwarded to show the cars going faster and to make the film more intense - yes it worked, but it's cheating!!

Some of the scenes in the film felt a little irrelevant too and for some audiences, the combination of these irrelevant scenes and the pure speed of how quickly the films plot traveled would really make the film difficult to keep up with and understand. However personally, I kept up just fine - although that may be because I've watched the film a 'few' times...

Overall, I would give this film an 8.5, the atmosphere, audio and car culture representation that is shown within this film still stands today as one of the best and most iconic modified car films that you can watch. Not only does this film lighten up the car scene, but it also makes you want to leave the cinema driving very quick and drifting around the block, although I'm not sure your neighbours will call you the ''Drift King"... No film is perfect however and I really feel that many of the issues with this film originate from the date, where poor editing and strange scenes were in every film really, so I can't blame the film too much for that. But to sum this film up in a sentence I would have to say, to a car fan this film is a masterpiece, it really does have it all, but to your average viewer, this film is mediocre and probably not worth watching again.

Thank you so much for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading my review as much as I did writing it and watching the film! If you liked the idea of reviewing old films that I like, you can press the heart icon to show your ideas! Have a lovely day. :)