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Crash, bang, wallop

By Nathan Lee
NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE, NEW YORK
Friday, Aug 11, 2006, Page 16

Film Notes: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift Directed by Justin Lin Starring: Lucas Black (Sean Boswell), Bow Wow (Twinkie), Brian Tee (D K), Sung Kang (Han), Jason Tobin (Earl), Nathalie Kelley (Neela) Running time: 98 minutes Taiwan Release: Today

A number of questions spring to mind when considering The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Can the movies possibly get any faster or more furious? What exactly is the Tokyo Drift? And does Al Gore know what we can do to stop it?

Drifting, as it turns out, is the ancient Japanese art of gunning your hot rod through hairpin turns in such a manner that it rockets sideways while heavy metal music thunders on the soundtrack. In the film it is practiced by a gang of aspiring yakuza gearheads who hang out in parking structures taking mobile phone pictures of their custom paint jobs.

Tokyo Drift is about all of the rapid, peevish things that happen when the American bad boy Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) arrives on their scene. As in the previous two installments of the Fast and Furious franchise, this largely consists of macho tantrums, vying for the girl, intense vehicular mayhem and high-octane homoeroticism.

The director, Justin Lin, proves that his overrated indie debut Better Luck Tomorrow was a Hollywood calling card, while the writer, Chris Morgan, delivers none of the B-movie kicks that made Cellular such a gas. The rapper Bow Wow co-stars with product placements by Nissan.
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