07.07.06

I know this is a gaming site, but for once I have to rant about a movie. Having studied in Japan as an exchange student, I have to say that this movie absolutely nailed it. I didn't exactly have high expectations towards it when I walked into the theatre, but as the credits rolled, I was totally blown away by it. This movie is by far the best movie of the summer so far, and the best part of the series so far. I have not seen Superman yet, but I fail to see how that movie can involve me as much, although I hope that I am wrong.

"So what makes it so good, then?" you ask. Justin Lin and his crew (both behind the camera and in front) absolutely nailes what made the first movie great, and adds a whole new dimention upon that. For once, I felt that they almost got the feel of Tokyo right. Especially being a western movie, made primarily for a western audience. The only "jaggy" part was when the Japanese spoke English in situations where they had no reason to, i.e times when there were no foreigers around (why can't people learn to read subtitles?). Other than that they did a great job of painting the feel of the metropolis onto the big screen. Having been there multiple times myself, I recognized some of the street names where they raced. I know parts of this movie was shot on a U.S backlot, but they made sure to hide that fact well.

CARS. No, not the animated flick from Pixar. Forget that. If you want to see some truely awesome cars doing some crazy, yet possible things, look no further. "Tokyo Drift" has the best display of rides in movies ever, given that you fancy pimped-out JDMs. Easily the main attraction.

The acting wasn't half bad. Quite good in fact. Lucas Black in the lead role of Sean Boswell fit quite well, even if his Japanese could do some trimmin'. Nathalie Kelley also made an impressive big-screen debut. Bow Wow did his part right as the comedic sidekick. The bad guy was also welcome, after a rather bleak Cole Hauser in the second part. Brian Tee was at times quite menacing in his performance. You definately would not like to meet this guy in a dark back alley alone. No, scratch that. You would not like to meet this guy at all. Still, the actor that impressed me the most was Sung Kang, in the role of Han, Sean's mentor. He is so cool and relaxed, yet he comes across almost as a bodhisattva, in his thoughts concerning life and loyalty. He put loyalty in front of money, women ahead of the need to be the fastes driver in town. Being no boyscout, dealing with criminals, he still manages to make you root for him.

Lastly, I have to give credit to Justin Lin. Not having seen any of his previous films, he was an enigma to me. The only thing I knew beforehand was that he has been picked to direct the re-make of "Oldboy", one of the best films of recent years. After seeing "Tokyo Drift", parts of my concern has vanished, and that is saying a lot. It will be an aweful hard task to re-do "Oldboy" in the right way, yet he might just do it justice. Maybe.

For now, I can't wait to get hold of the inevitable HD-DVD version of "Tokyo Drift" due this fall. It will be awesome! Wakatta ka?

CCH