Cue in the song Tokyo Drift – Teriyaki Boyz. This is by far, one of the best spin-offs of a franchise. The Fast and the Furious have been around for a long time now and I would have to say it has been milked completely to the point that the premise for the coming films have been over-the-top crazy and insane. The fans of the franchise are still there to support it, and that’s good. But I’d say that Tokyo Drift was refreshing to watch. Even years after its release.

Its built different, not the usual fight for horsepower supremacy, but more on precision and skill. The story follows a young car racing enthusiast and is used to drag racing and the kind, when things got real bad for him, he got transferred and went under his father’s custody in Japan. For the first time, he saw what drift racing was all about, and got first hand experience at how difficult it was coming from his background. And this right here was the reason it kept me interested even after all these years. Though the plot was just a simple personal rivalry, the setting and how it differs from the usual TFATF franchise formula made it work.

Characters

• Seeing Han in Tokyo Drift got fans excited, he was already a fan favorite in the previous installment. So seeing him in his element got everyone pumped up. Han was was a perfect link to piece together this spin-off to the main franchise. His core participation here, even though he’s a supporting character, it made things work and fans of the franchise wanted to go and see it.
• The actress who played Neela felt awkward and was not casted properly. Having that she had few lines in the film, she could’ve made an impact if she was really up for it. Unfortunately she was forgettable and didn’t really have any memorable moment. The two Japanese girls who had one word each to say in the whole film even made more impact and have been ingrained in people’s minds: “Ready. Set-to.” Those two girls and their lines remained iconic in the car racing film genre.
• The nickname “D.K.”, the first thought that came to mind was that it stood for Donkey Kong. But man, Brian Tee with his demeanor was cool as hell. His character, even after being defeated in the final race, will forever be known in Tokyo as Drift King.
• Lucas Black’s character with his grease monkey, red-neck accent and shipped off to an Asian foreign country was a great combination. It’s also great to see him back in action on Furious 7, F9, and on Fast X. He didn’t stand out, performance-wise, but he didn’t lack in any field as well. Which was good, not great though, but his performance was enough for his character to remain in the following installments. I don’t know why but he looks like a younger version of Hugh Jackman when he starred in Real Steel (2011).

Music

The music soundtracks in the film was a banger, the OST by Teriyaki Boyz clearly defined that generation of car enthusiasts. It was really iconic and will definitely stand the test of time. Here’s another one for you guys:

“My life be like…”

Japanese high school life depiction in the film wasn’t the best, but it was enough to give the audience that Japanese school life feel. Some of the scenes were shot in Universal Studios and they added lights and whatnot to give that Japanese-vibe.

Conclusion

Overall, this spin-off will be up there with the greats, without the use of triple A superstars (looking at you Hobbs and Shaw), this is a very good stand-alone spin-off from a known film franchise. I’d say this is a culture film. Very well done.