While there's no doubt about the fact that most of those who like the Fast & Furious series are guys in college who call each other 'bro' while they pound their fists and play Halo, mixed with a bunch of car-enthusiasts going 'Man, no way you can make a car do that!', there is still the small group that likes the F&F series because it's just plain old brainless entertainment. Of course, I belong to that small group.
I remember seeing the trailer to the first F&F film and going 'Wow, they actually managed to find something that makes Limp Bizkit sound kinda awesome.' After the awesome that was F&F1, came F&F2, which was significantly less awesome, and F&F:TD, which was a step in the right direction.
The story is pretty basic, as is to be expected. A rougue youngster, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black, The X Files (the film)) is banned from racing and sent to his dad in Tokyo to rehabilitate. Or something. While his father (Brian Goodman, mostly used as an extra) forbids Sean to even come near a car, his son does exactly the opposite on his first day at school where he meets his soon to be partner in crime, Twinkie (Bow Wow, of hip hop fame), who happens to be into the local racing scene with his own (very awesome) Hulk-themed car.
At this local racing scene, Sean immediately gets into the face of the local racing scene legend, a man known as D.K. (Stands for Drift King, played by Brian Tee, Starship Troopers 2: Fuck Yes). D.K. obviously doesn't warm up to Sean's violent American ways, and gets really pissed of when said American also tries to make a move on his girlfriend, Neela (Nathalie Kelly, pretty much only did Tokyo Drift so far).
When D.K. defeats Sean in a killer drifting race (Presumably while Sean is going 'What in tarnation is all this darned hogwash about!'), D.K.'s mob-buddy Han (Sung Kang, Ninja Assassin) takes Sean in and teaches him the ropes of drifting while also employing him as his own little errand boy.
Eventually, tension builds, Sean learns to drift and everything is settled in one giant kick-ass race between Sean and D.K. Also, the Yakuza gets involved at some point.
It's easy to say that the acting skills of the lead actors aren't all that awesome. The dialogues is pretty basic and the characters themselves are pretty predictable. But let's be honest: it's to be expected in a film like this.
A lot of credit goes to the rides, of course. The cars look flashy and awesome, and the racing sequences are superb. It's what F&F is all about, so why wouldn't they be? Add to that a decent soundtrack, and you've got yourself exactly what I was gunning for at the beginning of this review: plain old brainless entertainment.
Whether it's because of the cars, the racing, or every other trick the makers throw at you to distract you from the flaws in the dialogue (the story itself kind of makes sense, if you ignore the fact that a Yakuza problem is settled by a downhill race.), Tokyo Drift works. It may not win any Oscars, and it probably won't be in a lot of 'Best Films of...' lists, but it's there and it does what it's supposed to do: entertain. It also doesn't hurt that there's plenty of eye candy either.
