The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (www.the-usher.com)

"Let's settle this with a race"

After been charged again for reckless driving and street racing, Sean Boswell (Black) shipped off to Japan to live with his father in Tokyo. There he discovers a new form of racing called drifting and as he starts to make friends and meets a girl, he becomes involved in something much more than just street rivalry. Now to save Neela (Kelley) and to help his new friends Han (Kang) and Twinkie (Wow), he has to race D.K. (Tee), the nephew of a local Yakuza boss.

Turbo and super charged car chases and nitro injected confrontations return for a third time but this time we head to the land of the rising sun.

With Paul Walker joining Vin Diesel as they drive away from the franchise they started, the third movie is more of a spin off than a sequel. Now we have a much younger cast flying through the streets of Tokyo in some of the fastest cars that Japan has ever tricked out.

'Fast and Furious' fans shouldn't fret however because all the action and most importantly, car chases are here and as big as ever. The third film introduces us to a new style of street racing that is very different from the racing in the US called drifting. This is basically power sliding around corners but the skill level is pushed to new heights as the race through parking garages, the narrow streets of Tokyo and the dangerous mountain roads. Again the standard of the stunt driving is exceptional and this time the over reliance on CG isn't as noticeable this time around.

Were the first two movie featured police investigations into illegal street racing, the third movie looks more at the people involved and the criminal rivalry that accompany the drifting. The plot is nothing new in teen driven movies and won't really put your mind into gear but it does enough to keep you interested between the races.

The young cast is led by up and coming actor Lucas Black. After making a splash as a child actor in the TV series 'American Gothic' and 'The X-Files', his adult movie career is really starting to take off with this been his first leading role. As Sean Boswell, he is a typical rebellious high school student from a broken home who falls for the wrong girl. This of course, leads to trouble and he ends up getting on the wrong side of the law again and even gets noticed by the Japan mafia, the Yakuza. Brian Tee plays a stereotypical connected thug with a far eastern twist and makes a decent villain. Newcomer Nathalie Kelley makes a bit of a splash as the beautiful Neela. Bow Wow loses his Lil' and grows up slightly as Twinkie.

'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' is more of the same and fans of the first two will get the maximum amount of power out of this third film. The street races are expertly done and there is a cameo that fans will absolutely adore, this is movie that you can enjoy without having seen the first two, just don't expect your brain to get a nitro injection.

PICTURE & SOUND

Presented in Widescreen 1.85:1 Anamorphic with a Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, the transfer is good.

BONUS FEATURES

Deleted Scenes (19.14 mins)
Entitled ''Cabbie wants Yen', 'Crowned Subway', 'Where's my Fizz?', 'Han, Alden and Egghead', 'Yak's Girls', 'The night before the morning after', 'One in six million', 'Wasibi', 'Dad sees Sean's Evo', 'Golf Drifting', 'Happy Birthday Han' and 'A kiss before Kamata', these deleted or extended scenes are accompanied by optional commentary by director Justin Lin.

Drifting School (7.37 mins)
Director Justin Lin, lead stunt driver Rhys Millen and stars Lucas Black, Brain Tee, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley, Sung Kang and Zachery Ty Bryan all go to drifting school to perfect the perfect drift.

Cast Cam (4.23 mins)
Leonardo Nam, who plays Morimoto takes his video camera behind the scenes of the car park race and introduces us to the stars and the people bringing the movie to life.

The Big Breakdown: Han's Last Ride (8.51 mins)
Director Justin Lin, 2nd Unit director/stunt coordinator Terry Leonard and stunt driver Rhys Miller take you behind the scenes of the race through Tokyo's streets. The mini-featurette shows how they recreated Tokyo in Los Angeles, planning the chase and the crash.

Tricked out to Drift (11.04 mins)
Director Justin Lin, 2nd Unit director/stunt coordinator Terry Leonard, stunt driver Rhys Miller and stars Lucas Black, Brain Tee, Bow Wow, Nathalie Kelley and Sung Kang talk about the 230 cars used in the movie. Here we look at the Evo, RX7, RX8, 350Z, the Mustang and the Hulk van.

The Real Drift King (3.45 mins)
2nd Unit director/stunt coordinator Terry Leonard and Keiichi 'The Drift King' Tsuchiya talk about drifting and how the driving style came about.

The Japanese Way (11.54 mins)
Director Justin Lin, costume designer Sanja Hayes, 2nd Unit director/stunt coordinator Terry Leonard and stars Lucas Black, Bow Wow and Nathalie Kelly talk about filming in Tokyo and their experiences in the Japanese capital.

Don Omar 'Conteo' Music Video (3.34 mins)
Watch the promotional music video that accompanied the films release

Feature Commentary with director Justin Lin
The man behind the helm of the third 'The Fast and the Furious' movie provides and intelligent and informative single person commentary. He talks passionately about the movie, revealing why they moved away from the first two, the music, Japan and the cars of the film. This is a good commentary that fans will enjoy listening to.

Previews
Watch trailers for 'Scarface', 'Friday Night Lights', 'Waist Deep' and 'Slither'

OVERALL

Universal has done a great job with the DVD treatment for 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift'. Filled with featurettes and a decent commentary from the director, fans of the film and the cars will be very pleased with this presentation.

DVD

The Fast and the Furious

2 Fast 2 Furious

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2006