Upon first viewing The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, I thought it was shit.
Now it’s in my Fast and Furious Top 3. In fact, it’s probably my second favorite Fast and Furious film, right behind the original, and just ahead of the one where they go to Brazil. Though I haven’t seen the most recent two yet, one of which also features Lucas Black and ‘Lil Bow Wow of Tokyo Drift fame, so maybe I’ll need to revise my list. But probably not. Because Tokyo Drift is a masterpiece.
There are probably many reasons for this evolution of my Tokyo Drift appreciation, at least one of which may be that my taste is getting worse. Or maybe it’s getting better. It’s tough to say really. Some people tell me my taste has always been shit, but those people also have shitty taste, so maybe that means my taste is impeccable. I don’t know. But what I do know is this soundtrack slaps.
I have to confess that despite having seen this movie at least 30 times there are a few songs I can’t even remotely place, most notably “Six Days (The Remix)” by none other than DJ Shadow and Mos Def. But it’s a soundtrack – a lot of these songs probably only had 15 seconds in the film, so I’m going to give myself a pass. Because I’d have bought it just for the title track by Teriyaki Boyz, those bell-like sounds at the start are arguably the definitive piece of music in the movie. So great.
Why does Tokyo Drift hit so hard for me? It’s not the acting, which is average at best. Part of my thinks it’s because I’ve visited Japan three times since we first saw it, which gives me a different take on the character Sean’s sense of disorientation when he arrives in Tokyo, the sheer “otherness” one feels as you wander through this place that is both similar and completely unlike home. Of course, it might just be familiarity. Or the cars. Or the sheer disbelief that they got Sonny Chiba to be in it.
As for the soundtrack, it’s pretty legit. Is it worth tracking down a copy? That depends on you. But as Han said, Life’s simple, you make choices and you don’t look back. And I choose Tokyo Drift. And I’m not looking back.