8. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
- Release Year: 2006
- Director: Justin Lin
- Cast: Lucas Black, Bow Wow, Sung Kang, Nathalie Kelley, Brian Tee, Sonny Chiba, Leonardo Nam, Brian Goodman, Jason Tobin, Keiko Kitagawa, and Vin Diesel
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift premiered in 2006, and it’s the third of the Fast & Furious movies. Chronologically, though, Tokyo Drift is actually set after the sixth movie of the Fast & Furious franchise, which is great and makes so much sense going back. The film is the first movie of the franchise without Vin Diesel or Paul Walker in a lead role. Diesel does make a cameo at the end of Tokyo Drift, and it’s also great.
The film focuses on Sean Boswell (Lucas Black), an American teenager with a racing problem. He’s sent to live in Tokyo with his father after his latest run-in with the law. In Tokyo, Sean becomes fascinated with the world of drift racing. After losing a race against Takashi (Brian Tee), a living racing legend associated with the Yakuza, Sean starts working for Han (Sung Kang) and learning the art of drift racing.
I got some heat for including Tokyo Drift so high on the list of Fast and Furious movies, but I really like this movie. Yes, it has some flaws, but it’s perfect for the time period, and it was a necessary step to bring the Fast and Furious movies to this point in time. It’s just so much fun! Tokyo Drift didn’t hold up