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The movie tells the tale of Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) who, after a near-fatal car race with a football jock, is sentenced to juvenile hall.
Luckily his mother intervenes and he is sent to stay with his militaristic dad in Tokyo, Japan. He gets caught up in the world of underground racing and incurs the wrath of DK (Brian Tee), a member of the infamous yakuza, after taking an interest in his sexy Aussie girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelley).
The result is an action packed car fest as Sean is taken under the wing of gangster Han and shown the high life of the underground drift-racing scene. Along the way he meets the token action movie comedy relief, in the form of 'Twinkie' played by rapper Bow Wow.
Okay, so the plot's a little contrived and the dialogue makes your Friday night clubbing drunken slurs seem coherent, but let's not forget the reason why we watched it in the first place - The Cars.
If you can manage to take your eyes off the scantly clad Japanese high school girls you'll see that the movie features a plethora of fantastically pimped-up vehicles. The awe inspiring parking lot 'hook-up' scene is any pimp my ride fan's wet dream as the vehicles range from the virtual powerhouse Mazda RX7 to a heavily modified VW Touran.
For those of us not in the know, drifting is getting your car sideways down a road. Although similar to power sliding it becomes a lot more complicated since the goal isn't to begin drifting then counter steer to straighten out but rather over-counter so that your car drift goes into another series of drifts.
Top honours must go to the movie's car guru's who managed to restore a 1967 Mustang fastback to pristine racing condition. This muscle car classic even manages to hold it's own against a drift designed Nissan 350Z. We'll even forgive Universal Studios almost sacrileges idea out yanking out the Mustang's power plant and outfitting the car with a Japanese engine.
Kudo's to the stunt crew for their amazing drift action scenes as the jaw dropping final race sequence shows.
While it may not be the smartest movie on circuit or even the most action packed, the movie will still find great appeal amongst it's car enthusiast fan base.
Overall the movie just about delivers on its promise of fast cars, hot girls and excellent racing action. Tokyo Drift might not score you any points with your gal but definitely a must see for all car mod enthusiasts, plus there's a great cameo surprise in the movie as well.
The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift premiers nation-wide on the 25 August.
