The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift is a strange outlier in the Fast & Furious series, as it features none of the original main characters (bar one small cameo) and is actually about street racing more than any of the other movies. Though it isn’t the most beloved of the franchise, Tokyo Drift has gained a significant cult following in the years since its release, and it has a huge fanbase that would love to see more.
Fans’ obsession with the movie might even be what led to Tokyo Drift playing a big role in the upcoming Fast & Furious 9, as Sean, Han, Twinkie, and others from the movie will be featuring in the blockbuster to some extent. Whether it's capturing the Japanese culture unlike any other movie, the ramped-up races, or the fascinating supporting characters, there’s so much to love about the third film.
The First Race
With the first 10 minutes of the movie being set in the US, it follows bratty high school teens, trying to "win" over a girl by hitting the road in a testosterone-fuelled adrenaline race that the series is known for, but in a much different way. Though the first two films featured street racing, they were crime movies, whereas Tokyo Drift is about racing.
It’s the first glimpse audiences got at how different the movie would be from the first two, as director Justin Lin upped the race sequences and the set pieces tenfold. The only driftless race takes place on a construction site, in which Sean and Clay destroy every possible thing in sight.
Sean Doing Jobs For Han
Han is one of the most lovable characters in the entire franchise, as the constantly eating, drifting genius is always so hilariously chilled out - even at the most intense of times. He’s so beloved that his return in the Fast & Furious 9 trailer has even encouraged the Twitter hashtag JusticeForHan.
And because he’s so smooth, it’s easy to forget that he was actually a pretty bad guy initially. But it was hilarious when he took Sean under his wing and intentionally got him into trouble. The best comes when he orders Sean to go into a spa and collect money from a man ten times the size of him.
Meeting Twinkie For The First Time
Though he had a recurring role in CSI: Cyber, Lil’ Bow Wow will always be remembered for his role as Twinkie in Tokyo Drift. Twinkie is a bit of an enigma, as he shows up in the school cafeteria trying to sell Sean laptops, sneakers, phones, and anything else that is either stolen or broken.
He eventually gets Sean’s attention with a Sparko steering wheel, and it starts one of the oddest, but classically Fast & Furious bromances in the series, and it’s something that’s going to be seen again in the ninth movie.
Learning To Drift
Tokyo Drift is to street racing what Rocky is to boxing movies, and it wouldn’t be that without a good old training montage where the protagonist goes from zero to hero in a few short minutes, which is soundtracked by a killer song.
As Sean has shown how bad he is at drifting, the montage depicts his training, and as the movie is so stylized, it does so with some of the most over-the-top edits possible. The montage even features a cameo from the real Drift King himself, who plays the fisherman that watches Sean drift tirelessly around the warehouse.
Collecting Twinkie’s Car From The Garage
Being set in Tokyo, there are so many fascinating moments in the movie that show off how distinct and different of a city Tokyo is to anywhere else. Whether it’s all of the arcades or the rooftop football stadiums, the city translates well on to film. But the most interesting thing of all is the underground parking garages.
As four cars can essentially park in one spot with a revolving lift mechanism, it’s almost suspenseful when Twinkie and Sean are waiting for Twinkie’s car to be revealed. And with Twinkie providing great comic relief (similar to replacing Rome), the vehicle isn’t some kind of sports car, but a Volkswagen Touran with the appearance of the Incredible Hulk.
Drifting With Neela
In a movie that’s so filled with adrenaline, whether it’s through the non-stop soundtrack or Japanese imports racing past blurring neon lights, there’s one scene where it cools down for a few moments.
In what is a period of reflection for both of the characters, Neela drifts through forestry in sync with several other cars. It’s darkly lit, there’s slow downtempo music playing, and it’s an audio/visual experience in a totally different way than the rest of the movie is.
The Final Race
Despite both of the first two movies heavily involving street racing, the stakes have never simply come down to a race in the final act. But in Tokyo Drift, Sean is racing for everything. Between avenging Han’s death, winning Neela over, and settling the debt with the Yakuza, it all comes down to one last race with D.K.
It’s the most riveting race in the whole franchise, as it’s all downhill, narrow, and there are plenty of different ways that either D.K. or Sean could plummet to their deaths.
Han’s Death
When it all comes to blows within the gang and it comes to light that Han has been stealing from the Yakuza, it leads to one of the most dramatic chase sequences in the series. Han’s iconic orange and black Mazda RX-7 is on full show in the scene. And, as they’re all drifting through the tight streets of Tokyo and whizzing in between traffic, it isn’t just one of the best-looking sequences in the series, but one of the best choreographed too.
But it all leads up to the moment in which the RX-7 blows up with Han inside. Though it was retconned in the later movies, the then accidental crash was the most shocking moment in the franchise since Dom got hit by a truck at the end of The Fast and the Furious.
The First Race With DK
The Nissan Silvia, the car that Han lends to Sean to prove his worth against DK, is one of the fastest cars in the franchise, but it’s useless if the driver can’t drift around pillars in a parking lot.
Sean’s first race in Tokyo is a far cry to the race in the US, as he fails every turn, crashes into every pillar, and humiliates himself in front of everybody. Not to mention that he all but totals Han’s Silvia. Tokyo Drift is the most realistic Fast & Furious movie, and this race is the perfect example as to why.
That Cameo
Despite being the face of the series along with Paul Walker, Vin Diesel left after the first movie, and then Walker left after the second movie, which is how the franchise transpired into somewhat of a street racing anthology with Tokyo Drift.
There have been a lot of unexpected cameos in recent years, but when Diesel showed up in the closing seconds of the third film, revving his muscle car, it the biggest adrenaline rush for fans of the series. The way the cameo was built up was genius too, as Sean, now the new D.K., pulls up to race a mysterious driver.