Tokyo Drift, Part 1
Yesterday, I met up with C to see The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift. Some time ago when we realised we loved both The Fast and the Furious films, we agreed that we’d catch the next one together when it came out. C patiently waited until semester was over and I was free (thanks, C! :)).
I arrived a little earlier than our meet-up time of 4:30pm. My tummy was growling a little, which was bad! It would be at least three hours before we had dinner. I decided a snack was required – there was no way I could last through the whole movie – but what could I have that wouldn’t spoil my dinner later? Popcorn at the movies is so dry and over-salty and was not an option. A snack beef pie from Miss Maud? A cheeseburger from McDonalds? Some chicken karaage from the Japanese place? A spring roll? Hhhmmm. I decided to go completely the other way and have something sweet – my occasional indulgence from New Zealand Ice Cream: a serve of Chocolite on a wafer cone. This is a minor irritation, but whenever I am served by the owner, he conveniently does not hear me ask for a wafer cone. He always reaches past the wafer cones for a waffle cone and I have to say (politely, of course): “I asked for a wafer cone, not a waffle cone.” I don’t like waffle cones – they are way too sweet and I don’t like their texture. I really don’t think the owner hasn’t heard me properly – I reckon he tries to push the waffle cones on customers because he charges more for them. None of the other staff have any problems hearing me ask for a wafer cone. And he never says anything like “Sorry, I didn’t hear you properly”. Not that I need an apology, but the way he silently switches cones gives me the impression he’s not surprised. Anyway, apart from that little annoyance, I love Chocolite. This was a small serve. A large would be very precarious!
I really enjoyed the movie. Ok, so the main character is supposed to be an eighteen(or so)-year-old but is played by a twenty-something actor who actually looks more like a thirty-year-old. A large proportion of the plot is predictable and there are particular elements which it seems all the F & F films have e.g. girls snogging (I suppose because you blokes get off on that), but the car scenes, the chases and races are fantastic. And little things reminded me of the previous films: the main actor Lucas Black looks nothing like Paul Walker, but has an uncannily similar cheeky boyish grin. The music played during the pre-race scenes at the underground carpark was definitely The Fast and the Furious music – but a Japanese version – not tacky though, the instrumentation and rhythm were just perfect and made me think of the previous films. I loved the Japanese setting too – the scenes at Shibuya crossing reminded me of this year’s Amazing Race. Some of the dialogue is cheesy (the main character’s Cletus the slack-jawed yokel accent doesn’t help either) and none of the actors are particularly good, though I liked Brian Tee’s D. K. (for some reason he reminded me of Kazuya from Tekken – maybe it was just the pointy eyebrows).
I think the secret to enjoying this kind of film is not to expect too much from the acting or plot. Just go with the action, and you’ll find your heart thumping along. We both felt really energised after the film. We kept saying “That was so fscking goooood!” My Chocolite had done its job – during the film I wasn’t bothered by hunger pangs, but once we were in the carpark I was ready once again to stuff my face.