Sean (Black) is always in trouble for reckless driving, and after a destructive road race, he's sent to live with his dad (Goodman) in Tokyo. Of course, on his first day at school, he meets Han (Kang) and his cool underground racing gang, who teach him how to drift--basically driving sideways in a controlled skid at 200kph. But when he falls for the seductive Neela (Kelley) he incurs the wrath of her boyfriend (Tee), the reigning Drift King.

The script is breathtakingly stupid--dopey dialog, painful plot exposition, clunky storyline. The filmmakers don't even try to be subtle (Sean's dad is rebuilding a vintage Mustang; gosh, what could possibly happen there?). But the rough and wild tone keeps us watching, and the race sequences are thrillingly well shot. A nighttime mountain drift-a-long looks like vehicular ballet, and every race is imaginatively staged with loads of details and surprises, whether in a multi-story garage or on a crowded city street.

Meanwhile, the cast hold it together, creating believable characters from the thinnest of stereotypes. Black looks a decade too old to play a 17-year-old, but he's likeable enough to get away with it. What the film really lacks, though, is humour. Not to mention the campness that made the first two films so much fun. Although some off-the-scale corniness does draw a laugh or two, such as Sean's peaceful solution to a deadly mob threat: "We race!"

There are some feeble attempts to paint a veneer of meaning over the story--something about character and loyalty--but it's all just a contrivance to lead up to a redux of the final race from Grease, only on a treacherous mountain road. And two final moments put huge smiles on our faces: a genius surprise gag that I'm certainly not going to spoil here, followed by a "don't try this at home" disclaimer.

themes, violence, language

7.Jun.06