I wasn't a big fan of the first two, they were OK, but was persuaded to see this by a Variety review. Should have remembered that Variety gave a positive review to the remake of the Italian Job!
Basically the film gets off to a poor start where two guys are discussing what to race over and a girl says you can race "over me" - it would have been OK if they pushed this level of ridiculousness but they never do.
OK, the film's problems: the hero is Lucas Black who is OK but isn't as good as Paul Walker - I never thought I would see the day where I would write the words "isn't as good as Paul Walker". The film lacks someone with a charisma of Vin Diesel - although the Japanese male actors are quite impressive and Sonny Chiba plays a yakuza.
Another thing is the hero lacks a decent motivation - he should have been going undercover, or out for revenge. As it is he's a screw up, who goes to work for a crime guy against another crime guy, and spends his time doing dangerous racing just for the fun of it - one day he will kill someone (Paul Walker's death risking driving in the first two was at least motivated to put criminals behind bars).
The film lacks a strong narrative spine - who cares if Black stays in Japan or not? That's the stakes? Also the female lead (Aussie Nathalie Kelly) - isn't she like a willing girlfriend of the baddy? What makes her change her mind?
Most of the film seems to be one of two scenes: a car chase (with lots of jagged camerawork and extreme close ups) or a scene in slow motion with the hero walking through a gathering wear lots of hot chicks dance around to the soundtrack and hang off the arms of guys. This is repeated throughout the films.
OK the positives: the notion of "drift" racing and the Tokyo setting gives the film freshness, some of the car chases are well done, I enjoyed some of the philosophical chats about racing, and the cameo at the end.
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