# Chapter Select, [[S4E6 - The Fast and the Furious - Tokyo Drift]] Transcript This transcription was completed on March 4, 2026 with the application MacWhisper on macOS. This was done automatically, without human input during the transcription process. The transcription used the Parakeet v3 model. My hope is that by offering this transcription – however accurate it may be done by a machine learning/AI – will help you, the listener. I’d love to offer full, proper transcription some day, but that is not feasible at this time. Thank you for listening and reading. I hope you enjoy the show and that this document was helpful. Enjoy. --- I uh I enabled two-factor authentication on the Popeye account. *00:00* How many followers did you gain? *00:06* I think w I'm just shy of *00:08* Five hundred now. *00:11* Oh yes. *00:13* Okay. *00:18* How do I just copy you got *00:19* Four hundred followers and a over four hundred followers in a day. *00:21* In twenty-four hours, yeah. *00:24* It says that they're automated tweets, does that *00:26* I did that last night. *00:29* Um, but also apparently that's a it's required terms of service, apparently. *00:31* Weird. *00:37* Newly thing is if it is an automated account, you have to identify who runs it. *00:37* And *00:42* d say it's an automated account, so that's dumb. *00:43* Uh it kinda is dumb, but whatever. *00:52* Yeah, I've gained almost *00:54* I guess I've gained around 400 followers, because I was around 80. *00:56* You had 50,000 views on the clip. *01:01* How do you see that? *01:04* It just tells you on Twitter, on the WebRatzer. *01:06* Oh apparent. *01:09* Fifty thousand views over forty two hundred likes *01:10* I think it's like I finally it finally broke through. *01:15* Like my dumb idea finally did it. *01:19* That's all I needed. *01:23* It feels good. *01:25* No, now we grow. *01:26* Now it just grows from here. *01:27* Now is the time. *01:29* I think it naturally consists it 'cause you would think I think naturally it would if we f four hundred and eighty people see it next week. *01:31* More would see it and we just go. *01:40* Surely surely it'll uh grow when the show comes back *01:42* You would think, right? *01:47* Like it's got to. *01:48* This is by far I just want this is the most popular Twitter account I've ever read in my life. *01:49* My own Twitter account just broke 300 and I'm like just trying to stay alive at 300. *01:54* This is like *01:59* This is this is the best automated account. *02:01* This is the only automated account that I like is other than the Popeye is this one, which I've posted before is *02:05* Today is Friday in California. *02:11* Oh, I've seen that one. *02:13* Yes. *02:14* I like this new one. *02:15* Uh, I guess it's not Saturday. *02:17* There's like Alone on a Saturday night. *02:20* It's from Evangelion. *02:22* Oh, I've seen that one. *02:34* I like that one a lot. *02:36* I think it's pretty funny. *02:37* What are you pathetic? *02:38* God, you're pathetic. *02:40* Open profile in Safari. *02:43* I like yeah, I like this one a lot. *02:47* This one's got fifty-one thousand followers. *02:50* That's what I'm saying. *02:54* Invincible, I don't think, will grow to those levels. *02:55* Because it's kind of niche, but is this a evangelion thing? *02:59* Yeah, okay. *03:04* I love it. *03:05* Alone on a Saturday night? *03:06* God, you're pathetic. *03:07* I like it when I see it and I am alone on a Saturday night. *03:11* It's like yes, thank you very much. *03:14* I love these accounts, man. *03:20* My personal favorite is probably the WeShop Wednesday. *03:22* But see, they've started doing other stuff on that, and I'm not I don't like it when bot accounts deviate outside. *03:24* So now they tweet they tweet the song and then they're like, We shop Wednesday wisdom. *03:30* I'm like, I don't need a WeShop Wednesday wisdom. *03:34* There's a yeah, there's an account I follow as well. *03:37* that is just an automated MLB account that tells you every single time somebody hits a home run in baseball and it was is like home run and it tells you who hit it and what number of home run it is for the season for them. *03:40* And that's just like really helpful 'cause it just like allows me to like *03:51* So keep track of that stuff easily and see it and noticed who's pop who's popping off and who isn't. *03:55* But yeah, they've also s that account has also started posting the guy who runs it. *04:00* now posts like daily videos in the morning where he's like, Hey guys, here's my top bets of the day if you're looking to lay down bets on fan mule And I'm like, No Just post the home runs. *04:04* I just want to see the home runs. *04:15* Yeah, I don't ever want *04:17* Again, Popeye will not be as big as home runs and baseball. *04:19* But like I was gonna say that account has 160,000 followers. *04:23* That actually serves a purpose, like a functional purpose. *04:26* But I would never *04:30* I don't want to do that with the Popeye. *04:32* Popeye is for Popeye only. *04:34* Thursdays, Popeye. *04:35* That's it. *04:37* I think there's only I've only liked one tweet on the account, and that was because Invincible tweeted something about Popeye Thursday. *04:38* It was the only one I liked. *04:46* That's the way I'm gonna keep it. *04:48* A peer account, you know? *04:51* You'll never see me go, hey, check out my podcast. *04:53* Oh, this blew up. *04:57* Check out my podcast. *04:58* So this Amy Hennig game is actually just retelling of another comic that's already been done before? *05:00* Yep. *05:07* Pretty much. *05:08* That sucks. *05:10* Yeah, I don't understand that you're given creative license to work with Captain America and your first thought is hmm, I'll adapt this comic that was written ten years ago. *05:13* go instead. *05:23* Like, what? *05:23* Like Insomniac was like, cool, we got Spider-Man, let's create our own Spider-Man universe. *05:25* I mean *05:31* Sucks. *05:35* I hope I don't know. *05:39* Like 'cause she was doing an original Star Wars story and then obviously she came up with Uncharted. *05:41* I hope she's doing something original in this space, like takes maybe that those characters and that setting and then changes it from the comics however she wants, at the very least. *05:47* I would really hate for it to just be *05:58* Here's the comic. *06:01* Not that I'm familiar with the comic. *06:04* That Marvel Snap game isn't on iOS, is it? *06:07* I'm not sure. *06:11* It should be. *06:12* Why wouldn't it be? *06:12* I mean it's not out till October. *06:13* I did want to play that. *06:17* I kept on hearing about it. *06:18* I liked that trailer. *06:20* It's probably my favorite trailer from the showcase, actually. *06:22* Oh yeah, it says iOS. *06:27* It's from the it's the guy who did it's from the people from uh Hearthstone. *06:28* Okay. *06:33* I like the trailer because it was well written and Aquafina did a really good job delivering on it. *06:34* Like it had uh it had the best jokes in the showcase. *06:39* Aquafina did good. *06:42* And then I like the opening I like the opening seeing the Bithel logo. *06:45* I popped off for that. *06:49* I was like, yeah. *06:50* Apparently they're making multiple. *06:53* Wait, there's a gar the they're gargoyles. *06:57* They're remastering the gargoyles game? *06:59* Mm-hmm. *07:02* That's pretty good. *07:02* Uh *07:04* Yeah, otherwise this looks boring. *07:06* Alright, let's get a record scene so we don't take up mics all night, even though I'm sure *07:10* He's not the one that will get sleepy. *07:14* No, someone else is gonna be. *07:16* I've slept on a podcast before, so you never know. *07:18* This is true. *07:20* Which one? *07:21* With Mario, right? *07:23* With Mario, yeah. *07:24* Straight up passed out for like two minutes. *07:26* It was amazing. *07:30* Cause Mar Mario no I don't think anybody else noticed, but Mario super noticed he and then he started laughing like in the middle of it *07:31* Was that the d uh the the rewatch thing? *07:40* Yeah, for what series for uh tremors. *07:44* I wanted to say Dune. *07:47* I was like, it's on what is it? *07:48* So did I. *07:50* I was so tired. *07:51* I mean *07:52* Right now I'm good, but it was like one of those days where I woke up at like three o'clock and then we were recording at like like nine or ten o'clock at night. *07:53* I'm like, dude *08:02* I've been up for like nearly 20 hours. *08:03* I'm really tired. *08:05* I'm sorry. *08:06* Yeah, let's get let's get going. *08:07* But like today I'm I'm fine. *08:08* I cannot find the picture I was hoping for. *08:11* So oh well *08:13* Not a big deal. *08:16* I thought I had a picture of the Hulk car. *08:17* Let's uh let's see if I can break the curse logan. *08:20* I've had some bad starts here in the past few episodes. *08:23* Like pre-prebeasant voice bad starts, it's been rough. *08:28* Mmm, now I feel pressure. *08:32* Hello everybody and welcome to Chapter Select, a seasonal podcast where we bounce. *08:44* Back and forth between a series exploring its evolution, design, and legacy. *08:49* For season four, we are covering the fast and the furious series. *08:53* My name is Max Roberts, and I am joined, as always, by Logan Moore. *08:57* Hi, Logan. *09:00* Max, this podcast, this is my Mexico. *09:02* Let's go. *09:07* I love it. *09:08* I love how you just come up with these these lines from the movie. *09:09* It brings me. *09:12* I legitimately don't know how I'm gonna *09:12* Until like the moment we start recording. *09:15* Like I don't think it's a good idea. *09:17* I can tell you're coming up with it on the spot, and that's what I love about it because *09:19* We've watched Tokyo Drift for this episode. *09:24* You might be wondering, sixth episode, Tokyo Drift, what's going on here? *09:26* If you haven't been following from the beginning of this season, were you watching in chronological order? *09:30* And in Fast and Furious in chronological order means that Tokyo Drift takes place after Fast and Furious VI, making this the sixth movie. *09:35* Does it though? *09:45* There's a whole lot of there's a whole lot of flip-flip phones in this film. *09:46* There's a whole lot of early 2000s iconography that was not in the previous films we've seen. *09:49* Are these really in chronological order? *09:55* I'm not sure. *09:57* I don't know. *09:58* Maybe in Japan the only piece of technology they're behind in is the cell phone and they just have really high quality flip phone cameras that can stream live video. *09:58* So maybe that's a secret. *10:10* If you really think about it, today we have flip smartphones that can fold in half and flip. *10:12* So maybe Japan is actually fifteen years ahead of the trend and just said flip phones with HD cameras. *10:17* The Razor's coming back, baby. *10:24* 2022 year of the the Razor. *10:26* We're gonna bring back already came back. *10:28* Razors being bring back Singular's gonna come back soon too *10:30* Two makeover AT. *10:35* T Mobile will buy it. *10:36* It'll be T Mobile Singular Sprint Mega Power. *10:38* Oh my goodness gracious. *10:43* Yeah, so we're let's get right into the general history and info of this film before we start talking *10:45* uh more about our own thoughts on it and uh we've got a guest this episode that we're going to fold in here as well in just a couple minutes. *10:52* Uh fast and furious Tokyo Drift *10:59* Came out on June 16th, 2006. *11:02* Uh this was the first film directed by Justin Lynn, who has directed *11:05* the past three episodes we've done here. *11:10* Producer this time round once again was Neil H. *11:12* Moritz. *11:14* The writer was Chris Morgan. *11:15* It was his first Fast and Furious movie too. *11:17* Yeah, so this was a lot of people's first fast film. *11:19* Um *11:22* The actors this time around were primarily Lucas Lucas Black, Bao Wow, and Sung Kang. *11:22* The composer was Brian Tyler. *11:30* The stunt coordinator was Terry Leonard, and this film's budget was approximately $85 million, and it made $159 million at the box office, which is a far cry from *11:32* the like 800 million that Fast Six made last time, but again, we're going back in time here before the series got really big, so it's interesting to think though, like that's a six, seven year difference, and we've *11:45* nearly like what is it, four times the money? *11:59* Three times? *12:02* Yeah. *12:02* Well I think we talked about it before in uh one of the previous episodes, but wasn't this *12:03* movie originally planned to be like direct to DVD? *12:07* It was. *12:10* I was gonna bring that I was gonna bring it up. *12:10* So a hundred and sixty million dollar box office for something that you originally were planning to just *12:14* Shoot direct uh stores on DVD is pretty good. *12:20* I gotta imagine that they were pretty happy with that. *12:23* Uh sadly, the critical consensus is a bit different. *12:26* Critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave this one *12:30* It sits at a 38% overall. *12:33* General viewers do like it quite a bit more though at a 69. *12:35* Nice *12:40* Uh and it sits it so viewers like this one a little bit more, which is what I think is going to make for one of the interesting conversation pieces here uh as we move forward with this episode because *12:40* Our guest this episode is none other than our old friend, Michael Ruiz, who is here with us now. *12:54* Michael, hello. *13:00* Hi. *13:02* How are you? *13:04* I'm okay. *13:05* I I'm I'm fine. *13:07* Yeah, I'm good *13:09* So I mentioned this, but this is uh fan favorite within the Fast franchise, and I believe we've had you on this episode because this is the one that you have said is your favorite and is was the one that you wanted to talk about with us, correct? *13:10* Yeah, I uh I think the last note on my notes says uh I like this is just the like watching it again just made me realize that it is actually still my favorite out of *13:24* all of 'em. *13:38* Okay. *13:39* And I and I I think the last time I watched like I've seen I think not too long ago I finally watched ten the the Cena one. *13:39* Which is the newest one, I think. *13:47* Or nine, yeah. *13:49* F9. *13:50* The best. *13:51* Yeah, F9. *13:51* So I just watched that one and usually we Amber and I, my wife, will watch them every so often. *13:53* So *13:59* Yep, this one is definitely. *13:59* She did. *14:02* Yep. *14:03* What what what are her thoughts on it? *14:04* She likes it. *14:06* She's good. *14:07* I don't think it's her favorite for sure. *14:08* Uh especially like those first three. *14:10* Because their they s especially the first one has not aged well. *14:13* Uh but I don't think it has, at least *14:17* Uh but the Tell me you don't like a tuna fish sandwich? *14:20* Tell me you don't like a bunch of dudes stealing DVD players out of the back of a truck. *14:24* I think really out of the first two the only thing that aged well was we hungry and that's about it. *14:29* We hungry. *14:34* But uh yeah, I don't know. *14:36* Uh she probably likes the latter. *14:38* That one is pretty good. *14:41* Basically Roman Roman's what's aged well. *14:44* Roman Roman has H1. *14:47* Yeah, Roman's Roman's good. *14:48* What are your two I want I want to toss this to both of you guys before I get into my own *14:50* thoughts on this movie and my own history with this one because I have talked in some of the previous episodes about how I did have some expo exposure to this movie of all the movies in the series beforehand, but *14:55* I guess for both of you, Mike, we'll just stick with you. *15:06* What's your general history with this movie? *15:08* Did you see it in theaters back in the day? *15:11* And you've already talked about your own thoughts on it, but uh *15:13* What's your own history with the film if you really have one? *15:16* I kinda do. *15:20* I just remember watching so I remember watching these movies with like my dad, because my dad was really into cars and stuff, and in turn like *15:21* at when I was a kid I was really into cars. *15:29* I'm not so much into it anymore. *15:32* I think cars are cool or whatever, but but this one kind of uh I guess in a weird way, it's like probably a mixture of this and then playing *15:33* Uh which I guess are two different kinds of cars. *15:44* But like playing like dirt. *15:47* I don't know if you guys know that game. *15:49* Uh kind of got me more into like *15:52* why I have like my Mazda or like why I have why I like uh like hatchbacks and and more like Japanese style cars uh and why I gravitate towards those like your Subaru WRXs your *15:54* your Lancers as we'll s as which is one of the cars in here, like kind of those things. *16:07* Like I definitely gravitate more liking those than like any sort of like American-made card, like a Ford or whatever. *16:13* So *16:20* I mean in terms of that, like, I guess this might have been the reason why I kind of like that stuff. *16:20* But I think I did see this in theaters. *16:24* I don't remember that at all. *16:26* Like I I probably just went into the theater and was like, yep. *16:28* That's that was a fun movie. *16:31* That was great. *16:32* Uh and that's that's about it. *16:33* Um I guess me liking this more w has come down to I think we've talked on it on other podcasts. *16:35* on like model cis and show or whatever, where I have terrible taste in uh TV shows and movies as of recent *16:41* Uh and uh terrible. *16:49* I think I mean I just like to have fun. *16:51* And I think this one's like a really good example of like kinda dumb, like really dumb, but *16:53* Still like I don't know, it's got a lot of heart and it's still fun to watch and they have like good chase scenes and stuff and the story there is goofy with the Yakuza and stuff, but but uh but uh otherwise, yeah, I just think it's *17:00* Uh it's a it's a fun ride. *17:14* I think the main character though, I don't know like why he was chosen. *17:16* Like I d I don't understand Cowboy. *17:21* Yeah, it's just like *17:23* There is nothing about him that is like, man, I like that. *17:25* Like I like that guy. *17:28* Not necessarily like it's just, I don't know. *17:30* Like the look *17:32* I don't wanna I I don't know, it's kinda weird. *17:33* No, he looks like gen he looks like generic early two thousands white man. *17:34* Yeah, it's just like it's just some guy and I'm like, okay. *17:39* I don't know. *17:42* Like compared to compared to the other main protagonists in this series where you have Vin Diesel who's a big, strong, muscly man, and *17:43* Paul Walker, who's devastatingly good looking with his blue eyes piercing through your soul. *17:51* This guy's just like very generic looking, yeah. *17:57* It's not even just like *18:01* other people in the franchise is like other people in the movie. *18:03* You know? *18:07* That too. *18:07* In the same movie. *18:08* Like you got Bow Wow. *18:08* You got you got Han, who ends up being like more my personal favorite character. *18:10* I don't know how he dies *18:15* I've seen I've seen the I've seen the other ones and I do know he comes back. *18:20* But uh just *18:24* the I forgot what the girl's name is, the villain dude, like all these people, very good, like cool looking people, and then you got this one dude. *18:26* Like and I think maybe that's the point, I guess. *18:37* I don't know. *18:39* Makes him seem more like a fish out of water, perhaps. *18:40* Yeah. *18:43* I think that's absolutely what they're going for. *18:43* And also like you could be this person, like this like an average just some average guy, you know? *18:46* So yeah, it was good. *18:52* I love this movie. *18:54* Max, when did you first see this one? *18:55* What are your thoughts on it? *18:57* Did you rent this one at home? *18:58* Did your aunt make you have to close your eyes at any of the scenes *18:59* No torture scenes in this movie, so no closing of the eyes. *19:03* I don't remember the first time I saw it. *19:06* It was definitely at home at some point uh in the intervening years, because basically after Too Fast, Too Furious, I was at some point I'd watch these movies up *19:07* in order all the way through. *19:16* So I've been on since then. *19:18* Uh but I did end up actually seeing this movie in theaters. *19:20* It just wasn't in two thousand six. *19:23* It was in two thousand and twenty one. *19:24* back when movie theaters were starting to reopen again and they were bringing old movies back and I think in the lead up to Fast Nine, they were playing old Fast and Furious movies. *19:27* And so I actually saw this last year in the theaters. *19:37* And it was Abby's first time seeing it, which was also pretty fun to see it on the big screen. *19:41* But this movie *19:47* is so cool. *19:49* Just the drifting mentality in Tokyo. *19:51* It's just all that wrapped up into it makes it such a very cool movie. *19:55* A not like *19:59* I always have distinct memories of when I've watched this movie. *20:01* Another time was I was watching it on my iPad mini in line at a GameStop *20:04* Waiting to pre-order a Nessa amiibo because that was the day Fast and Furious 7 came out, and so I was watching Tokyo Drift before going to see Fast and Furious 7. *20:09* I just have always loved this movie. *20:19* Uh it's defin you know, like Tokyo or like Too Fast, Too Furious, this one's always cool. *20:24* And I feel like this is the one everyone talks about. *20:30* Loving a lot. *20:33* Like Tokyo Drift has always stood out, especially in the older movies, as oh yeah, I watch Tokyo Drift. *20:35* Like Tokyo Drift's the cool one. *20:41* And I think part of that is because it is set in Japan. *20:42* And it's a fresh slate. *20:45* No old school characters. *20:47* I also think it's no family. *20:49* And like the stuff that preceded it, because you think about like this *20:53* Probably and I don't I'm not entirely sure. *20:58* I don't know the timeline, but like this is also when uh need for speed, uh the one *21:00* Where they the good one. *21:06* I can't remember which one it's called. *21:08* It's not carbon. *21:09* I can't remember. *21:10* It's not much carbonate, is it? *21:11* Carbon is *21:12* A good one for sure. *21:14* Underground. *21:16* Underground. *21:16* So it's like when that was coming out and the which was an amazing one with like the tuning and stuff like that. *21:18* Or even like the rock star game. *21:23* uh Midnight Club, like that was that was out too. *21:26* Like I feel like this was like coming out around that same time and those were those had *21:29* those kind of cars and those games like Spotlight on those kind of cars. *21:35* So real real time follow up, Need for Speed. *21:39* This movie came out in two thousand six, so *21:43* Uh the need for speed that year was carbon, was 2006, but the year before was most wanted. *21:46* Um in 2003 and 2004 were underground one and two. *21:51* So it's kind of leading into *21:55* But it was that era of Need for Speed where it was good. *21:58* Because those are all really fairly solid Need for Speed games. *22:00* So Yeah. *22:04* It was definitely It just feels like it's definitely just like that time. *22:04* And so like definitely in our age group *22:07* would definitely love Tokyo Drift more than you know. *22:10* We talked about with Fast One how that movie was kind of the precursor to all that stuff happening. *22:14* And this movie came out in the midst of all of those games being popular and *22:18* So yeah, that that tracks and makes more sense. *22:23* I also think, at least for me and Logan, Mike, you're a little bit older than us, but 2006, I was like twelve. *22:26* Like I think this is a perfect 12-year-old move, kind of it's like it's just cool enough. *22:33* It's way cooler than you are at 12, so you're like, this is awesome. *22:37* So it definitely was something that grabbed me early on. *22:41* I was in high school. *22:44* Yeah. *22:45* Uh I mean, I don't know. *22:46* I was pretentious, so I probably hated it at the time. *22:49* I I you know, I was one of the kids that liked I was like, oh, Casablanca is my favorite movie of all time. *22:53* And too so older younger Mike *22:58* Younger Mike would not have liked the Resident Evil saga. *23:02* No, he would not have liked the R he would have liked the first movie, but not the rest of the movies. *23:05* Now the fourth movie masterpiece. *23:10* But uh anyway. *23:13* Logan? *23:15* Do you have any experience with this? *23:16* Were all the kids at your school wearing Tokyo Drift shirts? *23:18* I don't remember that. *23:21* Did your grandpa go see it? *23:22* No. *23:24* My dad watched these Japanese people. *23:24* My dad did watch this film and that was my previous exposure to it is he just randomly watched this at one point. *23:27* It's like hey this movie's good you should watch it and I was like okay and then I did and I remember we had it like DVR'd *23:33* somehow on like Dish Network it was on TV and I DVR'd it at one point and I had watched it that way. *23:41* And I re I *23:47* So re-watching it this time though, it became apparent that I don't think I ever finished watching it. *23:49* So I think I saw like two-thirds or three-quarters of this movie. *23:54* And then I never saw the ending. *23:58* What? *24:00* Uh because like the ending stuff that happens here, I was like, I don't think I remember this. *24:00* I don't rem I remembered a lot of the opening parts, but I did not remember the ending. *24:05* Um, now that I've seen it though, complete from front to back as of today, uh, because I watched it earlier this morning when I woke up. *24:11* I have to say this is one of the worst ones in the series that we've seen so far, uh, which is why I'm glad that Mike is here. *24:20* Because I knew that this was gonna be a surprising twist. *24:28* I totally thought you were going to love this movie. *24:33* It's actually like not surprising to be honest. *24:37* I think that this movie *24:39* Well I thought after Too Fast I thought like you would be Well here's the problem. *24:41* So we've set we've kind of set things up this way to where we would watch this chronologically and it would come in where it's a *24:45* And I I feel like partially that his that has hurt because this movie is greatly boring compared to what with some of the recent ones we have now seen. *24:53* I see. *25:05* Um and that does not mean and I d beyond that though, I just also don't think it's very good. *25:06* Um I have problems with I mean we can get into all this as we move forward. *25:12* Protagonist is boring. *25:17* I think the villain's boring. *25:18* I think the chemistry between the two lovers at the center of this is *25:19* Very forced and not enticing whatsoever. *25:25* I I just I don't know. *25:30* There's a lot of problems I have with this movie. *25:31* Han is and the other thing too, I think the saving grace would be Han *25:34* And this was the thing that I I guess stood out to me watching this because he's the person that you know in this movie. *25:38* The way and maybe this is something that Max can speak to since I know him and I have been watching all of them in this order, Mike. *25:44* You probably can't speak to this as much. *25:50* It was apparent to me that this was Han's first movie, because it is. *25:52* And he doesn't have all the idiosyncrasies of the character that he has in later movies. *25:58* He just kind of comes off as *26:03* Man in Japan who has a lot of cars and money. *26:06* And now we have the context for how he has all of that, but his character itself doesn't feel very *26:10* developed in this movie yet. *26:17* And it f I feel like he g I feel like Sung Kang er what is his name? *26:19* Yeah. *26:23* Uh yeah, I feel like Sung Kang kinda gets more comfortable in that role in the future movies and he kind of fits that Han Mold better. *26:23* In this movie I don't feel like he really does yet. *26:31* And I don't that doesn't mean I think his performance is bad, but I feel like his character just *26:35* It's clear that this is the first introduction of his character, even though for us this is now his fourth appearance. *26:40* Um So yeah, even the Han stuff, I was a little bit *26:48* thrown off with to some degree. *26:54* So interesting. *26:56* I did like I will say, so to talk more about how we have watched these movies. *26:58* I did enjoy knowing certain things in retrospect, like when he's like, oh, I have money. *27:02* And there's certain other callbacks like I mentioned before where he's like, this is my Mexico. *27:07* I'm like, oh cool, that's like a cool callback to win. *27:10* Uh Dom jets off to Mexico at the end of the first film. *27:13* Like there's cool callbacks mainly to the original film in this one. *27:16* Because also *27:21* There was really only the original and T F and then other things they sort of wrote in later. *27:22* Like it I I guess what *27:28* Here's a good way I could I could describe it. *27:30* Something like Better Call Saul, where it incorporates things that were mentioned in *27:35* Breaking bad things will be mentioned things were mentioned in Breaking Bad involving Saul's character. *27:40* And then they loop those things back in with Better Call Saul, the prequel series, and it's like, oh wow, it's almost like they knew ahead of time what they were gonna do with this *27:45* That doesn't come across here as much to me. *27:53* Like it it feels like I don't know. *27:56* I don't know if that makes any sort of sense the comparison I'm trying to draw here. *27:59* The things *28:03* Like him being like, I have money and these th like it doesn't feel like Justin Lynn was planning movies down the road, like we know how he gets that money and stuff like that. *28:03* Like, I I d I don't know if that *28:13* makes any sort of sense. *28:16* I mean, just to we're just diving right into Han, it feels like. *28:18* Um Yeah, sure. *28:22* Let's just start with this. *28:23* I to me *28:24* I wrote my note down was like Han has a smoothness and matureness about him that definitely stands out from the rest of the cast. *28:26* I mean that makes sense. *28:34* Everybody else's high schoolers. *28:35* We're dealing with high schoolers and when high schoolers that have Toby Maguire syndrome that all look like they're thirty. *28:37* Yes. *28:44* So obviously that sets them apart. *28:45* But then having this weird context of the other movies, because we're watching them in this order and I've seen them a bunch, it is *28:48* Uh I wrote down as like we kinda see why Han dives into like just dating a bunch of different women and hanging around and working with the Yakuza *28:57* and things like that. *29:09* It's because Giselle died or died, who knows. *29:10* So like I kind of reverse see this push of a life of *29:14* leisure and abandon and working and stuff. *29:19* But I think the cooler thing is Han takes in Sean and kind of in he has that whole speech of, you know, I care about character and and I want that around me more. *29:21* And I think that's something that ties into the whole family vibe before we actually really have fully established family family family because it's the third movie. *29:31* So I think that's why Han *29:40* was so endearing and a fan favorite back in Tokyo Drift before he makes all these appearances in future movies. *29:43* Which is also something we need to talk about as well. *29:54* Well which's the Letty problem for you, I would think. *29:56* Same thing now. *30:00* And so it's just I you know, I think that's *30:01* Good. *30:06* It's not the same connection Dom and Brian have, but Han carries this film pretty much on his back, uh along with the setting, I think, and the style of drafting. *30:06* The setting is great, yeah. *30:16* Like I think Tokyo really carries *30:17* The film in a lot of ways. *30:20* Yeah. *30:22* But I so I mean at least that's what I think about Han. *30:22* It's interesting to watch all these movies in chronological order now and have a little bit of context for Han in that way. *30:26* And I think it reverse explains his actions. *30:32* Like before it was just like, I'm a cool guy with money and I like hanging out with women. *30:35* And now you're watching it and going, He's a chip chewing *30:38* chameleon man who dated Gal Godot and he's sad that she died off an airplane. *30:43* Well see that's I guess that's one of the things I'm talking about that like with *30:49* hindsight or technically future sight because all these movies came out afterward. *30:53* I don't get the sense in this movie that his character is living this lifestyle because he's *30:58* sad or because he I think the Mexico thing is kind of a little bit, yeah, to a degree. *31:04* There's that one scene where he kind of hints to it, but that's about it. *31:10* Otherwise it just *31:14* You get the sense that he's doing this stuff because he likes it, even when he rips off the yakuza. *31:15* He's like, What did you do? *31:21* Why would you do that? *31:22* And he's like, Well, that's just the lifestyle we live. *31:23* Like he's just *31:24* doing these things just because he feels like that's what he does. *31:25* Yeah, I'm gonna be with a bunch of women. *31:29* Yeah, I'm gonna get in with all these SCSI schemes. *31:30* It doesn't feel like he's *31:33* diving into this stuff as a way to numb the pain of Giselle dying in the previous movie. *31:35* He's just doing it because, yep, this is who I am. *31:40* This is my personality. *31:42* This is and I think and I think that's apparent because obviously they didn't know *31:44* three movies down the line when they made this one, what his arc would be. *31:49* And so it it's it's kind of a way for to explain why he is this way in Tokyo Drift, but I just don't feel like it works out as good. *31:53* And obviously if they knew what was going to happen in Fast Six *31:59* further down the line with his character, I think they could have approached some things better in this one. *32:02* Um and that's what I'm saying. *32:06* It doesn't it doesn't feel as cohesive as the example I used before with like a breaking bed and a *32:08* Uh better call saw where it was like, wow, this feels like one unified thing that they made at the same time. *32:13* This doesn't feel like that to me. *32:19* No, it's definitely retroactively pieced together. *32:21* Yes. *32:24* Yeah. *32:25* Yeah, I mean *32:25* Going back to the Han discussion, just like I think they did enough like mystery and allure with him *32:27* to where if they wanted to go back to it, they could go back to it. *32:36* I don't think there was anything set in stone of like, oh yes, they like maybe they had it set in stone they're like, oh yeah, he used to chill with Dom and his crew and stuff like that. *32:40* that. *32:49* Maybe that was like the one connective tissue there. *32:49* But I think other than because obviously the end of the movie. *32:52* Obviously. *32:55* Yes. *32:56* But the but *32:57* Other than that, I don't think there was anything their future I mean, this was a supposedly you said directed movie, direc directed DVD, right? *32:58* I mean, like, were there even going to be plans for a fourth movie, a f like a fifth movie, whatever? *33:07* I don't know. *33:12* So I think the I think the franchise was kind of on a movie-by-movie basis at this point. *33:13* Yeah. *33:18* 'Cause it wasn't it. *33:18* So I mean they I I I think they were just playing with the cards that they had dealt and like were setting things up if they could, but then also ending things *33:19* If, you know, they could they couldn't make another one. *33:28* Again, though, that's the weird thing about where this falls. *33:31* I feel like if this was just chronologically the third film *33:34* And they could have told the story and I it's so it's so weird because I just don't feel like this fits into where we're at right now. *33:38* I think the one thing we haven't said coming off of classic is clearly, I think I said this in our last episode with Mario in Fast and Furious 6, clearly Justin Lin loves Han. *33:47* And so he did whatever he could to keep Han around in all of his other movies. *34:00* Yeah, but I also think the crowd reception too is that like people wanted to see more of the movies. *34:03* People love Han so *34:07* And I I so I think they did whatever they could to keep him in there. *34:09* About the whole direct to DVD and future movie things, I f I found this interview researching this movie to kind of dig into the DVD thing. *34:13* There was uh the Universal Pictures co-president of production, Jeffrey Jeffrey Kirschenbaum *34:22* Quote, we talk intern the talk internally was that the franchise was played out. *34:30* At that point we were weighing whether to go straight to video or not for future sequels. *34:35* We weren't sure what we were going to do. *34:40* End quote. *34:42* Um *34:43* So they talked about, you know, that the movie attested well Tokyo Drift, but Universal thought this article says that the sequel needed more pop. *34:44* And so this is the fun twist. *34:54* So they go to Vin Diesel and they're like, hey, can you like just make a cameo and we'll just see how it goes? *34:55* And Vin Diesel made a trade. *35:02* He's instead of being paid, Vin Diesel's like, I want the I want to own Riddick *35:05* And so Vin Diesel got the rights to the Chronicles of Riddick to make this fifteen second cameo at the end. *35:10* And apparently the response in the like preview test audiences *35:18* was so quote electric. *35:24* It was like a rock concert. *35:26* The audience went ballistic. *35:28* And so it was actually then *35:30* That they'd thought we needed a reboot with the original cast, and that's what creates Fast and Furious and launches it into everything. *35:32* Was this one cameo, this one trade for the Chronicles of Riddick? *35:41* Um which pivoted it from direct to DVD to we'll put this in movie theaters was yeah, Finn Diesel's fifteen seconds. *35:44* What a negotiation on Vin's part. *35:53* Hey, can you make can you make a fifteen second cameo? *35:56* I don't know, can you give me the rights to an entire film franchise? *35:59* You don't have to pay me. *36:04* That's pretty good that's pretty funny on his part. *36:09* Um there's a lot of avenues we could go with the discussion on this one. *36:11* I'm trying Mike, you're is is there anything here that stood out to you as the person who likes this movie? *36:18* I I guess let's go to that before because I don't want this episode to be a list of things that I kind of have a problem with *36:24* Necessarily, because that's kind of what a lot of my notes are. *36:30* Again, I want to stress I don't hate the film. *36:33* I think it just is there's nothing *36:35* special that I really like. *36:39* Outside of the location, I like I do like the focus on drifting. *36:41* But even at even that I I feel like yeah I was gonna say I've I've I think it's pretty *36:45* Crazy or unique that they base this entire movie on like a car maneuver *36:52* Like the entirety of like the driving style is just like it's the only one that's like that. *37:00* None of the other ones are technically like that. *37:04* I mean like street racing, street racing, but you could do that with it, like *37:06* This like that too. *37:10* Popul like popularize drifting. *37:12* Like put it in like everybody's everyone. *37:14* And it's so over the top, too. *37:17* Like the funniest scene in this movie is where *37:18* Uh Sean and is it Neela? *37:22* You sound right? *37:24* Yeah. *37:26* When he's like, Oh, I've never seen you drift before, and she's like, that's because you never asked. *37:27* And then the next scene is them going through the *37:30* going through the hills and it's just like six or seven cars just all drifting in unison. *37:32* I'm like, okay, this is real goofy and dumb. *37:38* And they're like just drifting through all the streets together as like a big unit. *37:40* Like it's so silly looking. *37:44* I think that's like and again, this is coming back to like the kind of stuff that I like now. *37:46* I think that's like kind of the reasons why I I like that scene is like one of the reasons why I love it. *37:53* Like love this movie. *37:58* It's just that *37:59* It's just like it's just corny, good, like fun family movie. *38:00* Like I or family. *38:05* Like well, it is a family movie. *38:06* It is a family. *38:07* But like uh like as opposed to like the crazy action stuff that it is now or even like in the other two it's like *38:11* Cars and what is it called? *38:21* Point break with cars or whatever. *38:23* Like it's you know, like I *38:25* I think I preferred this like goofy just like kid who gets in trouble and has to go across the country or across the world in order to escape trouble to then just get into more trouble. *38:28* It's just like kind of goofy and weird and *38:40* I don't know. *38:42* It's like it's definitely like one of the weird w it's the weird one out of all of them, but I think it has like like with Han too, like Han is I mean, we already talked about that, I guess, but like I feel like his character really like *38:43* I don't know, like he does like put the whole film on his shoulders and stuff like that. *38:56* It's it's super good. *39:00* I don't know. *39:01* Well, let's talk about Sean, because I think that's where a lot of my problems come from. *39:02* I think I *39:07* On paper, the idea of, yeah, this American kid having to go to Japan because he's a street racer and he's getting having to move from everywhere he's ever been in, and he's g getting perennially in trouble. *39:08* I I think that's a good *39:19* Fine plot. *39:20* I don't have problems with the broad story beats of this movie. *39:21* Sean though and his portrayal and how he's characterized in this film, he's just greatly uninteresting. *39:25* Um *39:32* He is not an enjoyable character to follow for the runtime of this film. *39:33* I like Sean. *39:39* Let's hear it from you then. *39:43* I find just the simple nature of that premise of high schooler in trouble has to go to Japan for whatever. *39:45* I find that endearing and I find *39:51* Like his few character qualities of he always stands up for himself and which gets him either into trouble or and in the by the end of the film so he can stand up and do what is right. *39:53* I enjoy that. *40:05* It's very simple, right? *40:06* The premise is boy in trouble learns how to become a responsible young man. *40:08* Like, it's super simple. *40:14* I just enjoy that. *40:15* And I think *40:16* him being so bold as to like challenge DK to a race without even having a car available to him. *40:18* Like, I just think those kind of character traits *40:24* are nice and fun. *40:28* And I think his delivery is just that right level of cocky southern boy *40:29* energy. *40:37* And putting that in Tokyo I think is a good juxtaposition. *40:38* That's why they wrote it this way. *40:42* You know, fish out of water. *40:44* Um yeah, I just find it *40:46* He c connects with all the characters well too, I think. *40:47* I he's a good enough he's a moldable piece and fits wherever he needs to go. *40:50* Yeah, I think I mean this I I Sean is like the *40:55* w one thing that I probably like dislike about the movie. *41:00* I don't like him as a c like I uh actually my last note here I put *41:03* Definitely still fa my favorite movie from what I can remember. *41:08* Even if the lead is forgettable, I actually don't remember his name. *41:12* Because I didn't remember his name until you guys just started talking about him. *41:16* Yeah, during this podcast. *41:19* Uh but like every other character, like even uh like DK, like I I think is way more *41:21* like of an attractive character, like see his story of like, oh, it's just I I mean, you wonder like why he is the way he is because he's tr like running things with his uncle f *41:29* w with the Yakuza and like why is he doing that? *41:39* It's like his dad died or whatever and like that stuff is way more interesting and *41:42* figuring out like his character and why he is the way he is is way more interesting than anything that I feel like Sean does. *41:48* Because Sean is just a punk kid *41:54* Who can't get who just gets into trouble all the time and then randomly is just like, oh my friend died. *41:56* I'm gonna do the right thing finally cause somebody died. *42:01* Like it it's like, I don't know. *42:03* It's it's just kinda like I don't know what Sean's arc is in this *42:05* movie. *42:08* Yeah. *42:08* His arc is that by the end of the movie, rather than getting in trouble, he just decides to face up rather than leave. *42:10* But *42:18* In the previous instances where he left the in w where where he left when he got in trouble, he was more having to leave because his mom was kind of forcing him to. *42:19* So it's not even this issue where he's not been standing up for s in certain situations because he doesn't want to. *42:28* It's just because he's not had a say in the matter. *42:35* And now this time he's like, I'll stand up for this in this situation I created and I'll race this man with my newfound drifting powers. *42:37* And then he just wins the race, and that's kind of just it. *42:45* Well, he makes that he makes that jab at his dad about how his dad ran away. *42:50* And so he clearly has a beef with his parents separating, which then causes him to be a rambuctious youth and cause to get into big enough trouble. *42:54* That's that's the other thing too. *43:01* Too many cliches with his character, his art. *43:03* Yeah. *43:06* Like he oh my dad I don't I didn't have a dad growing up. *43:06* He ran off, and now I'm this rambunctious teenager and *43:10* So that's one art that's one character art for him. *43:13* And then he's got young fish out of water, doesn't know like I feel like we've seen broad strokes of this movie in so many other things. *43:15* Like uh it's like the karate kid with cars, basically *43:23* Like, oh, I don't know karate, I gotta fight the bullies, but then I will be trained by a naked rapper. *43:27* I'll be trained on wax on or wax on drifting. *43:34* And then he gets trained in the art of drifting and then he faces the bad boy again and then he beats him. *43:37* And it's it's the it's a very played out kind of arc in that sense. *43:43* Um this is the most this is the most formulaic Fast and Furious movie, I would say, by far. *43:49* It's certainly the lowest stakes. *43:55* I don't know about *43:57* Formulaic, I mean, I think the first one and the second one are also fairly in the sense that I mean it's *44:00* kinda cliche that he lets him go at the end and we're friends now but it I mean no I mean the first one's totally it's the whole like cop goes undercover and *44:08* Yeah. *44:17* It's like yeah. *44:18* But then they jump in front of a train for some reason and he wrecks. *44:19* Yeah, but back to Sean really quick, you know, I think *44:23* He clearly acts out as an act of rebellion and just gets tossed around wherever he goes. *44:27* That's what he does. *44:32* And I think him actually challenging DK kind of shows he makes this *44:34* line, I want to say it's to Bow Wow, to Twinkie. *44:39* We keep calling Bow Wow, but to Twinkie is like, I'm not gonna be here long enough for you to remember my name or to remember your name. *44:43* Like he clearly plans on just *44:49* getting in trouble and getting out of here. *44:52* And the first thing he does when he's there, first night or first night of school or whatever, is goes out and street rates, stays late. *44:54* Like he's ready to just quit. *45:01* He's given up on himself and his family in this situation. *45:02* And I think his arc is eventually learning, family, you know, standing up for people and yourself and um facing people. *45:06* uh bullies in your life. *45:17* And yes, super cliched. *45:18* Just a classic, you know, story that all the movies *45:21* Karate kid, so on and so forth. *45:25* I d but I think he's I think his arc is a bit more than just mom made me move with my dad, who I don't have a relationship with. *45:27* But him and his dad have that whole forced again, cliche, just I'll stand up with you, son, and you gotta let me face this myself *45:36* I don't like I don't like his dad. *45:45* I don't like his dad too. *45:47* I didn't here's the thing. *45:48* The one reason why I didn't like his dad is because this his child. *45:49* Alright, you're telling me that okay, Max, you're you're gonna have a child, alright? *45:53* And then you're gonna they're gonna grow up, they're gonna be a punk kid just like this kid, and he's you're gonna be split up with Abby, you're gonna be in Japan. *45:57* You know, just *46:05* You're in the Navy, she you know all this stuff, right? *46:08* Uh prostitutes will come out of your house when your son gets in there, all that kind of stuff. *46:12* Uh all right, so *46:17* Your kid is a butthead, all right? *46:19* Your kid is a butthead, and he like he does all this garbage and gets in trouble still in Tokyo, and then you tell him you can't do this, you're gonna go to jail, but then *46:22* Through that trouble, he gets in trouble with the Yakuza, which is a way bigger problem than anything else that he is doing. *46:34* And then *46:43* He's he he goes back and he's like, I gotta do this. *46:44* I gotta fight the Yakuza and then his dad's like okay just let them go like I love his plan for a resolution *46:46* It's no, I love it. *46:56* He's like, I will go to the mi I will go to the Yakuza and say, let's race. *46:58* Like that is so fast and furious. *47:03* That is great. *47:06* I love that. *47:07* That is great. *47:08* It's the it's just the dad character just being like, Oh sure, yeah. *47:09* You could just go on ahead into *47:13* gang territory and get maybe get yourself killed and it just like as long as he doesn't have to leave Japan and get kicked out and go somewhere else. *47:15* If he dies, okay that's fine. *47:24* You just can't leave here. *47:25* Yeah, while cliched, I think Sean, you know, I think he works, at least for me. *47:27* I've and maybe that's uh some rose-tinted glasses also kind of coming into this, but *47:32* I m I don't have a big beef with Sean. *47:39* Uh I enjoy him enough. *47:41* I just think there's tidbits from other characters that I feel like are more interesting than what Sean has to even like Neela being like *47:43* the outsider and having to grow up in Japan or what yeah. *47:52* Like I feel like that's even more like I would rather invest my time in a story like that. *47:56* I want to talk about I want to talk about Nila. *48:01* Let's get into her her here first. *48:03* Before we do, I want to say one final thing on Sean. *48:05* And don't don't tell me, Mike. *48:07* I don't know if Sean appears in the other movies, and that's something I'm greatly looking forward to finding out. *48:10* That is w one thing I do not know, and I'm very interested in seeing if he pops up again. *48:17* I assume he will. *48:22* But I don't know for certain. *48:25* So Mike Logan had the same thing about Eva Mendez from Too Fast, Too Furious. *48:27* He's like, does she show back up? *48:32* I'm like, mmm. *48:34* I don't know if any I don't know if anybody in this these movies shows back up again. *48:36* I assume they have to because Vin Diesel shows up in Japan 'cause his boy got *48:40* Killed in a str in an accident, which is all of a sudden now accident. *48:45* Yeah. *48:50* Which we have to we have to talk about that specifically. *48:50* We will. *48:53* Let's talk about Neela real fast. *48:53* Let's let's talk about Neela because I *48:55* I I think her character is largely fine in this movie. *48:58* I again I don't think there's any chemistry whatsoever between her and Sean. *49:01* And so I think them being I feel like it almost would have been better if they were put together just as like *49:05* friends rather than trying to make them feel like they're coming together is like like falling for each other in some sort of way because I don't get any sort of chemistry on that level between them. *49:10* I I mean I kinda do in a weird way. *49:21* Like, I don't know. *49:24* I d I also think it's just there like that relationship is just there to stir the pot. *49:25* with uh DK where like, you know, Hans says that, you know, you're his kryptonite, you know. *49:31* But that's the other thing I don't understand is it's never really shown in these movies that *49:36* She likes him? *49:42* Like why is she with him? *49:43* Like with DK? *49:44* Yeah, because the whole movie she's kind of speaking poorly about him and is like, no, stay away from him. *49:47* He's a bad man. *49:52* Don't go near him. *49:53* Blah blah blah blah *49:54* Like there's never any instances where you see her actually being with him that she's like, Yeah, this is my boyfriend or whatever, and I like this guy. *49:55* I think it's an abusive relationship and control. *50:01* like her family like knows each other has something like that and they probably just grew up together. *50:08* Yeah. *50:19* Yeah. *50:20* In security and stuff. *50:21* I think if if if anything is cliched in this movie and a lot of stuff is, I think their relationship, Sean and Neela, I think is the most *50:23* cliche of it is just the foreigner, you know, falls in love with the the cur the girl in in class. *50:32* Um *50:39* Out of it. *50:41* I th I mean I like Neela's character. *50:41* I think she's you know, she's cool. *50:43* I like Neela. *50:46* Dope. *50:47* Uh and she's also a capable driver and all that stuff, but *50:48* Beyond that. *50:53* I also like that all these races uh like one of the things that you win is a girl. *50:54* Yeah. *51:00* That's what the two major races in this movie outside of the first one where he's just crashing into everything. *51:00* Winner gets *51:05* Me. *51:07* Yeah. *51:08* The first race season and the final race season, winner gets the girl, essentially. *51:08* Well, the final race wasn't *51:13* V the stakes were not winner gets Anila. *51:15* The stakes were sort of I mean that wasn't it that wasn't loser leaves town. *51:17* Yeah, but I mean the implication is that she's gonna have to *51:22* If d if I I if I should also say this, I don't call this man DK. *51:25* I call him uh Asian Justin Timberlake because that's what Asian calls him. *51:29* Quote, you're like the Justin Timberlake of Japan. *51:34* Yep, JT of Japan. *51:37* I got that right now. *51:38* That's a that's a that's a line I wrote down, so I just called this man Just Justin Timberlake the whole movie. *51:39* Anyway, so yeah, the I don't know. *51:44* The implication is that if Justin Timberlake wins the race, then she's gonna *51:46* have to stick around him and stay with him. *51:50* Like she shows up to the race in Yakuza Man's car, does she not? *51:52* I think she gets out of his car there. *51:57* No, I don't believe so. *51:59* Oh, well maybe not. *52:01* But she's hanging around them the whole time. *52:02* Anyway, yeah. *52:04* They kind of are racing. *52:05* He proposed the But that was after she went with DK to save Sean from being shot in the street. *52:10* That's true. *52:16* Yeah, that's true. *52:17* Let's talk about I mean while we're just talking about characters, I think the only other one to really bring up here would be Bow Wow, Twinkie. *52:19* Yeah, Twinkie. *52:27* And there's not a whole lot to say. *52:28* Um I like Ba I like him. *52:30* I love I I I will say I love that they I just love that they come up with these characters and they're like, hey, I have an idea for a character and they're like, cool. *52:32* What hip hop star would you like to play this character? *52:40* Because we're now we now got Bow Wow, Tyrese, we've got Ludacris, and we've got Ja Rule, and then you've said that the *52:44* Two guys whose names we always forget from vests Don Omar and uh Tego something. *52:51* Yeah, they're musicians as well. *52:57* Like this is like a core staple. *52:59* Fast and Furious for better or worse, honestly. *53:01* Like you come up with a character, there's a like a 50% chance they might be a musician that you're looking to cast in that role. *53:05* So maybe we could get real just in Timberlake in if in Fast X or something. *53:13* Was this made *53:18* During when like Bow Wow was like really big? *53:21* Or was it bizarre? *53:24* Or was it the tail end of it? *53:25* Like what are we calling really big Bow Wow? *53:27* Like I I think like Mike. *53:29* I think like Mike is really big. *53:31* So like Mike would have been like *53:33* Five or six years before this once a yeah. *53:35* Did he did he not have like a TV show too? *53:37* Am I crazy? *53:39* I think Lil Romeo did *53:40* So Bow Wow was in I don't know. *53:43* I think Lil Romeo had a show on Like Mike was 2002 and Tokyo Drift was two thousand six, so four year gap. *53:46* Okay. *53:55* Yeah. *53:56* So it was when he was kind of I mean I definitely knew Bow Wow from relevant. *53:56* Like my like 100%. *54:01* I mean I owned *54:04* So why is Albakem is a yung a lot. *54:06* That basketball song listen to that one a lot *54:09* There was um I'm you know Logan I thought you would really connect with Twinkie. *54:14* He was selling Jordans. *54:19* There was that Jordan scene. *54:20* He was like *54:21* I got Jordans. *54:22* They ain't even out yet. *54:23* Okay, okay. *54:23* I'm glad you asked this. *54:24* So um when he said when he said when he said I got Jordans here and he held those up, I was like, what the heck are those? *54:25* I've never seen those in my entire life. *54:32* And this is probably a continuity error, almost a thousand percent. *54:34* Is that when does this movie when does this movie take place, Max? *54:38* Like chronologically in the Chronologically in the timeline. *54:43* Let me okay, let me pull it up. *54:46* Pull it up. *54:48* Because when he pulls the this is again *54:49* Pulling me out of the movie, Justin Lynn. *54:51* This movie doesn't take place after Phoenix. *54:53* Don't lie to me. *54:56* These Jordans, he pulls out the Jordans, and I was as the person who knows Jordans, I was like, I've never seen these before in my entire life. *54:59* What the heck, shoe is this? *55:06* Is this even a real shoe? *55:07* And of course I look up Tokyo Drift Jordans and it pulls them up. *55:08* It is the Red Suede Air Jordan 21. *55:12* Uh they retail for nearly one K at re at resale. *55:16* Okay. *55:20* So when did it when so when did those shoes come out though? *55:20* So they would have been that he says in the movie, these are the new model. *55:24* Not even LeBron James has got these. *55:27* These are new. *55:29* So Air Jordan 21s would have come out that year because I believe we're on Air Jordan 35 or 36 right now *55:30* Okay. *55:37* Uh and so this movie came out sixteen years ago. *55:37* So yeah, that tracks. *55:40* Um or I actually the thirty the thirty-seven might be this year. *55:42* So *55:46* Don't worry about it. *55:46* These so what he really had there was whatever the exclusive shoe that LeBron James could not get in uh 2014 *55:47* Yeah, no. *55:54* The shoes would have been almost 10 years old by that time. *55:55* And he's like, not even LeBron can get these. *55:58* Okay, but also they spot over an iPod, you know? *56:00* Yeah. *56:04* I yeah. *56:05* Yeah, that too. *56:07* Yeah. *56:08* All these things rip me out. *56:08* You didn't like them fighting over the iPod? *56:12* That was amazing. *56:14* No, I like that. *56:15* No, this is this is what I would like to say is again *56:16* similar to same things I liked from Fast One and F Too Fast is I like the early two thousands vibe of this movie. *56:19* The problem is is I'm trying to s suspend my disbelief and remember that this comes after *56:26* fast six, which it doesn't. *56:32* Don't tell me that. *56:34* I like that his his suspension of disbelief breaks when he has to believe that this takes place after six. *56:36* We're watching them in chronological order. *56:43* I'm trying to remember the stunts in six. *56:47* I don't want to say they're on one. *56:49* Yeah. *56:52* The tank. *56:54* Yeah. *56:54* He doesn't have to suspend disbelief for that, but by God, we've got flip phones and iPods in two thousand. *56:56* That's real to me. *57:06* But when they all have flip phones and it's twenty fourteen, you're ripping me out of the cinematic experience. *57:07* 14 or whatever, and rather that the other movie is set in 2006 and maybe they just fucked up during that time and not this time. *57:19* Well, this movie was filmed in 2006. *57:26* 2004, 2005, 2006. *57:29* But retroactively they've made it come after Fast Four, Five, and Six, and they've said that it takes place in 2014 chronologically. *57:31* And it's like, no, it doesn't. *57:40* Look at everything in this movie *57:41* Yeah. *57:42* So clearly filmed this movie ten years before 2014. *57:43* So what do you you know, what are you gonna do? *57:47* Which again, it's a dumb thing to get hung up on. *57:49* I'm not actually hung up on it, but it is very again it's silly. *57:52* Um yeah, I I I I mean that was one of the things I wrote down. *57:57* I wrote the the vibe, look, and fashion styles of people in this movie suggest that it should definitely not take place after Fast 6. *58:01* Uh but I did write after that. *58:08* But I do like being back in an early 2000s time period again. *58:10* This is nice. *58:13* One of my first notes. *58:14* We back in the early aughts, baby. *58:15* Like let's go. *58:17* Yeah, and then I wrote about the Jordans. *58:19* I wanna I mean n while we're just talking about random one off things, we'll get back to some sort of structure here in a second *58:22* Uh one of my early notes when I was watching I wrote, How can you send someone to a new school in a foreign country and expect them to learn literally anything when they don't know the language? *58:27* Like the core plot of this movie is like this kid is a this kid's gonna go to juvie. *58:38* We'll send him to another country where he learns. *58:43* And then he sits down and *58:45* I don't know, history class and the lady's speaking Japanese and he doesn't know what she's saying or writing on the board. *58:46* How does he learn? *58:52* Why does he do his homework? *58:53* How does any of this work? *58:54* I don't understand. *58:56* Doesn't make sense. *58:57* Um I like this is *58:58* Logan's not gonna have a single issue with the rest of the series, but by God this whole movie is suspension of disbelief. *59:01* Uh I wrote I wrote down this is why Mike likes this film. *59:15* There's a Hulk car. *59:19* There is a Hulk. *59:20* I wrote a note here. *59:22* It says *59:22* Hulk car is good. *59:23* I wrote uh Hulk car baby. *59:25* And actually, so that car used to be on display down here in Florida at Universal Islands of Adventure by the Hulk roller coaster. *59:27* So I've seen that car in person. *59:34* Uh super fun and cool. *59:36* I love the reveal of that car. *59:38* The elevator things, cycling all these fancy looking cars. *59:42* Bala standing there getting all giddy. *59:46* And then uh what is the song? *59:49* I want to say this is probably wrong. *59:50* I always think it's Family Force Five, but I I don't think it is. *59:53* Um *59:57* But that song comes on and it's just like, ah yes. *59:59* This is my kind of car reveal. *01:00:03* I love the Hulk car. *01:00:05* With the purple carpet and the Hulk decals and the fists and stuff. *01:00:08* Yeah, it's also I thought it was dented in at first. *01:00:13* I was like, why has this man got dents all over his car? *01:00:15* And then I was like, oh wait, that's jutting out, not in. *01:00:17* It's pretty it's pretty wild how many like Hulk things are in this because there's one point too where like they're practicing drifting and Han is reading like an old incredible Hulk comic book. *01:00:20* Yeah. *01:00:31* It's really weird. *01:00:32* I was like what? *01:00:33* So I wonder when that's all the men are fishing. *01:00:34* Yeah, is the Angling Hulk. *01:00:37* That would have come out like 2002 or 3, I think. *01:00:40* Yeah, 2003. *01:00:42* I was gonna say if anything, it might have been almost the same year that the Incredible Hulk movie came out. *01:00:44* Like that was after Iron Man. *01:00:50* That Iron Man was out in New York. *01:00:54* Oh, was it? *01:00:57* Yeah. *01:00:57* This is two thousand eight. *01:00:58* They were this they were only uh like a month or two apart, Hulk and Iron Man. *01:00:59* Yeah, yeah. *01:01:04* One more thing while we're talking about the general era of this film too. *01:01:05* One thing I also wrote down that I just have to call out and we can talk more about the music here, cause you talked about the song that kicks on when you first get to the *01:01:09* when they first get to the uh drifting parking garage. *01:01:16* Uh I love the opening race of the film too with I think it's clay and I wrote the thing I wrote is kid rock music. *01:01:21* Baby were back in the 2000s. *01:01:29* I'm playing ball with the ball while they're racing through this racing through this neighborhood *01:01:32* I also wrote a note about that I wrote Kid Rock during the race is quote unquote chef's kiss. *01:01:38* By far, what is hilarious about it is that there's a moment where you think like, Oh, they could probably end this scene right now. *01:01:47* And then they just played the entire song. *01:01:53* It's amazing. *01:01:56* It just keeps going on and on and you're like, dang, they're really *01:01:56* Yeah. *01:01:59* Using the whole kid w kid rock song here. *01:02:00* Yeah. *01:02:02* Uh that was great. *01:02:03* That was probably the best use of racing and then the song choice. *01:02:04* It was the best combo for sure. *01:02:08* They use it all in the beginning. *01:02:10* We need to talk about Han again, and we need to talk about him dying dying in a fiery blaze. *01:02:12* And this is going to incorporate some things again. *01:02:19* I feel like m I feel like Mike's here in an episode that's weird because this has so much d this episode I feel like before *01:02:22* for some of the other ones we've done has so much to do with what's come before. *01:02:28* At least with my own reactions and responses to what we have seen in this picture. *01:02:32* Um *01:02:38* I do think so obviously fast six ends with them drifting through the streets and that was cool to see. *01:02:40* And the thing that was very cool about that for me is when that scene was happening, I was like. *01:02:46* This looks very familiar. *01:02:51* I think I've seen this before. *01:02:53* And then the end of the movie. *01:02:54* Okay. *01:02:56* Uh no, and uh *01:02:57* In the middle of the movie, when they're running away from the Yakuza when they're running away from the Fast Six at the end of the movie, yes, when it cuts to Japan at the postcard scene or whatever. *01:02:59* Yeah, that whole scene I was when that scene happened again in this, I was like, wait a minute. *01:03:13* I think this looks familiar. *01:03:17* I think I have maybe seen this before. *01:03:19* Because it's not a one-to-one, but it's it's pretty close, obviously. *01:03:21* Uh *01:03:25* And I was like, is this what this is? *01:03:26* Or is this gun is he about to wreck and die? *01:03:29* And then sure enough, he wrecks and blows up. *01:03:31* I was like, okay, wow. *01:03:33* They really did that in the middle of this movie. *01:03:35* So cause so I totally didn't remember that that was a thing when I had watched this the previous time. *01:03:37* Um *01:03:42* I just I don't know. *01:03:43* Okay, let me say this. *01:03:46* Even aside from the fact that they later make it to where Jason Statham is the man who kills him, I think Han's death in this movie is very *01:03:47* Out of nowhere. *01:03:58* Um because that I don't think. *01:04:00* I do think that's a good thing. *01:04:04* I feel like if the Yakuza would have killed him, like that would have almost made more sense. *01:04:05* Like it would have raised the stakes that much, or maybe not the Yakuza. *01:04:09* I when I say Yakuza, I guess I'm just applying that to DK and his boys too, because they're like Yakuza light essentially. *01:04:12* If they would have been the ones that cause him to wreck or have *01:04:19* been the ones that made him They do. *01:04:23* The person that hits him, he just turns a corner and then a car hits him, right? *01:04:27* Yeah, but it's because happened because they came to the garage and I'm saying I'm saying if they would have spun him out or if they would have *01:04:31* If they would have explicitly ran him off the road in some sort of way rather than a stray car coming out of nowhere and blasting into him, then that would have almost been a better death *01:04:40* Just looking at this movie on its own. *01:04:49* Because that would have raised the stakes then, I think, for Sean and Neela and all the rest of them, like holy crap, we're really dealing with *01:04:52* Some rough people. *01:04:58* They just killed our friend. *01:04:59* Holy crap. *01:05:00* Instead it takes the it took the power out of it for me again and I was trying not to imagine *01:05:01* This being Jason Statham being the one who kills him. *01:05:07* Even though it is, eventually. *01:05:09* That's all retroactive. *01:05:11* So the way I was trying to view it was that it really was just a random stray car that hit him and then he flipped over and he blew up and he died. *01:05:12* Uh but even in that sense, it mainly just makes it feel like he just, yeah, just out of nowhere, just boom, blows up, he's out of the movie now. *01:05:19* Totally disagree. *01:05:29* Yeah, I kinda disagree on that. *01:05:31* I mean like if you're in a car chase and like they are the ones who are chasing you and they make you go into this road and then a random car hits you while you're doing that, like I feel like that is entirely his *01:05:33* fault. *01:05:45* That is definitely the death that's a big thing. *01:05:45* You mean it's the people chasing him's fault like he wouldn't have done that if he wasn't being chased is what you're saying. *01:05:47* Yeah, essentially. *01:05:53* No one's drifting through Shibuya. *01:05:53* Yeah. *01:05:55* I so I think actually having him so at the time, two thousand six, you know, pre Jason's athum *01:05:56* I think having Han crash into a stranger actually makes it more real for Sean Neela. *01:06:04* Um because so the they're running away from *01:06:12* DK this problem. *01:06:16* And that's what Sean's done his whole life is run away from problems and just start all over. *01:06:18* And having it just come out of the blue and take away this father figure, this friend. *01:06:22* for them, you know, you don't know when you're gonna go kind of mentality. *01:06:29* And that's when Sean bucks up. *01:06:35* And again, that's *01:06:37* friend dies cliche like uh now I have to stand up and face the bully. *01:06:39* But that's the turning point for Sean of realizing I can't run away from my problems. *01:06:42* I have to stand up to them and face them. *01:06:47* And not only *01:06:49* not face them with violence, which is clearly what DK does. *01:06:50* And DK's level of maturity stays the same of pretend, you know, wanna be Yakuza and *01:06:56* you know, trying to please his uncle. *01:07:02* But Sean going and facing, returning the money, or, you know, returning what was already yours and taking responsibilities for his actions. *01:07:04* That's a whole pivot out of this whole high school *01:07:13* I'm a punk mentality to I'm a man and I'll face my problems. *01:07:15* And I think that's pretty good. *01:07:20* And I think if you just had DK like ram him off the road *01:07:21* or another guy just come up and shoot him or or whatever, then it's just like DK's the bad guy. *01:07:25* It create well, I feel like it create it would have created a bigger *01:07:31* larger stakes in that final scene. *01:07:35* Like as it is I think the stakes were as high as they could have been. *01:07:37* DK DK doesn't feel like a great a compelling antagonist because his whole *01:07:40* His whole anger stems from the fact that Han was screwing him over. *01:07:45* So once Han's dead, it's like, well, he really has no lingering anger with Han about that. *01:07:48* By his uncle. *01:07:55* Well sure, but on dying kind of ends all that. *01:07:56* So then what's his main beef with Sean? *01:07:58* It's stay away from my high school girlfriend, sir. *01:08:00* But again, embarrassed him in front of everybody. *01:08:03* type of mentality, someone showing him up and stepping in. *01:08:06* I'll say this too. *01:08:10* I mean if it was just this d like DK just rams Han off the thing, I feel like you would also say that it's just some like *01:08:12* cliche thing too. *01:08:19* And that Logan, if DK just like went out and killed him, that would be the same problem you've had with two facts and five of we have to make him as you know, this is where we escalate and make him how evil is he *01:08:20* Really DK's not evil, he's just a whiny punk kid. *01:08:32* Yeah, he's just he's just as much of a p punk kid as the main character. *01:08:37* That's a good point. *01:08:43* But then retroactively I was gonna say now we have to talk about the other angle of this though. *01:08:44* What? *01:08:51* So this is the great beautiful? *01:08:53* I don't know what you mean. *01:08:55* Because *01:08:59* Watching these movies in release order, being in that theater, you're just the rock's been in two movies at this point, like the series has transformed, and you just see Jason Statham get out of a car, threaten Dominic Toretto *01:09:00* Throw the cross and blow up the car. *01:09:13* You're like, yes, this is the coolest, most awesome thing that Fast and Furious has done at this point. *01:09:15* They're gonna fight Jason Statham now. *01:09:21* Like, let's go. *01:09:25* I like that they're gonna fight Jason Statham, but uh retroactively changing the events of this point in the movie I am not so sure about. *01:09:27* Like *01:09:37* They could have actually if they what they what they could have done is they could have cut uh they could have cut to I don't know where where were they in Fast Five? *01:09:38* Brazil to the inside of a casino and he offs the two guys that nobody cares about. *01:09:47* And then he calls Tom. *01:09:54* Like that would have at least made sense. *01:09:55* Like, for me to have seen Fast Six and how that ends, and then for me to jump into this and I'm supposed to believe that this stray car that just all of a sudden he turns a corner and blam. *01:09:57* How was Jason Statham there? *01:10:08* How did he know that he was gonna come down that street? *01:10:09* How did he know they were running from the Yakus? *01:10:12* You're gonna find out. *01:10:14* You're gonna find out. *01:10:15* You're gonna find out. *01:10:16* You gotta watch seven. *01:10:17* Apparently. *01:10:19* And this is and again, I didn't want to get too deep into this because obviously I do have to watch seven. *01:10:19* But even Dom's appearance at the end of the movie was a little bit odd for me. *01:10:25* Because clearly, well, for me. *01:10:30* The reason in my mind Dom is there at the end of this movie is because Han's dead, so he's going to Japan now to kind of figure out what happened and like this his friend died, so he's going there *01:10:33* He's clearly only in Tokyo because Han died. *01:10:46* And what's the first thing he does? *01:10:48* He's like, hey, I'm just gonna go race some boys. *01:10:50* Like I'm like I'm like Dom, shouldn't you be trying to I mean main and again, I I'll say this. *01:10:53* I feel like that's gonna be a scene in Fast Seven, that race. *01:10:59* The race that that that movie ends on, I feel like will be a scene in Fast Seven, and they'll explain why. *01:11:03* He goes there to race him and th those sorts of things. *01:11:09* I I feel like that stuff is going to be explained. *01:11:12* So my questions aren't really Yeah. *01:11:14* My com my complaints per se *01:11:17* are just with what I've seen up until this point. *01:11:19* And obviously th all of this could change after we watch the next one. *01:11:21* I hate how you guys are watching this movie series. *01:11:25* It's been really fun. *01:11:29* Yeah, I do think for you, Max, it's fun, but for Logan who this is your I think this is I think this is wrong. *01:11:30* Max has told me that he thinks this is a good way for me to watch it *01:11:40* I'll personally speak up and say I don't know about that. *01:11:43* No, stop. *01:11:47* When we were planning this season, you wanted to watch him like this. *01:11:48* No, uh that's not what I'm saying. *01:11:52* My point is I'm saying if this was a first time viewership thing, I think I would have had a bigger markout moment if if we watched seven and then I saw Jason Statham's introduction and realized *01:11:53* retroactively that's what they're doing. *01:12:04* I would be like, Whoa! *01:12:06* But now I have to watch this movie knowing that when he just gets blasted by a car out of nowhere that I'm supposed to be like, Oh, that's Jason Statham right there. *01:12:08* You're totally you're in the right there, like *01:12:16* I've like watching it in this order simply because of this type of discussion that it's created in watching you basically subjecting you *01:12:19* to like an odd thing. *01:12:28* It would be like if you had sat someone down who's never seen anything from Breaking Brad to bring that back in. *01:12:29* And you're like, here, that's me. *01:12:34* That's not how you should watch all of that, but it would be interest. *01:12:40* I'm basically performing an experiment on you. *01:12:44* I think it I I do think it is is it's messing with my head more and it's making me that more *01:12:46* From here. *01:12:53* Everything's in order. *01:12:54* Yes. *01:12:55* So you'll have Shaw protection for the end. *01:12:56* Oh, you guys are watching Hobbs and Shaw too. *01:12:59* Heck yeah, dude. *01:13:01* Absolutely. *01:13:02* We got black Superman Idris Elba in this film. *01:13:03* That's who you sh you should have gotten Mario for that one because he has things to say about that movie. *01:13:08* So does Richard *01:13:12* They both they both said no to Hobbs and Shaw. *01:13:14* The w the universal champions in that film. *01:13:19* We have to acknowledge his presence. *01:13:21* That's true. *01:13:23* Yeah. *01:13:24* That's true. *01:13:26* Uh *01:13:27* I don't know if there's anything else I have to say about that. *01:13:28* Just the way we've watched it, the w to make this clear to you, Max, it's not bad, but it very much is like *01:13:30* It is not the first thing. *01:13:36* From here on out, it will obviously be very straightforward and yeah. *01:13:40* But coming back to this has been *01:13:44* Jarring to say the least. *01:13:47* And I do think it has hurt my appreciation for this film just a bit. *01:13:48* I think we would have watched Too Fast and then I would have watched this. *01:13:52* I still would have been used to this, you know, early 2000s era of two f of Fast and Furious movies. *01:13:56* Don't ramp my expectations up too much. *01:14:02* But you gotta think for me. *01:14:04* I have I've watched the first one and I was like, okay, that's pretty good. *01:14:07* Too fast. *01:14:10* It's like, okay, not bad either. *01:14:11* And then since then it's just been this like slow ramp up to where everybody's like, you're gonna get to the good ones. *01:14:12* The good ones are coming. *01:14:17* Yo, and so now we've like *01:14:18* Reach the cur crescendo with fast five and I like fast six. *01:14:20* Now it's all downhill from here, baby. *01:14:24* Not really. *01:14:27* I think it's five that I don't like. *01:14:28* You don't like Brazil? *01:14:30* I don't remember. *01:14:32* There's one of 'em. *01:14:33* It's w uh it's either four or five that I don't like. *01:14:35* Four, right. *01:14:37* It's gotta be four. *01:14:38* It might be four five. *01:14:39* I always I always like mix them up because I can never remember because I always the one with the rock in it for the first time. *01:14:40* Five's the one with the rock in it for the first time. *01:14:46* And this they drag a safe around and blast it into police cars. *01:14:48* So it's four. *01:14:51* Okay. *01:14:52* Almost dodged a bullet there. *01:14:55* I don't know if you knew this, six is the best one though. *01:14:56* Six is really good. *01:15:00* So far. *01:15:01* There's a tank in that one. *01:15:03* Six is a really good film. *01:15:04* I want to use Jason Statham in this whole *01:15:06* Han death. *01:15:09* I want to use that as a pivot point, I think, is a good one for the driving in the movie, the stunts and stuff. *01:15:09* And starting with the Shibuya crossing, drifting through Shibuya. *01:15:15* Yeah, not real, but it is one of the best and most iconic shots, probably that Fast and Furious has ever produced. *01:15:18* How'd those people get out of the way so fast? *01:15:24* Well, how can they do it? *01:15:27* Um I think *01:15:28* I mean that shot, that whole chase is just super it's great. *01:15:31* Mm-hmm. *01:15:35* As like I I I think I like uh *01:15:36* Some of the earlier like Fast and Furious stuff and this kind of I guess watching this kind of proved it too is because it feels a little bit more like an actual car chase and not like the craziest action scene you'll ever see in your life. *01:15:39* Like *01:15:52* You don't really get car chases like that. *01:15:53* I mean, like, that is with actual real cars, except for the one thing or whatever. *01:15:55* Whereas like a lot of the stuff that comes out later, four, five, six, whatever, and onward is a lot of CGI stuff, you know. *01:16:01* So it it is cool to see like cars actually moving and doing the the racing and stuff. *01:16:08* like that. *01:16:13* Yeah. *01:16:14* And I think this one has like one of the better ones for sure out of the first three. *01:16:14* And I know we mentioned it earlier, but I think using the style *01:16:19* of driving, drifting as the kind of crux of the whole movie. *01:16:24* Yeah. *01:16:28* Keeps it very simple, very stylish. *01:16:28* You always it always looks cool, you know? *01:16:30* Even when they're learning to do it or racing in the parking garages. *01:16:32* So I think that is a really solid anchor. *01:16:36* for the the style of stunts and driving for the whole movie. *01:16:39* It's s it's awesome, man. *01:16:43* Like drifting is cool. *01:16:46* That scene where they come up the elevator and it's like *01:16:47* What's drifting and that you that you just show you with the the shit the one shot. *01:16:50* It's like that's all you need. *01:16:55* And he's like, Do you need dictionary? *01:16:56* And then the whole quick lesson in it. *01:16:58* It's just that's a great scene to teach the audience what you're going to be watching for the next 90 minutes. *01:17:00* Yeah, one of the things I like in the first race too is that they *01:17:05* Don't just show the card doing the drifting, they cut to the inside. *01:17:10* There's a couple camer shots inside the card that shows DK like throttling the *01:17:13* gas in certain ways and changing gears and stuff like that and like you can tell that he's really interacting with ha his car a ton to make that happen, which is *01:17:17* what you have to do in order to drift like that and it's not just this like magical thing where it's like you turn the wheel and woo look at the car's going like *01:17:26* Or you got a button and you press it and you go fast. *01:17:34* Yeah. *01:17:36* Yeah, they're actually kind of showing what they have to do in order to drift like that, which is *01:17:37* Yeah, i I mean there's been a lot of inside camera shots in all of these movies, so it's always been consistent in that manner. *01:17:43* So it's not that I wouldn't have expected them to show those things, but it makes *01:17:50* Yeah, that much more grounded in a movie series that is largely not grounded at all. *01:17:55* So I I think in a I think in a way too, I guess how it makes it *01:18:01* the film itself is just more relatable is that aspect of like this new kid is learning what drifting is and you as an audience like probably at the time like a lot of people were like *01:18:06* Oh, what is drifting or whatever? *01:18:17* And then they're learning it right there with the main character. *01:18:19* So it makes it a little bit more like you could connect with those characters in that way 'cause you are learning with them, I guess, in a way. *01:18:22* I could see that being like why some people like gravitated towards it a lot more. *01:18:29* I y uh s what do you guys think about all of the different scenes in this movie broadly? *01:18:33* Because it is getting away from, you know *01:18:38* You and I, Max, have obviously come off of fast six here, which is tanks and planes and all sorts of other things. *01:18:41* This gets back to the street uh to the roots of street racing. *01:18:48* So all of the action scenes per se are just races, whether it be the opening race with the high school jock dude or the first drifting race and then the mainly the ending one and then the other one were Hyundai's. *01:18:52* Those are the four *01:19:05* big ones I can think of. *01:19:07* Yeah. *01:19:08* Um, and obviously they incorporate drifting in other ways throughout the film as well, but do you guys have a favorite of those? *01:19:09* Four, I guess. *01:19:16* I think that first like I like the races that are like actually in that parking garage. *01:19:18* I think that's like a cool *01:19:23* like a cool location for a race. *01:19:25* Yeah, that yeah, that location for the race and like kind of really exemplifying like how crazy it is to like do these maneuvers is like kind of a cool and interesting thing. *01:19:27* Obviously *01:19:37* The car chase where Han dies is also amazing. *01:19:39* Yeah. *01:19:41* I think that's probably the best one. *01:19:42* And then I probably like that first race in Tokyo, and then probably the the very last one for the *01:19:44* Uh for the movie. *01:19:51* Those are those are the same two I like as well. *01:19:52* I don't care for the final race all that much. *01:19:54* It feels it feels like apparent too, like okay, well *01:19:57* Sean's gonna win this, they already raced before any loss, so here's his come up and like it just yeah stakes feel very low *01:20:01* Like it it's apparent that he's going to win and what's on the line isn't anything It's it's not even that drastic. *01:20:08* It's like, okay, well if he loses he just has to leave town, which is *01:20:14* I I mean I get that the whole crux of the movie is that you have nowhere else to go, but I I did I did misspeak on that. *01:20:19* The first race is my third favorite because with the kid rock and stuff. *01:20:27* And also like it is a much more like that is a much more suspenseful race because they are actually like neck and neck for the most part and it kind of shows his destructive way of driving and how he drives. *01:20:30* And he's racing a viper in his crapmobile *01:20:41* Yeah. *01:20:44* And he should not win the race because of that alone. *01:20:44* So but yeah. *01:20:47* I uh the the d the final race *01:20:50* The one part of it because you're right, Logan, they're the stakes don't feel right because you know he's gonna win. *01:20:54* It's almost like a a boxing movie or sport movie. *01:21:00* Like you know *01:21:03* the main character's going to win. *01:21:04* But the one thing I do love is how he fuses his uh love of muscle cars and his new skill and appreciation for like tuning and drifting and stuff. *01:21:06* They take Han's car *01:21:15* motor and put it inside uh the Mustang, which kind of brings Han into the race in a in a way, like that like spiritual kind of sense. *01:21:17* Like Han's with you. *01:21:26* even though, you know, he just died earlier in the movie. *01:21:28* So I like that. *01:21:31* It's a good fusion of also Dom and Brian in a way. *01:21:32* Because you know, Brian's always in the the tuners and stuff and then Dom always is a muscle. *01:21:37* So it's a good I like that. *01:21:41* That's a that's my favorite part of the final race. *01:21:43* Uh, but the chase through Shibuya and the parking garage race because the parking garage just is naturally confined and it *01:21:46* It's a different type of street race that we've seen compared to all the other movies too. *01:21:55* It's very demo. *01:21:59* And it has a comedic element to it because the one time we're doing it *01:22:01* Watching the whole race, there's another race later where Sean wins. *01:22:06* But that one race we see from start to finish, Sean's losing very terribly. *01:22:09* because he doesn't know how to drift. *01:22:15* So there's a comedic el element when he comes up to the the roof of the garage and the Mona Lisa of drifting is in shambles. *01:22:16* So that and then to use parts from the Mona Lisa at the end when he's *01:22:24* The new Drift King, it's actually, you know, again, cliche poetic, but it's nice. *01:22:29* And it's fun to have the street race have humor to it outside of Monica or *01:22:36* Now watch this and then a bridge lifts up, you know. *01:22:42* Yes. *01:22:45* It's it's good storytelling, I think, to have it be like that. *01:22:46* I think we've naturally touched on a lot of other things. *01:22:49* There are some stray *01:22:51* points I would like to bring up before we kind of funnel into the end of this episode here. *01:22:53* I like the subtle callbacks to him looking to beat people or not callbacks. *01:22:58* I like the um I like that he tries to beat people up with wrenches sort of at the start of the movie, or at least it's presented like that because you know that that's alluding to Dom. *01:23:03* Dom. *01:23:12* Yeah. *01:23:13* Yeah. *01:23:13* That's very cool. *01:23:14* There are some a lot of subtle callbacks like that to the OG Fast and Furious movie like that throughout this entire film. *01:23:14* The wrench is one thing, uh, which you wouldn't *01:23:21* really pick up on, I guess, unless you had seen the original film. *01:23:24* Um but that's a cool i it's almost presented in such a way that he's going to beat somebody up with a wrench and then that's what's going to send him *01:23:28* to Tokyo, but that obviously does not happen. *01:23:36* I uh the you owe me a car line showing up again too happens at one point *01:23:39* Uh and I I like that that kind of makes Han and Sean's relationship in this film i it the roots of their relationship start in the same way. *01:23:43* as Brian and Dom's relationship, which I do like between the two of them. *01:23:52* Like you guys mentioned that Han carries the movie. *01:23:56* They try to m they they try to make the dynamics between Han and Sean the same as Brian and Dom, and it all starts with *01:23:59* Han saying that this kid owes him a car now because he wrecked his other one that he let him drive and so so I I like that similarity between them. *01:24:06* One other thing I have to throw out there, which I thought was the most bizarre thing in this entire movie *01:24:13* And I didn't see anybody else mention it on the internet when I looked it up. *01:24:19* And this is just of the era. *01:24:23* Is this gonna be another beard thing? *01:24:25* No, no, no. *01:24:28* This is a deep cut. *01:24:28* This is a deep cut. *01:24:30* sort of thing that you would be like, oh well duh, Logan of course would bring that up. *01:24:31* And the shot where he goes to Hans garage for the first time and he sees everything that Hans owns, all's the car *01:24:35* All the cars that Han owns and it pans over them. *01:24:42* There's one car in his garage that has a G4 decal on it *01:24:44* Yes. *01:24:49* Which is so I saw that. *01:24:50* Bizarre. *01:24:52* And I looked this up and I was trying to figure out how that happened or why, and no, no explanation. *01:24:53* Did G did G4 ever like sponsor races? *01:24:59* No, nothing like that, no. *01:25:02* They've never done anything. *01:25:04* They've just must have been just like a subtle the Easter egg shout out to that TV network, which has now been revived. *01:25:05* So weird. *01:25:12* I thought maybe they've like sponsored or like sponsor racers or something like that at one point, like during that time period, but I don't know. *01:25:14* Not to my knowledge. *01:25:23* Yeah, those are the couple of *01:25:24* fun things I wanted to throw in there to go along with the Jordan discussion, which we already had as well. *01:25:26* Uh *01:25:33* Anyway, we've talked a lot about the stunts and the effects and stuff like that. *01:25:35* I feel like we've even talked about the soundtrack. *01:25:38* Is there anything either of you wanted to say about that as well? *01:25:40* Oh. *01:25:44* That we haven't naturally touched on. *01:25:44* The the Tokyo Drift theme, you gotta love it. *01:25:47* That again, that family force and kid rock like this soundtrack *01:25:51* Love it. *01:25:55* That Barracuda song. *01:25:56* I this is probably the one soundtrack I know the mo I can identify the most songs on it. *01:25:57* Um *01:26:03* I also listen to it a lot. *01:26:05* I also listen to the soundtrack quite a bit. *01:26:06* Um What a Dork. *01:26:08* I love I love this soundtrack, man. *01:26:11* So I'm a big thing. *01:26:13* Max's car, he's playing the Tokyo drift soundtrack. *01:26:15* Yeah, I'm a big big fan of uh of this soundtrack. *01:26:23* I like the music. *01:26:28* I mean the music felt like a key part of the film again, which was *01:26:29* Nice because it hasn't really felt like that too much the past couple of movies. *01:26:32* And I miss that from these earlier two thousands movies. *01:26:37* Like there's nothing wrong with having a bunch of *01:26:39* licensed music tracks in your soundtrack. *01:26:43* Do it more. *01:26:46* Do it more. *01:26:47* I mean don't do it to the degree that *01:26:48* Some movies nowadays do it. *01:26:51* I feel like Guardians of the Galaxy came out and everybody got a little too wild trying to put licensed tracks in the game. *01:26:53* Those are good songs though. *01:26:59* It's good in Guardians. *01:27:00* Suicide Squad came out and they're like, Well let's put a licensed song in this every every five minutes. *01:27:05* People love that, right? *01:27:12* No. *01:27:14* When used well, it's it it can be great and I think they do it *01:27:14* To great effect here. *01:27:18* Okay, before we get into legacy and the final wrap-up, best car. *01:27:20* It's gotta be the Lancer. *01:27:25* There's there are a lot of options. *01:27:27* There are a lot of options. *01:27:30* Look, I I've said it at the top, or I don't know if we said it in the pre-shar, if we said it earlier in this episode. *01:27:32* There's a Dodge Viper in this film, and it's a red Dodge Viper, and it's driven by this clayman. *01:27:38* And look, that is my favorite car ever *01:27:43* Early two thousands red dodge viper, I'm predisposed to love it. *01:27:45* So that's my like bland default answer, but I'm gonna choose something else. *01:27:50* Because that car does not drift in this film, so therefore I'm going to disqualify it since it does literally nothing other than has to drift to the count. *01:27:55* Yeah, it also gets wrecked, which is painful to see. *01:28:04* Uh my favorite car in this movie, I believe it is. *01:28:08* I believe this is what it is. *01:28:14* Um Hans Orange R Mazda RX7 is *01:28:16* Excellent. *01:28:21* I love that car. *01:28:22* I love the look of it. *01:28:23* Not only is the body cool, but I I love the black and orange coloring on it. *01:28:24* I am a huge *01:28:29* Sucker for that color scheme on that car. *01:28:30* I thought his his car was excellent. *01:28:32* It's too bad that Jason Statham ran into it and then blew him up. *01:28:34* I this was a hot wheel I looked at and it was *01:28:39* Very expensive. *01:28:44* Uh Hans car? *01:28:45* Yeah, Hans. *01:28:46* So I I could not justify buying Han's car. *01:28:47* Sorry how much was it? *01:28:51* I'm curious what the hot wheel resale market's like. *01:28:53* Fifty bucks for a hot wheel. *01:28:57* Oh my goodness. *01:28:58* Fifty-ish, yeah. *01:28:59* Oh, I thought you meant the actual I thought you meant the actual car and then I thought you were like fifty thousand. *01:29:01* I was like, what *01:29:05* No, it's not too much. *01:29:06* No, I'm a big, big, big fan of the RX 7 and the Lancer. *01:29:12* But *01:29:17* I don't I really like the Mustang too. *01:29:19* At the end of the day. *01:29:21* The Mustang's great. *01:29:22* The one they build at the end? *01:29:23* Yeah, because I like the it reminds me of Letty's car. *01:29:24* in six where it's kind of all sitting in the back and the front of the car is pretty, you know, flattened. *01:29:29* Then I also like the idea of what we talked about earlier of putting, you know, this *01:29:35* kind of Nissan tuner engine and drifting in it. *01:29:39* But if I had to pick A car, it's definitely gotta I think I'd have to go with the RX seven, the orange and the black and *01:29:42* doing donuts around ladies and getting their phone number and all uh driving it a over 187 kilometers an hour or whatever, like they can't catch you. *01:29:49* It's a very good car. *01:29:58* Uh and it's a shame that it it blew up. *01:29:59* But also *01:30:02* Hulk car? *01:30:03* Really the best car? *01:30:05* I was gonna say I thought Mike would definitely say Hulk car. *01:30:06* No, I mean like *01:30:09* Again, like the Lancer is like one of my favorite cars, just in general. *01:30:12* Like the like like how Logan likes to dodge Viper. *01:30:18* The Lancer is actually like legitimately in like my top five favorite cars, probably. *01:30:22* So it is like by default that will be the car that I would choose. *01:30:27* The Hulk car, amazing. *01:30:31* It is great. *01:30:33* Um *01:30:35* But yeah, I mean I'm with you, Max, like or I I like the Mustang a lot. *01:30:36* Uh that would probably be I do also like American muscle car. *01:30:41* So uh the the the Mustang was definitely the one that I liked out of those um even more so than than Dom's car. *01:30:45* So Broadly speaking, to all of the cars that are in this movie, and I mean this is a very like duh, obvious thing that they did with this movie, but I do like that they all of the cars that are seen in this movie *01:30:56* do come from Eastern car manufacturers and they do come from that part of the world. *01:31:07* Um, which is again something obvious that they would do, but it makes the appearance of the Mustang later in the movie that much more *01:31:12* distinguished and you're like, oh wow, this is they've now got an American muscle car that's racing. *01:31:19* This is different, and this looks a lot more unique compared to everything else we've seen in this movie. *01:31:23* Yeah, and they put a tuner engine in it. *01:31:28* It's like wild, like w super weird, but Yeah, it's *01:31:30* It's cool. *01:31:33* Like I think it's really cool that they did that and I liked that they actually like started like testing it 'cause obviously w it wouldn't just work like that, you know. *01:31:34* I thought that was like kinda cool that they *01:31:42* did do that process or show that they did that process to do it, but this is why she's spitting. *01:31:44* This movie more so than a lot of others, you could tell that they were very intentional with the cars that they were choosing to put in these scenes. *01:31:50* Yeah. *01:31:57* I think you had to with the focus being on drifting. *01:31:57* Like you had to be super specific. *01:32:01* But also have like the favorites, you know, like the the the Lancer and the Skyline have been were in the last two movies, were they not? *01:32:04* Like those were these cars that uh *01:32:11* Paul Walker. *01:32:13* Skyline, yeah, all the way. *01:32:14* Yeah, he was he was driving Skylines all day. *01:32:15* Alright. *01:32:17* Let's wrap up uh with a discussion about this film's legacy, which I think is *01:32:18* It's a very weird one. *01:32:23* Interesting. *01:32:24* It is a very weird one. *01:32:25* I don't know. *01:32:26* What what would you guys say as people who have now seen this whole franchise? *01:32:27* Because I don't know where to I guess my thoughts to just put it out there is I don't know. *01:32:31* Right now, how to answer this question. *01:32:36* I feel like I need to see the other ones first. *01:32:38* I would say for the fast and furious diehards, this is amongst their favorite one. *01:32:41* Yes, absolutely. *01:32:48* But I think uh if you're just a fan of them and just like them, I would say that it's probably mid-tier to lower tier. *01:32:49* And then if you just don't like them, then it's probably the worst one. *01:32:58* So, but yeah, I feel like the diehard, like fast and furious fans, like at the very least respect Tokyo Drift and they liked what it was trying to. *01:33:03* do with especially with like again like it coming dire like s it's supposedly supposed to be like a direct to video one and *01:33:15* You know, like I think they set out to do something and they like with the budget that they had and *01:33:23* Yeah, it worked out so I I think there are two critical things that are d that def shape this movie outside of the diehards like Mike was talking about. *01:33:30* Um Han. *01:33:39* This was Hahn's first Fast and Furious movie. *01:33:41* It solidified him as a fan favorite, and so seeing him in four, five, and six afterward was always a treat. *01:33:44* as going through those movies. *01:33:51* D I'm sorry, did that confuse people in real time or was it made apparent? *01:33:53* It was the the I mean I I I guess you would just have to apparently see that he was alive, so it's like and then l as you've kept *01:33:57* referring to in the past few episodes like they keep talking about going to Tokyo. *01:34:04* So you know that was you could piece it together as a viewer that didn't take place beforehand. *01:34:08* But yeah. *01:34:14* Yeah. *01:34:15* I think yeah, I think at like upon watching it, you're like, oh yeah, this happens before this time. *01:34:15* Because if you were to go from this to Fast and Furious, where he shows up in the start, I'm sure people *01:34:20* In theaters were probably a little thrown off, like, wait, what's going on here? *01:34:27* Yeah. *01:34:31* It's kind of a cool tease, and then you're like, oh. *01:34:31* But the other the other piece of this legacy is Justin Lin. *01:34:34* You know, yeah. *01:34:37* This was his first Fast and Furious movie, and then he got to do the next three, and then he comes back later and does I want to say nine is *01:34:38* Yeah. *01:34:49* So And then he showed up on the set of X and then left. *01:34:49* Yes. *01:34:53* So but Justin Lynn is responsible for what this series has become along with Chris Morgan and and Vin Diesel and the and things like that. *01:34:54* But this *01:35:02* With Justin Lynn, this pivoted the Fast and Furious movie like I read earlier. *01:35:04* Universal thought the series was done. *01:35:10* But Neil saw better luck tomorrow and gave Justin kind of the keys here keys to the Fast and Furious franchise and they turned it around. *01:35:12* And uh did he give him the keys in that cool way that Paul Walker holds them? *01:35:23* Quite possibly. *01:35:27* And I just think Justin's work *01:35:29* Here, you know, it it saved the series, and that that's this movie's real legacy. *01:35:32* Well, I I gotta butt in and just say I think the movie's true legacy at the end of the day is that this is what gave Vin Diesel the rights to the Chronicles of Riddick. *01:35:41* Yeah. *01:35:51* I mean that's its real legacy. *01:35:52* This entire movie was made just so Ven Diesel could acquire the rights to Riddick. *01:35:54* I think that does it for Fast and Furious Tokyo Drift. *01:36:00* Thank you so much for listening. *01:36:03* If you would like to *01:36:04* Follow the show on Twitter. *01:36:06* You can do so at chapter select. *01:36:07* And then if you'd like to follow Logan on Twitter, you can follow him at Moreman12 and his writing over at comicbook. *01:36:09* com. *01:36:15* You can follow me on Twitter at Max Roberts143 in my writing over at maxfrequency. *01:36:16* net. *01:36:23* If you'd like to follow Mike on Twitter, you can follow him at theMichael J. *01:36:24* Ruiz. *01:36:28* And Mike does stuff over on Bantam Banter with Ricky Freck, who's been on Chapter Select previously and actually will be on our next episode, which is covering Furious 7. *01:36:29* So we'll see you all in two weeks for that episode. *01:36:42* Until next time, adios *01:36:46* Or maybe Sayonara, should I said Sayonara? *01:36:51* Chapter Select is a max frequency production. *01:36:54* This episode was researched, produced, and edited by me, Max Roberts. *01:36:57* Season four is hosted by Logan Moore and myself. *01:37:02* Season four is all about the fast and the furious. *01:37:05* For more on this season, go to chapterselect. *01:37:09* com forward slash season four. *01:37:11* Follow the show at Chapter Select and check out previous seasons at chapterselect. *01:37:14* com. *01:37:20* I have a story to tell you that didn't come up about Fast and Fury. *01:37:22* that I think uh Mike may know it, but Logan I don't believe does. *01:37:26* So *01:37:32* This is you can find this on the Wikipedia page, but this is kind of one of those like s legends surrounding this movie. *01:37:34* Um They didn't film the whole movie in Tokyo. *01:37:41* They couldn't get the film rights there. *01:37:44* So they basically just filmed when they could there without permission. *01:37:46* They wanted to shoot quote let's see quote I don't even know who's saying this uh *01:37:50* Quote, I wanted to shoot in Shibuya, which was the most crowded place in Tokyo. *01:37:55* The cops, they're all so polite, so it takes ten minutes for them to come over and kick you out. *01:38:00* I guess Justin said that. *01:38:05* But unknown to Justin was that Universal hired a fall guy who stepped in when the police came up to arrest him, and he said that he was the director and he spent the night in jail instead of Justin Lynn. *01:38:07* So they like hired a guy to spend a night in jail so Justin wouldn't go to jail. *01:38:20* So they could keep making the movie. *01:38:25* I hope that guy got paid I hope that guy got paid a whole lot of money. *01:38:27* I who knows? *01:38:32* I he may have, I'm not sure, but I always kind of thought it reminds me of Jaws. *01:38:33* Where basically they fired Spielberg and said the movie was done. *01:38:38* And Spielberg just showed up the next day and was like, we're still shooting the movie. *01:38:41* Don't worry, guys. *01:38:45* Just kind of breaking the rules. *01:38:47* I kind of like that. *01:38:49* It's a good story, I think. *01:38:52* And then Mike, we're actually watching Better Luck tomorrow as a bonus episode for members when we launch all our members. *01:38:55* Oh, are you really? *01:39:02* Yeah. *01:39:03* So that's why Logan made that face, is because we're planning on watching that one together. *01:39:04* And then I saw the cover and I remember having *01:39:12* Because we used to have a shit ton of DVDs. *01:39:15* Sorry, I swore. *01:39:18* If we're still recording, this isn't going an episode. *01:39:19* Oh if you do, I just censored out. *01:39:21* It's not a big deal. *01:39:23* Betterluck tomorrow. *01:39:24* com, still an active website. *01:39:25* Wow, wild. *01:39:27* Uh but I remember having that DVD and like watching it and it's a wild movie. *01:39:28* It's rated R for violence, drug use, language, and sexuality. *01:39:33* Yeah, so that movie came out in 2002. *01:39:38* So I was eleven years old when I watched that movie. *01:39:41* Oh. *01:39:45* Yeah. *01:39:45* Yeah, so I'm excited. *01:39:46* I've never seen it. *01:39:47* But it is Han, canonically, and it it uh it's his first movie. *01:39:49* It has been a bit since I've seen it. *01:39:54* You should do uh didn't Justin Lynn do Aquaman, you should do Aquaman as your bonus episode. *01:39:56* Oh, whatever. *01:40:02* Yeah, summon. *01:40:03* No, Just the next one. *01:40:03* Lin did Star Trek Beyond. *01:40:05* Justin Lynn did Star Trek Beyond. *01:40:06* Oh dude. *01:40:09* All these names. *01:40:11* Don't worry, guys. *01:40:13* Justin Lynn's best work as executive producer on Space Jam A New Legacy. *01:40:14* Beautiful. *01:40:20* What a guy. *01:40:21* What a man. *01:40:23* Do I I do get this man mixed up with James Wan. *01:40:26* See also James Juan. *01:40:30* Like he's actually linked on his Wikipedia, like as a ref, like you should also check this page out. *01:40:31* Really? *01:40:39* But he did all the Saw movies. *01:40:40* Like he does a lot of horror, but then he Yeah, that's why that's why I was like, yeah, James Wan does all the horror stuff for like he did uh *01:40:41* But he is doing City S and stuff. *01:40:49* He did Aquaman and he's doing Lost Kingdom Aquaman. *01:40:52* Yeah. *01:40:56* Yeah, he did malignant. *01:40:57* He did Saw. *01:40:59* Conjuring. *01:41:00* I didn't realize Insidious he did Saw. *01:41:01* Saw. *01:41:03* Yeah, he does he does the good stuff. *01:41:05*