Only now does it occur to me... THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT

Only now does it occur to me...  a few things.  First, despite the absence of a "3" in the title (and to think it so easily could have been called "3 FAST 3 FURIOUS"), as the third film in the franchise this fits the bill of my "Good Things Come in Threes" series, though whether or not it qualifies as a "good thing" is open to debate.

THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS: TOKYO DRIFT is your typical "small-town American kid fucks up, gets sent to live in Tokyo" story, much maligned for its dearth of connective tissue with the previous two films (Paul Walker was deemed "too old" and Vin Diesel only shows up for a cameo at the very end).
 
Welcome to the Xander Zone?

The whole affair feels very "90s" despite being made in 2006, a notion that is in no way dispelled by the presence of Zachery Ty Bryan from HOME IMPROVEMENT.  I sort of approve of this.

Sadly, he does not use "it's tool time!" as a one-liner, despite it being contextually appropriate.

There's not a great deal to say:  L'il Bow Wow (née Shad Moss) was much more likable than I anticipated,

L'il Bow Wow... who knew?

and he shares this movie's MVP slot with the impressively nonchalant Sung Kang, in a performance so cool, they shoehorned his character into subsequent films.

Pictured here taking notes from...

...Alain Delon and Jean-Pierre Melville in LE SAMOURAÏ.

Unfortunately, these two play sidekicks to 'poor man's Paul Walker' Lucas Black, who was even more annoying than I anticipated (I kept waiting for the Yakuza to dismember him... alas),
 
and there's a late in the game appearance by Sonny Chiba (THE STREETFIGHTER himself!––and more recently notorious for playing 'Hattori Hanzo' in KILL BILL)

which means that dismemberment needn't have been removed from the table.  Anyway.  TOKYO DRIFT, ladies and gentlemen.