Dominic Toretto is a Los Angeles street racer suspected of masterminding a series of big-rig hijackings. When undercover cop Brian O'Conner infiltrates Toretto's iconoclastic crew, he falls for Toretto's sister and must choose a side: the gang or the LAPD.
Even those who've never heard of 'rice rockets' (Japanese imports souped up with computerized hydraulics and customized engines) might be charmed by the film's blend of kineticism, car-culture rituals, and hilariously flat-footed dialogue.
– Amy Taubin,
Village Voice,
26 Jun 2001
rotten:
Works hard to be exciting, but the movie scarcely lives up to its title.
– Owen Gleiberman,
Entertainment Weekly,
28 Jun 2001
rotten:
Returning the series to solid ground after 2 Fast 2 Furious leaned too heavily on cartoonish CGI effects, Tokyo Drift relies on old-fashioned stunt work that gives its best sequences a sense of brute physicality.
– Scott Tobias,
AV Club,
15 Jun 2006
fresh:
While few of the paper-thin characters register long enough to make much of an impression, Diesel carries the movie with his unsettling mix of Zen-like tranquillity and barely controlled rage.
– Reece Pendleton,
Chicago Reader,
12 Mar 2008
fresh:
A gritty and gratifying cheap thrill, Rob Cohen's high-octane hot-car meller is a true rarity these days, a really good exploitationer, the sort of thing that would rule at drive-ins if they still existed.