The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift
Universal Pictures | Release Date: June 16, 2006 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
45
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 32 Critic Reviews
Positive:
7
Mixed:
16
Negative:
9
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
83
Baltimore SunMichael Sragow
The opening half-hour may prove to be a disreputable classic of pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
Lin takes an established franchise and makes it surprisingly fresh and intriguing. The movie is not exactly "Shogun" when it comes to the subject of an American in Japan (nor, on the other hand, is it "Lost in Translation"). But it's more observant than we expect, and uses its Japanese locations to make the story about something more than fast cars. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterKirk Honeycutt
It's not much of a movie, but a hell of a ride. So what if the movie dumbs down Japanese culture to a bad yakuza movie and features Japanese characters who can barely speak Japanese? The cars are the stars here. Everything else is lost in translation. Read full review
70
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Pumping high-performance gas back into the series after a second lap sputter, third entry stays in high gear most of the way with several exhilarating racing sequences, and benefits greatly from the evocative Japanese setting. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyScott Foundas
Manna from gearhead heaven, the third and most guiltily pleasurable Furious emits the crude thrills of a 1950s drag-racing cheapie, only with souped-up Toyotas and Nissans in place of gas-guzzling hot rods, and slinky Asian temptresses substituted for poodle-skirted teenyboppers. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
Despite all the silliness the drift races are gripping, and director Justin Lin captures Tokyo's energy and glitter far better than Sofia Coppola. Read full review
67
Portland OregonianM. E. Russell
As idiot car-crash movies go, "Tokyo Drift" is pretty fun, and certainly a more-than-decent entry in this franchise. Read full review
60
Wall Street JournalJoe Morgenstern
By all that's unholy, this third edition of the high-emission franchise should have been at least as awful as the second one was. (The first one was good fun.) Yet it's surprisingly entertaining in its deafening fashion, despite the absence of Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, the co-stars of parts one and two.
50
PremiereEthan Alter
The problems with Tokyo Drift start with its ostensible hero; during the course of this movie, Sean makes so many dumb decisions it's a wonder that anyone wants to be associated with him. Read full review
50
Washington PostTeresa Wiltz
A masterpiece of mediocrity, Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Wilmington
For all its crashes and flash, this is a movie that drifts away as we watch it. Muscle cars and all, it's often a waste of gas. Read full review
50
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
The racing sequences are the series' meat and potatoes, but in terms of story, Tokyo Drift barely offers a stalk of asparagus. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
At least Lin's local color make the idiocy fun to watch. Read full review
50
The New York TimesNathan Lee
As in the previous two installments of the Fast and Furious franchise, this largely consists of macho tantrums, vying for the girl, intense vehicular mayhem and high-octane homoeroticism. Read full review
50
New York PostKyle Smith
The movie teaches us that you can flip your car down a mountain 15 times and walk away from it with two Tylenol. Read full review
50
Boston GlobeWesley Morris
The F&F series is the 21st century's beach movie, one for some beachless future world where the kids are crowning 25 and seem capable of living off of hair gel and exhaust fumes. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
This third installment of the popular series about fast cars and the posturing boys who love them is best viewed as an energetic cartoon, an unintentionally amusing, head-shaking guilty pleasure that will divert those not in the mood for anything more profound than gleaming metal and preening women. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The kind of movie in which plot and performances (and members of the fairer sex) are treated as accessories, "Tokyo Drift" is all about the action. And on that count, it won't let you down. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Jason Anderson
The director also makes a nod to Japan's rich history of genre filmmaking by casting action legend J. J. Sonny Chiba as a cigar-smoking yakuza. Chiba's presence momentarily classes up a passable youths-ploitation flick into a transcendent piece of movie trash. Read full review
40
Total FilmStaff (Not Credited)
It’s all still loose breakin’ cars and looser lovin’ women; for petrol-headed single teens only, eager for (surely) the last bit of mileage to be milked from the concept. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleBrian Clark
Racing junkies would be better off browsing the myriad of online drifting videos where the camera doesn't cut and the people don't speak. Read full review
40
SalonStephanie Zacharek
The problem with contemporary Hollywood isn't that so many of the movies it's churning out are based on formula; it's that so many directors take perfectly good formulas and wreck them with bad filmmaking. Read full review
40
Film ThreatFelix Vasques Jr.
It’s a weak sequel, to a weak series. Read full review
38
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
It's all about eye candy and the quick tease. It's not over fast enough. Read full review
38
USA TodayClaudia Puig
Has plenty of fast cars and revving engines. But unless you're a fan of that sort of thing, its stultifying plot and wooden acting is likely to make you drift - off to sleep. Read full review
38
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
To call the film noisy and brainless isn't even a criticism - it's unadulterated auto-porn, as shallow and shiny as it wants to be. Read full review
38
Philadelphia InquirerDavid Hiltbrand
OK, they squeezed one more lap out of this franchise. It's been a fun ride, but it's time to shut things down. If you get my drift. Read full review
33
Entertainment WeeklyGregory Kirschling
Gets lost in translation. Read full review
30
Village VoiceMatt Singer
Like 2 Fast 2 Furious before it, Tokyo Drift is a subculture in search of a compelling story line, and Black's leaden performance makes you pine for the days of Paul Walker. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
Lucas Black, who looks as much like a high school kid as George Bernard Shaw, speaks in a thick Southern accent that hasn't been heard on any leading man since the second act of "Our American Cousin." Read full review
25
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
Like its predecessors, Tokyo Drift suffers from a terminal lack of levity. Read full review
25
Rolling StonePeter Travers
The F&F franchise ran out of gas half way into the 2001 original. Read full review
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