RATING:

Yo! El Mayimbe here with yet another exclusive look at the script for Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift by Chris Morgan 4/11/05 draft. The story revolves around an American who flees to Tokyo to avoid prison for his illegal racing ways. He discovers the next level in rubber-burning adrenalin rushes: drift racing. The underground motor sport challenges drivers to accelerate through hairpin turns and then spin out of them, making for hair-raising races through city streets.

A 17-year-old tough Steve McQueen SHAUN BOSWELL comes out of the shower in the high school locker room and watches 4 rich white football jocks pick on a scrawny Hispanic kid (You see how negatively they like to portray us?!). One of them named CLAY thinks the Latino was gonna steal his Rolex watch and asks him if he was going to and bring the rest of his family across the border. Shaun ignores it and walks away. After school, Shaun is parked next to this Clay’s 06’ Corvette, Shaun and Clay’s cheerleader girlfriend make eye contact, Clay notices, and challenges to race Clay’s tricked under the hood 66’ Chevelle. One of Clay’s boys messes with Shaun’s water pump. Clay and Shaun race for the next couple of pages, Shaun of course wins, Clay and his girl crash, they’re saved by the airbags. Shaun gets even with Clay’s goon who messed up his water pump, takes Clay’s Rolex watch and throws it in the river. Shaun goes home. The cops come and arrest Shaun and take him down to the station house. Clay lies his ass off at the station about the events that happened. Shaun is screwed because Clay’s dad is some big lawyer for the city. Shaun is also now a 3-time offender in street racing not only in his new city but in other cities like Dallas as well; his vehicle is considered a nuisance vehicle and is crushed. They are also looking to make an example out of Shaun so therefore his mom has no choice but to negotiate with the cops and enroll her son in the military. Two MPS come for Shaun and by page 13 he is whisked off to Japan to meet his uncle SGT. MAJOR MIKE BOSWELL at Camp Zawa who has spent twenty years in the army disciplining men badder than Shaun. Shaun, the fish out of water spends the next couple of pages getting use to the Japanese and their way of life. By page 20 Shaun goes to the Hattori School, makes a friend of another Latino (a Latino in Japan?!) named REEVISE. His name is actually Levis because he got a side business trading American blue jeans, but since there is no L in the Japanese language, it’s Reevise. Shaun goes to class and learns to bow. Later during lunch, Shaun goes to the cafeteria, sits at the isolated table of other Americans (the Caucasians, Hispanics, and Blacks). He sees a bonita Asian girl TANI. We meet O-RAY, the leader of the American kids and a tomboy Jacinda. The cool bad boys of the school – the tea haired teens – enter the café. Shaun ran into them earlier on his way to school on the commuter train. NAOKI, the leader of the group gets in Shaun’s face because Shaun refuses to eat octopus. A Mexican standoff occurs between Shaun and Naoki who wants Shaun to eat a bunch of wasabi. Everyone in the cafeteria watches expecting either Shaun to run or a fight. He simply eats the wasabi. Everyone is impressed by how cool Shaun is. Whatever. We see more of Shaun’s life in Japan; he goes back to school later and runs into NAOKI. Shaun raps to her unsuccessfully, she calls him a gaijin (a foreigner, an outsider) and warns him that nothing is, as it seem.

I’m really getting bored because for the last 20 pages or so we don’t see anymore cars until finally on page 30, after Shaun gets out of school he finally hears an engine and looks at 4 ultra tricked out 350z’s. Reevise is in one of the cars. Shaun apologizes for being an asshole to him before and tells him that they are going out hunting at night. Reevise picks him up later in his ride, they go out and Shaun learns about the Matsui Clan or Yak territory. Yakuza. Reevise and Shaun watch a GTO on the Tokyo expressway pass a cop car. Cop cars in Japan are factory tuned so they don’t even bother going after cars that do 180mph or more. Shaun is beginning to like Japan. Shaun and Reevise go to Tokyo’s Kabuki-Cho district – Japans red light district. They go with sixty other cars to this parking structure race site that hosts an illegal race/rave that dozens of drivers go to that is reminiscent of L.A.’s racing scene but only in Overdrive. We hear some loud hip-hop but in Japanese. We see some pretty neat cars and Reevise brings Shaun up to speed on the other racing crews. We meet the Oka safa or “surfer boys.” The Mazda punks with ball caps are the Yankis – wanna be Americans and chapatsu -- the tea haired gang Shaun ran into earlier in the cafeteria. The ultra tricked 350z’s from the school parking lot arrive on the scene. The seas of racers treat this crew like royalty. They step out of the 350z’s, which can change color. The leader is a muscular and tatted out DK, who steps out of the red z. His 2nd in command is HIRO steps out of the blue z. BOKKAI steps out of the green -- and TANI steps out of the black z in her racing leathers. Tani makes out with D.K because that is his girl and Reevise warns Shaun not to mess with him as Shaun watches her with interest. D.K. is the Vin Diesel of this film and is treated like royalty. D.K. meets with a Yakuza guy pissing off Tani who leaves. Guess who goes after her? Shaun. They chat for a few. Meanwhile the Yakuza guys tells DK that MR. MATSUI wants to meet with him and DK is deeply honored.
Yakuza guys instigates DK, asks him why his girl is talking to a foreigner. DK sees Shaun talking to his girl.

Oh-oh!

Yakuza guy is like what are you gonna do about it? DK and his crew beeline towards Shaun. Reevise notices and tries to rescue Shaun but he is pulled out his car by DK and shoves him into Hiro and Bokkai. DK gets in Shauns face and tells him this aint no quarter mile American Bullshit. He tells Shaun this is Tokyo gaijin. We make the cars, this is our scene! DK challenges Shaun to a race. Shaun is going to race in Reevise’s car. Reevise and Tani try to talk Shaun out of it while Shaun works under the hood making adjustments. Shaun tells Reevise to relax because he has raced punks like DK back in the states and never lost a street race. Reevise tells Shaun that this is not a street race but a drift race. We get an example of what a drift race is. DK takes off his shirt. DK stands for “Drift King.” Whatever. On page 45 we start the drift race sequence, which goes on for a boring 3 pages. So I guess the gag of FF3 is that we se what drift racing is all about. Big deal. I’m not impressed but I am sure lots of kids who are into cars and especially Japanese cars will. Of course Shaun loses. Shaun now owes DK money. Shaun tries to struggle but DK places Shaun’s hand over an engine block and slams down the hood on Shaun’s hand, breaking it. Ouch. All to the approval of the Yakuza watching nearby. Not only that, Shaun owes DK 5 million yen (50 grand American) because he lost or else. Dk and his crew leave. So on page 50 you mean to tell me we finally now have a friggin’ plot! In screenwriting, page 50 is the midpoint and also known as the point of no return. Shaun is now obviously at the point of no return but you mean to tell me that for the 1st half of this movie we get no plot and that I’m supposed to be impressed by the concept of drift racing?! Whatever.

Shaun is now in a world of shit. He goes to school the next day, opens his locker and driving for dummies falls out. Students laugh. Shaun runs into Tani who disses him. Shaun later runs into the marina and looks out into the ocean. Tani tells Shaun that he has to pay DK or else he is gonna get killed. Shaun goes home and packs his duffel bag to leave Japan. His uncle stops him, takes him to the garage and shows him the semi-restored 1967 ford fastback mustang. 427 v8 with a two-barrel carb. The car was apparently left by Shauns dad. They have an Obi Wan Kenobi moment. Shaun’s uncle tells him that he can’t run away from his problem like his father did for other people to deal with. Shaun’s uncle leaves Shaun there to ponder his future. The next morning, Shaun’s uncle think he bailed when in fact Shaun is in the garage hooking up the mustang. Shaun and his uncle work on the mustang. Shaun later runs into Reevise who is now famous and getting girls because he got his ass kicked by DK. They go to school and run into O-Ray. Someone secretly placed a flyer for a money race next month in old Tokyo. The top 4 finishers make ten grand. The winner makes 75 grand. We find out that Tani secretly placed the flyer in Shaun’s locker. Later Shaun and Reevise go to the Tsukiji Fish Market to practice. Shaun has 3 weeks to practice and figure out the turns. DK and his crew show up on the scene and chase Shaun into the Tokyo subway. They chase Shaun on foot into the subway, onto the train. Shaun psyches them out on the train and makes his escape for now. Later back at Shaun and his uncle’s crib, they work on the mustang, find out the engine is no good but tinker with the idea of putting a Japanese engine in there. Jacinda and some army brats show up and Shaun, Reevise, O-Ray go to Shibuya to get a bite to eat where they sells all kinds of fast food and American food in vending machines. They charge the food to the cell phones. We get more racist humor between O-Ray and Reevise. Not funny. The script is chock full of it. The tea haired racers show up. The leader Naoki steps up to Shaun. We expect a fight. Naoki becomes friendly and tells Shaun that he enters his turns way too early. That is why Shaun under steers so much and loses the drift. Shaun offers Naoki a coke. They chill and offer each other racing advice. Naoki tells Shaun that if he wants to learn to drift the right way that he has to watch. There is a dragon run up through Otake Pass tomorrow night. Shaun should watch how they attack the turns. Drifting is all about pushing the envelope of what is possible. Naoki tells Shaun he has a drifter’s heart. Shaun clinks coke cans with Naoki.

Later at Ageha Nightclub, the cutting edge nightclub of all Japan, DK and his crew celebrate with the Yakuzza. Matsui, the head of the Yakuza clan toasts to a profitable partnership with his new members (DK and his crew). Tani is the only one not having a good time watching DK make a fool of himself with the Yakuza and the dancers around. Tani leaves.

Later we go to Otake Pass and the Dragon Run. Boring drifting bullshit for the next couple of pages. Shaun finally learns how to drift. Rite of passage. Tani is there in her Z drifting also. The drift ends at a gas station in Kagoshima. Naoki of tea haired gang congratulates Shaun. Tani has car trouble. Shaun walks over to help out. She tells Shaun to buzz off.

Suddenly, the MOTORCYCLE gang – the bosozoku – bashers show up and raise hell. They smash windows and bang in doors. The Bashers are like the Hell’s Angels. Some Yakuza clans don’t like street racing in their territory so they hire the bashers to bust them up. Tani’s car is stuck there. Shaun rescues her, Tanis leaves him hanging there to deal with the bashers, she does a 180 and comes back and rescue’s Shaun who hops in. Chase scene. They make a getaway to a cool kind of parking garage. They share a Kodak moment. Shaun reveals stuff about himself. Tani is touched. Shaun asks Tani to teach him how to drift. The next day at school, Tani and Shaun bump into each other and she agrees to train him tomorrow.

Shaun and Tani meet at the Tokyo dome at sundown. Tani trains Shaun at drifting. We get a montage of Shaun drifting at the Tokyo dome and fixing on putting the finishing touches on his hybrid mustang in the garage. Everybody celebrates. Shaun has got a ride now. Shaun and his uncle have a family moment. They appreciate the car.

Later at the deserted parking lot of the Tokyo dome, Shaun masters drifting. Tani tells Shaun he’s ready. Tani takes Shaun to this seaside cliff overlooking Japan. They enter a temple. We get back-story on DK before the Yakuza, how he became the only one to survive a suicide run hence, earning his name, why she is stuck, and finally Shaun and Tani kiss on page 87.

We finally go to the Old Tokyo Drift challenge. Tani gives some final instructions to Shaun. Her old pal Yukie watches the exchange.

The drift race. More boring racing car bullshit. Hiro, one of DK’s crew is in the race and gets into an accident. His car overturns and catches fire. Shaun could finish the race and win or save Hiro’s life. Shaun does the honorable thing and save Hiro who is embarrassed because he got saved by a gaijin. But now Shaun got no race money but hey at least he is an honorable hero. He is now an honorable foreigner. But what is he going to do now about the money that he owes? Yukie is Hiro’s girl. Hiro is disgraced and suffering for it. Yukie decides to rat out Tani to DK. Shaun and his crew go celebrate at a sushi restaurant. Tani pulls up outside the restaurant in her ride. Shaun leaves with her and the have a moonlit romantic drive, they pull up to an embankment, make out and WHAM! Dk slams into them. Tani’s z tumbles down to the bottom of the embankment. Tani and Shaun are busted up bad. DK pulls out Shaun from the wreckage, goes for the kill and DEUX EX MACHINA! Concerned Passerby’s on the top of the road pull over and ask if Shaun is okay. How convenient. DK leaves. End Act 2.

Shaun sits next to Tani contemplating his situation. His mother arrives with his uncle. Shaun’s mom wants to take him back to the States because of the Yakuza DK rolls with. Shaun’s uncle slips him mustang keys. Shaun disappears. He goes to the garage, gets in the hybrid mustang. American on the outside, Japanese on the inside. He roars of towards Yakuza alley and waltzes in the Yakuza club with and enraged DK present. Now Shaun is changed dude and respects Japanese customs. He negotiates with Yakuza head Mr. Matsui and wants to race DK one more time to reclaim his honor. Matsui accepts. DK obviously chooses Suicide Run. The entire racing crews find out and go to the Suicide Run showdown at the Seaside Cliff racing site. Everybody is there including Tani in her hospital gown.

More pages of the final race between DK and Shaun, the wildest drifting we have ever seen, DK of course loses, Shaun settles his debt with Matsui, DK disgraces himself and the Japanese and everyone, including the Yakuza turn their backs on DK and the movie ends with Shaun, Tani, his boys, DK’s former guys and the Tea hairs partake in one final Dragon Run drift race around the mountains of Tokyo.

There ya have it. A movie about Japanese racing culture. Drift racing. Big friggin’ deal. The script bored me and was a painful read hence 2 stars. The story sucked. The only good thing is that it tears away from the formula of the first two films about Paul Walker having to infiltrate whatever gang. Street racing whether here, Japanese, or on the moon just doesn’t interest me but I’m sure a lot of the young kids out there and especially the Japanese will dig it and the drifting scenes. This movie is basically a fish out of water story and the plot doesn’t kick in till halfway. The only thing returning from the 1st two films is producer Neal Moritz. Paul Walker supposedly gave them the idea for this film but he doesn’t have to worry because he isn’t missing out on much.

mayimbe@latinoreview.com