The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

It plays better than it reviews — the watch lands harder than the write-ups suggest.

• “The opening half-hour may prove to be a disreputable classic of pedal-to-the-metal filmmaking.”

  Michael Sragow, Baltimore Sun · 83

• “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.”

  Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times · 75

• “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.”

  Kirk Honeycutt, The Hollywood Reporter · 70

• “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.”

  Todd McCarthy, Variety · 70

• “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.”

  Scott Foundas, L.A. Weekly · 70