The Weekly Planet - The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift - Caravan Of Garbage

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

There's nothing less exciting than a sequel featuring no original cast members. HOWEVER. Tokyo Drift, the third entry in the Fast Saga is not without merit. It introduces Lucas Black's Jack Henley or something but more importantly Sung Kang as beloved fan favorite Han. I like it. It's a good movie. You don't even know but it's a good movie. Thanks for the support!SUBSCRIBE HERE ►► http://goo.gl/pQ39jNVideo Edition ► https://youtu.be/FgtGWK41hGUHelp support the show and get early episodes ► https://bigsandwich.co/Patreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesJames' Twitter ► http://twitter.com/mrsundaymoviesMaso's Twitter ► http://twitter.com/wikipediabrownPatreon ► https://patreon.com/mrsundaymoviesT-Shirts/Merch ► https://www.teepublic.com/stores/mr-sunday-movies The Weekly Planet iTunes ► https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-weekly-planet/id718158767?mt=2&ign-mpt=uo%3D4 The Weekly Planet Direct Download ► https://play.acast.com/s/theweeklyplanetAmazon Affiliate Link ► https://amzn.to/2nc12P4 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As women, our life stages come with unique risk factors, like high blood pressure developed during pregnancy, which can put us two times more at risk of heart disease or stroke. Know your risks. Visit heartandstroke.ca. On May 10th, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is coming to IMAX and theaters everywhere. What a wonderful day! This summer, one movie event will reign.

It is our time. Apes hunt humans. That is wrong. Bend for your king. Never. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Only in theaters May 10th. Tickets on sale now.

May 10th. Tickets on sale now. This podcast is part of the Planet Broadcasting Network. Visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates. Welcome back everybody to our Caravan of Garbage episodes, specifically about the first three Fast and Furious films. The first trilogy in the Fast saga. I said that like David Attenborough. The first trilogy in the Fast Saga.

He's still with us. Yeah, that's right. I love that. He's 95 at the time of recording. Wow. And he took the time to come and do that. Anyway, this is Tokyo Drift. Yeah.

This is a real odd duck of a movie, I reckon. I've written here, it's a real odd duck of a movie. And yet, there are no ducks to be found. Not a single one. Doesn't that make it the oddest duck there is? And it's weird because it spans continents and you'd think you'd see at least one duck on your travels. Maybe flying south for the winter. That's right.

What is also interesting about this movie, despite it being the third, it takes place in 2013 because, of course, it is a prequel to whatever the one is where han dies five or six it's not seven i know it's not seven that's all i know that's all i know i have some questions about this being the year 2013 first of all i don't think when they made this it was supposed to be the year 2013 oh no absolutely not because it was 2006 right that's something like that yeah and this this happened course, because the filmmakers didn't know, the producer didn't know who was willing to come back from the previous movie,

so they're like, let's just make it another thing. Oh, I've got all sorts of things to say about that, Mason. But what I love about the year 2013 in this universe is the cell phones are just as ancient as you've ever seen. Well, I've written here, James, imagine if you dug up a landfill from the year 2006 slash 2013. Imagine how many Motorola flip phones you would find and imagine how much blurry 640 by 480 footage

of drifting races you would see on them that have never been viewed by a human eye because they would have just filmed it once and been like, I'll watch that back later. No, you wouldn't. You can't see it. You never do. It doesn't look like anything.

So many iPods of the era. This was even before the iPad. And also, Lil Bow Wow, who makes an appearance in this, is like, check out this brand new Jordan. It's not even out yet. That's a 2006 shoe. I know because I looked it up, Mason. Okay, all right.

Anyway, it's a real odd duck of a movie. It really is. Some real anachronisms in this movie that's about time travel when you think about it. That being said, I think this is the best of the first three and one of the better ones in general. Well, here's what I think. I think this is a very well-made, like very well-directed, very well-produced movie about a bunch of characters

I do not care about in the slightest. Like I know the main, I don't know what the main guy's name. Lucas Black. That's his real name. That's his name. Yeah. But I do not know the character's name. Steve Dawson.

I know that it was yelled at the end of the movie, but it's been like over an hour since I watched it, so I've forgotten it. All I know is this. You did it, Brett Henley. Oh, Brett Henley's good. That's all right. But not a Henley to be seen. I don't care about any of these guys.

Maybe Han, but that's only retroactively because he's been in a previous movie and he's been in subsequent Fast and Furious movies. I think he's a massive highlight of this movie. And I just want to mention as well, Han is brought over from Justin Lin's first movie, Better Luck Tomorrow, which is technically set in the Fast and Furious verse. But again, retroactively. Retroactively, yeah.

Apparently, though, Justin Lin came on board for this, who, by the way, has directed a bunch of other Fast and Furious movies. Hang on, I've got to let that dog out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're free to come back in two minutes. Yeah, he was brought on to direct this third one, which went through a number of changes. And the early drafts of the script, he said,

I think it's offensive and dated and I don't have any intention of doing it. But then it was agreed that he could shape the movie as he saw fit. And it became this. Right. But you mentioned that there are no returning characters. And Paul Walker apparently wasn't asked at all

because the studio felt he was too old so they got lucas black teenage man he's a real he's a real man in his 20s who looks like he's in his 30s he's going to school he's going to high school this guy he doesn't make a very convincing high school student but he makes a wonderful japanese high school boy doesn't he in his little uniform if they didn't say he was 17 in this, I'd be like, did they keep him down a bunch of years? Yeah. It is troublemaking, I wonder.

Yeah, absolutely. But obviously in this, he starts our life in America. Yep. But then he gets into an illegal street race with a big high school bully. With home improvement's own Zachary Ty Bryan. Oh, he's got a real big head but a real small face he looks like a dick tracy villain this guy that's all i'm saying he's 25 huh also

well at the time of kept down for bad behavior kept it kept down for being too rich you're gonna keep we're gonna keep you down until your face grows into your big head we're not we're not sending you out to the world look i have the same Look, I have the same problem. Yeah, I know. But then he just drives badly through a bunch of houses. Yep. And he gets expelled to Japan. But he wants to impress a girl who's like, if you win this race, you get me. Have some respect for yourself.

You're worth more than either of these two grown men. Right? What's going on here? It's weird stuff. Yeah. Weird stuff. Then he gets to Japan and he's taken under the wing of Han,

legendary Fast and Furious character Han, who sees the potential in a guy who's bad at everything. He's bad at fighting. He doesn't speak Japanese. He's bad at driving.

He's so bad at driving. He's so bad at driving. He's one of the worst at driving. He's the worst driver in the Fast and Furious franchise slash saga so far. And it takes him an entire movie to get better. Yeah. What about Tyrese?

No, he was all right in the last one. But he gets worse. He lost that race though, didn't he? No, he destroyed it. Yeah, but no. But he didn't destroy his car, other people's cars, walls, people's livelihoods, fruit stands. I don't know.

I will say this about Japan, though. There is something cooler about car nerds in Japan. I don't know what it is. You think so? I know I've been railing against car nerds these last couple of weeks, and I will not retract that. Whoa. And I'm not going to say another bloody word about it, but I'm not a fan.

But I think there is something really cool about this Japanese school that has amazing uniforms and food and little Bow Wow is there for some reason. Who, by the way. Well, every Japanese school has little Bow Wow. Oh, they do? Yeah, they do. So it's not that special.

I know this joke has been done before, but when does he become regular-sized Bow Wow? What era is that? I mean, it's obviously after this. Yeah. And it's after Like Mike, which was the movie before this. Sure, uh-huh. But yeah, also, here's something fascinating.

Go on. Here's something interesting. Go on. At 3025 in the movie. Not the year 3025, but the year this movie is set. That's what it's set, yeah. And it's a prequel. Whoa.

But there's a moment where Lil Bow Wow is in an elevator, and just as the doors are shutting, he looks at the camera and he winks, which means Lil Bow Wow knows he's in a movie. Oh my God. And he might be the only one in these movies that knows he's in a movie. You think he should get the word out? I think he's the watcher.

That's what I think. But I mean, he's a viable character to bring back. Also, if we're building a list of characters that should come back in sequels and be the villain, Lil Bow Wow, big head small face He should come back As a villain Who's left?

Any of the women Any of the women I don't know anyone's names Neither do I But what about Lucas Black's nemesis In this movie Takeshi, the driftift King of Tokyo? Oh, yeah.

Small-time gangster, big-time pedophile. What? His girlfriend's in high school. Oh, I thought you meant in real life. No, I'm not. Yeah. I'm just saying. She's still in high school.

Yeah, that's crazy. It's weird. Oh, she's actually really mature for age. Shut up. No, there's something wrong with you. If your girlfriend still has to ask permission to go to the bathroom, it's her young. Yeah, I agree.

But no, I think the biggest inclusion and the best inclusion of this movie you touched upon is Han. And I don't think it's just that he's a recurring character. He's got the most charisma. He's just got a lot of charisma. He's eating snacks and watching a drift. That's right. He's just having a good time. Yeah.

And what I also like is he he gets murdered in this for stealing and when they show up and be like you've been stealing from me it's not like no i would never he's just like i did i mean i've got to feed this snack addiction eating all these snacks but you're a pedophile also yeah right so you know who's the real villain here uh but we we of course know that that it was Jason Statham who killed Han. That's right. Well, killed Han. Jason Statham.

I mean, I know we're going to see it in the upcoming movie, but how did he get out of that? There was, like, no time for him to crawl out of that wreckage. Manhole cover? I reckon manhole cover. Does he have the Nick Fury laser? He's got the laser that cuts through the ground, yeah. Okay, fair enough, yeah.

I do have a couple of things I want to mention about Japan that I love in this movie. All right, all right. I like because it's such a built-up urban environment, just a lot of the races just take place in a car park, just drifting up and down. I think that's really cool and inventive and not something we'd seen in this franchise before.

I thought it was fascinating that they went, hey, you know what? In Japan, the police just don't chase street racers. That was my second thing, yeah. They're just like, no, just let them go. So if you're doing faster than 180, they don't bother. Is that true? I need to know.

Presumably it isn't, but also they don't want to call ahead and be like, there's a guy coming down the road, put up a roadblock or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Oh, we remembered there's more of us. There's more of us. I should call one of the other ones. Exactly, yeah. But I mean, you know a roadblock or whatever. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. Oh, we remembered there's more of us. There's more of us. I should call one of the other ones.

Exactly, yeah. But I mean, you know, and that's interesting, but also kind of takes some of the tension out of the street races if there's no chance the cops are going to come, you know what I mean? That is true. That's a big part of those previous movies. Paul Walker will have to run away or whatever, doesn't he? Yeah, that's right.

He's always running away. Not because he's a coward, just because the police are, you know, they can chase you if you're going faster than 180. And then he stashes the car and then he's just like, hey, I'm just a regular jogger. I'm just jogging in my jeans. I'm just jogging in my jeans and my singlets. Here we are.

Some people jog in jeans. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Don't do it, though. Don't do it. Here's a question for you, though. Go on. What are your thoughts on the cars in this and also the drifting? Do you think it is enough of an element

in these in this movie that it makes it unique and special i mean there are some kind of fun drifting shots i think so like there's one where it's all about drifting it's all about drifting there's one where takashi like drifts like diagonally up like a circular yeah like a like a i was gonna say staircase That's not correct. That doesn't sound right, no. But they can do it. Maybe. They're just that good.

I mean, my favorite part of this is when they're like, this guy, you've got to watch out for the DK. And the guy's like, Donkey Kong? I'm like, you know drifting's just a Mario Kart power slide, right? Like, if you know Donkey Kong, you figure this out pretty fast. You just hold R and you turn in a direction. That's true. It's my favourite manoeuvre.

But I think there is something about the precision of the driving and the drifting in this which does set it apart. And also some of the last movies. Except for any of Lucas Black's driving, which is atrocious. But I also like that because that would would be me, just hitting walls. Just a grown man hitting walls, you know? Yeah.

But just when you see two cars, like real cars, drifting up a set of stairs, as you mentioned, that was what you think. That's right. I think that's incredible, genuinely. You know, maybe I'm biased against it just because of Waller. It was literally inescapable for a couple of years in this era. That's true, yeah.

Like everybody we know. I mean, 2013. Yeah, in the year 2013, everybody was drifting. of years in this era. That's true. Like everybody we know. In 2013. Yeah, in the year 2013, everybody was drifting. Talking about drifting. Drifting magazine. Drifting on your Motorola. Yeah. Power slide, Mario Kart.

Drifting with your high school girlfriend in the back. She's in a booster seat. But I think also it does progress really interestingly and well. And, you know, the story of crime and Lucas Black's father and all those things that are happening. And it culminates in American muscle versus Japanese. I have a note here. It says the first time in the Fast and Furious franchise

that there's a car that I would drive without feeling embarrassed. What about the one that goes to space? I don't know. Well, I mean, that hasn't happened yet, but. True. Yeah. You'd be screaming, though. I would absolutely be screaming.

But no, I think that final race down that mountain, like it takes it out of the, you know, out of the urban environment. It's like this well-known drifting. It's where drifting was born, Mason. That's right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it's really terrific. It's the spiritual was born, Mason. That's right, yeah, yeah. I think it's really terrific. It's the spiritual birthplace of the drift.

Yeah, and it ends in a massive car crash, which we love. It's a good-looking car crash, I must admit. It's a great-looking car crash. Do you think, though, this movie would have benefited from some original Fast and Furious characters? Do you think you would have got into it more? Good question. I didn't like Lucas Black's character at all. Not for me.

But, I mean, what are you going to do, put Paul Walker in high school? Yeah. They're probably the same age. He could go undercover. I forgot. He used to be an undercover cop. He could go undercover in high school. That would be so easy.

That's exactly right. He could do it too. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, they definitely know. I mean, that said, obviously, we do get one Fast and Furious character return at the end. Oh, yeah. We've got to talk about this yeah uh i'm always going to put this in this segment of the show called fast and furious tokyo trivia nice thank you um so after poor test screenings yeah universal pictures

asked vin diesel to make a cameo appearance to boost its box office potential and he said is this something francis for Ford Coppola would do? And they said yes, and he said, I'll do it. I'll do it then. Diesel agreed to appear if Universal would relinquish the rights to the Riddick franchise, and Diesel was able to make Riddick in 2013 independently. He got a whole movie out of appearing in one scene in this movie.

I mean, it's the Riddick franchise. I mean, sure, yeah. I like the Riddick franchise. I also like sure, yeah. I like the Riddick franchise. I also like it. But it's not worth anything, is it? No. Just make a cameo. It's worth a lot in my heart.

Yeah. But financially, it's worth nothing. Agreed. But I think also... It's worth a lot to Judi Dench. Probably. But I think also that the inclusion of him in this, was it in the marketing?

I don't remember it being. I couldn't tell you for $100. I couldn't tell you for the price of the Riddick franchise. Yeah. If you hate this franchise or this movie, this isn't going to sell you on it, is it? It turns up at the very end and you sort of see a little race at the end. You could watch another movie in theatres

and then sneak into the Tokyo Drift Theatre and just watch the last five minutes. That's true, exactly. But no, look, I do think it's a good appearance. But you know what else I think? It would have been interesting if this was maybe a more Vin Diesel-focused sequel, and then you get the Paul Walker film, the Vin Diesel film, and then you bring them back together.

Right. It would have made a lot more money because this is the lowest grossing film in the franchise by far. Oh. Which is why they went, this isn't going to work unless we bring back the originals. People were just, James, wait for this. Yeah. I'm ready for this.

I just thought of this. I'm ready. People, James, they were just, wait, James, they were just drifting were just they were just drifting past the box office they were drifting past it

they were going in to purchase tickets to the movie they were drifting past in their Japanese cars I think though maybe it didn't make a lot of money

because it was set in 2013 and it was ahead of its time people weren't ready for it they were like I don't want to know

what kind of Motorola flip phones I'll be using in 2013. I daren't go in to see my future and my own fate. Of the furious. Of the furious. One more bit of trivia. Trivia, sorry.

This is from the director. I wanted to shoot in Shibuya. I'm sorry, I pronounced that wrong. Have I? No, that's pretty close. I've done it. Which is the most crowded place in Tokyo. The cops.

They're all so polite. So it takes 10 minutes for them to come over and kick you out but it was unknown to lynn that the studio had actually hired a fall guy who stepped in when the police came and said i'm the director so he would be arrested and spend the night in jail so justin lynn could continue to film the movie whoa that's fast and Fast and Furious maybe, isn't it? Also, maybe Justin Lin didn't know that there's actually a fake Shibuya street. You can hire it. It's like $8,000 a day. Oh.

And you just hire it and it looks like Shibuya. Really? And you can just drift cars through it all day. Maybe that's new. That's not fun though, is it? No, it's not fun. You want to nearly kill a lot of real people. That's it anyway genuinely i think this is the best of the first three and i also think that maybe they should have marketed this more as a spin-off you know because it is really yeah

it's not a mainline movie no but i think that's also what works about it it's its own universe it's got very compelling character yeah yeah who dies it's got very compelling character very very good but you know there's a there's a lot about this which i think i don't know i just think it's really good and earnest and i think it's pretty well acted for the most part yeah and there's just something about it i really like and maybe it's also because we're not coming back to these for a while so i could be like all right pretty good we're done well because we're not coming back to these for a while. So I could be like, all right, pretty good. We're done. Well, if we're not coming back to these for a while, I'm going to say currently my favorite is two.

Because of the time that Paul Walker and Tyrese just beat that guy up and then spat on him. I thought that was funny. It's a funny bit in the movie. That was a funny bit. Anyways, this has been the Fast and Furious trilogy for Caravan of Garbage. When the next movies roll around, we will come back. But maybe you want to see these videos early in general. Is that you, Mason?

Yes. Then you should go to bigsandwich.co, sign up. It's like a Patreon tier. It's only $9 a month. There's a huge back catalogue in addition to early videos, including movie commentaries, including bonus podcasts, including our podcast, The Weekly Planet, where we talk movies and comics and TV shows.

That actually comes out there a day early. And, of course, including our podcast, The Weekly Planet, where we talk movies and comics and TV shows. That actually comes out there a day early. And, of course, this upcoming episode, we are going to be talking about the new Fast and Furious movie, whatever it's called or is about. F9. Press F9 to go to space. Look out. Look out.

It's ludicrous. What's he doing? Tyrese never thought he'd be going to space. The character from 2 was not expecting to go to space. He's not prepared for it emotionally. No. He's barely even the same character. He's a different guy.

In a lot of ways. But here's a hint towards next week. Oh, my God. What is it, Mason? I can't. Are we doing Iron Man movies? Oh, we could do Iron Man movies. Yeah, we could do some Iron Man movies.

Wow. Find me some MCU stuff. People are like, why aren't you doing more MCU stuff? We're starved for MCU content, people say. It's a desert of MCU content. I agree. We're breaking the drought. Anyways, thanks for watching these.

We really appreciate it. It's been fun, if I'm honest. I've also had a lot of fun. All right, let's get out of here, Mason. All right. And do a different thing. We can drift? We'll go outside and we can drift.

Get your flip phone. Let's do it. it all right grab that gem you guys we'll see you next week goodbye drift you later drift you later that's good i was gonna say smell you later it doesn't work at all smell you later smell you later folks this podcast is part of the planet broadcasting network visit planetbroadcasting.com for more podcasts from our great mates i mean mean, if you want. It's up to you. FX's The Veil explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies

on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London. One woman has a secret. The other, a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. FX's The Veil, starring Elizabeth Moss, is now streaming on Disney+.