Metacritic reviews

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.

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.

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.

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.

A masterpiece of mediocrity,

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.

The racing sequences are the series' meat and potatoes, but in terms of story, Tokyo Drift barely offers a stalk of asparagus.

At least Lin's local color make the idiocy fun to watch.

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.

It's all about eye candy and the quick tease. It's not over fast enough.