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The third in the wildly popular FAST IN THE FURIOUS series--a hybrid of fast cars, hot teens, and fetishized technology--gets a new jolt of energy and style courtesy of young hotshot director Justin Lin, who won raves at Sundance in 2002 for his look at Asian-American teens in BETTER LUCK TOMORROW. Leading man in training Lucas Black stars as sensitive rebel Sean Boswell, who, despite hailing from the poor section of town, vamps up his used car to drag race against the best of them. After numerous racing challenges won--including one against his high school's popular, wealthy quarterback--Boswell gets in trouble with the law one too many times. To escape confinement to a juvenile detention center, Boswell's military father ships him all the way across the world, to that most futuristic, tech-savvy of cities, Tokyo. There, he meets his match in the powerful, cruel D.K. (Brian Tee), who is not only the car racing star of the Japanese underground, but also related to several dangerous Yakuzas (gangsters). Complicating matters is Sean's undeniable (and mutual) attraction to D.K.'s gorgeous girlfriend Neela (Nathalie Kelly). The racing style, he soon learns, is very different in this strange land--a practice known as "drifting" that is more elegant and virtuostic than American-style demolition. Yet if anyone can take on D.K. and his band of Yakuza yeomen, it's this racecar rebel. All the pieces of the action movie puzzle, including sexy stars, nonstop action, and heart-stopping thrills, combine with a stylish aesthetic and energetic soundtrack to make another fine addition to a fantastic franchise. And director Lin is adept at rendering Tokyo a full-dimensional, culturally rich location, rather than a video game backdrop.
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