Truly the worst movie I've ever seen in a theater

Better than most people think

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

The first must-see film of the year.

There's a very odd background to this car racing movie, clearly aimed at the teenage crowd in Asia. It's based on a Japanese anime of the same name of the 1990s, and filmed in Japan with Japanese characters. And yet it's a Chinese film, in Cantonese language, with mainly Chinese actors playing the Japanese roles. Despite (or maybe because of) all this, INITIAL D: DRIFT RACER turns out to be a very middling type of film, although it is a damn sight better than the most execrable the genre has to offer (SPEED RACER).Still, INITIAL D does deserve credit for making repeated scenes of cars racing on the same stretch of road throughout interesting, but the car chases are merely perfunctory and hardly the best thing about this. For a film based around racing, the film has much better characterisation than you'd expect, even if the central casting left me cold (I've never been able to warm to Jay Chou and that doesn't change here). The characters are far more realistic and their motivations more believable than in an average FAST AND FURIOUS film, for example.There are welcome supporting roles for Edison Chen and Shawn Yue, who at least have the movie star charisma that Chou lacks, and Anthony Wong is a welcome presence as ever in a comedic supporting role playing Chou's dad. Chapman To bags the 'idiotic friend' role but his character does grow on you throughout, although the female characters in the cast are particularly ill served by the script. INITIAL D: DRIFT RACER is hardly a good film but it passes the time well enough for fans of Asian cinema, even if it is a film I'd never want to watch again.

Like most of the reviews said, the ONLY good thing about this movie was the driving and the cars. The stunt people they hired for this movie did a great job driving and tearing up the roads (the ONLY reason why it even got 3 stars from me). Unfortunately there wasn't even that much driving!! The cars were also almost exactly modified and painted like the anime, which I thought was pretty impressive.As for the movie, they pretty much threw the first three stages of the anime in a blender, pureed it to a bloody pulp, farted in it a few times, then poured half of it in a cup and dumped it on a film reel.(Spoilers/Things that ruined the movie) They make Bunta a complete drunken good for nothing jerk, yet ends up showing up at one of Takumi's races..Somehow they found a way to make Itsuki even more annoying.Itsuki and Kioshiro are combined as one character and Yuichi (gas station boss) is his dad..Keisuke is written out of the script and replaced by Takeshi of the Night Kids..Kazumi (Itsuki's love) is a steady worker at the gas station..Kyoichi (Evo III driver) wrecks his car by driving off of Mt. Akina and crashes it similarly to the ending of Tokyo Drift..ALL the races take place on Akina.

Thursday June 8, 4:00pm Lincoln SquareSunday June 11, 7:15pm The NeptuneA soft-spoken nerd becomes king of the street racers when he perfects the art of corner drifting on a mountain road delivering tofu for his father. This film actually includes shots of burning rubber and jiggling tofu! Initial D also features every tasteless and embarrassing gag ever used in the worst teen exploitation flick including, up-skirt peeping, menstruation and frequent vomiting. The humor isn't funny, the writing is bad, the acting is bad and the story is pointless and hackneyed. Where Initial D succeeds is in the racing itself. From the aerial views of highway switchbacks to the lens on the pavement shots, the racing footage is fluid and intense. Disk brakes glowing red hot behind wheels as cars fly down the mountain road at night and one meteoric, unexpected crash succeed in conveying the intensity of this dangerous and illegal sport but the rest of Initial D is annoyingly awful.

That's about it. The race scenes were shot pretty decently. They grip the viewers at the edge of their seat. The songs by Jay Chow are pretty good. The movie is funny. It was set and filmed in Japan, yet all the dialogue were in Cantonese. What else is there to say? Jay Chow was pretty good for his first starring role. He gave a believable performance. Anthony Wong is his same reliable self and Chapman To again provides comic relieve (seems like he is typecast now).The movie did not follow its inspiration, the manga. Even though Jay Chow's character is low-key and mild-mannered already, in the manga the character is even more mild-mannered and even less intense. In the manga, the dad seemed to be more responsible and nicer. That does not matter though, because the races are entertaining enough. That is one of two reason why people pack the theaters to see it. The other reason? Jay Chow. Do not underestimate his draw power. This guy is an idol in Asia. Whatever he do is gold.This film is made for entertainment purposes. No depth. No plot. Just watch it and have a good time.7/10, because it is entertaining. Take that out, a 4.