CD REVIEW - The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift


The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift
Music by Brian Tyler
Varese Sarabande VSD 6745 (EU)
30 Tracks 64:27 mins

This third adventure in the fast cars and guns series sees the action switch from American to Japan, although the "hero" is a good ole boy from the Southern States, portrayed by Lucas Black, whom I remember as a boy with tremendous presence in Sling Blade and the TV series American Gothic.
The music chores this time are undertaken by the versatile Brian Tyler and this album provides a lengthy listen to the results, which are mostly entertaining if you like your music loud and rock-based, with driving electric guitar, courtesy of Slash of Guns 'n' Roses I Presume - at least he is given a "featuring" credit on the cover. It actually reminds me somewhat of the kind of scores Trevor Rabin and Mark Mancina used to produce for Media Ventures projects and the like of some years ago.
The best example is the lengthy title track, which consists largely of pulse-pounding action music, though it does end quietly with a suggestion of the love theme, which is properly introduced in the easy-going acoustic guitar-lead "Neela Drifts." This title music is reprised for orchestra only in the concluding "Symphonic Touge."
Other tracks of this nature are the kick-ass, guitar-lead rock of "Mustang Nismo;" and the action of "DK vs. Han" and "Downtown Tokyo Chase;" plus the driving rocker "Megaton." Neela's theme comes and goes along the way, amidst expectant and scene-setting tracks.
All-in-all, the album is perhaps a shade too long for one sitting and a more condensed version might have been preferable, but it is nevertheless a good example of this kind of rock-based score, perfectly suitable for accompanying the on-screen mayhem, and with enough toe-tapping moments to keep one interested.