The Most Underrated ‘Fast & Furious’ Movie Just Hit Tubi

Remember when Fast & Furious was actually about driving cars really fast and not about “family” or elaborate heists or jumping off the Hoover Dam or, uh, going to space?

That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with the later F&F movies, but there was certainly a key element lost along the way, and a rewatch of The Fast & The Furious: Tokyo Drift—streaming now for free on ad-supported service Tubi—makes it extremely obvious.

Juvenile delinquent Sean Boswell (played by Lucas Black) frequently gets into trouble in his native Arizona for his street-racing ways. After one race that ends in the total destruction of a neighborhood and two very expensive cars, Boswell is sent to live in Tokyo with his U.S. Navy lieutenant father. Very quickly, he meets classmates with a similar need for speed, who introduce him to Japan’s adrenaline junkie fix of choice—drift racing.

Tokyo Drift is slick, sexy, extremely goofy, and the driving scenes are the best in the series. But more than anything, it’s a time capsule to 2006. The main character, a supposed high-schooler who looks about 32 years old, pulls up AOL Instant Messenger and types messages like “how come i never c u drift?” as frequent needle drops from Juelz Santana, Grits, N*E*R*D, and Far East Movement play in the background. Oh yeah, and Bow Wow is his best friend.

Suffice it to say, Tokyo Drift is the most fun entry in the franchise, and a perfect example of a “they don’t make ’em like this anymore” movie. Whether that’s a good thing or not is entirely up to the viewer.

The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift is now streaming on Tubi.