FAST AND THE FURIOUS, THE (FILM COLLECTIONS) - Blu-ray review

The Fast and the Furious

I love cars. Especially fast cars. I own a '99 Camaro Z/28 that I purchased new and have tweaked to get more performance that what was delivered in its factory skin. She'll run the quarter mile in the twelve second range and my zero to sixty time is in the fours. She is a full-blooded American muscle car (albeit built in Canada) and the rumble of the 350 cubic inch LS1 V8 motor and Flowmaster exhaust is a beauty to behold. I love nothing more than to throw the Hurst power shifter back and spin the tires as I move into second gear. Formerly, I worked in Carlisle, Pennsylvania – a town where car shows bring people in from all over the United States. Corvettes at Carlisle and the GM Nationals are my favorite events. Owning a mighty American V8 in Carlisle didn't attract much attention, but sometimes I got a brotherly wave into traffic from a fellow car enthusiast. Now I sit waiting just a handful of weeks out from taking delivery of my brand new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro SS and once again my blood starts boiling with the temptation of speed and power!

My peaceful existence was shattered with the release of "The Fast and the Furious." A town where classic cars and American muscle reigned supreme was quickly invaded by mass numbers of tuners. Small Japanese cars with nitrous oxide canisters and grapefruit sized exhaust tips led the assault. At first, they did not have much power and they needed to use the nitrous to stay in the rearview mirror of the big Chevys and Fords that were commonplace. Then, they became faster, but the craze started to hit Saturns and Chevrolet Cavaliers. Stories spread about the tuner that could take a Camaro and it wasn't long until driving a Camaro Z/28 in Carlisle seemed like a call to any surrounding tuner to challenge me at a red light. Where I could previously drive peacefully through the quiet town of Carlisle, I was soon pestered and irritated by these annoyingly loud tuners at every red light. A craze had started and now, every teenage boy seemed destined to convert an old Mitsubishi Eclipse or Honda Civic into a brightly adorned rice rocket.

That being said, "The Fast and the Furious" has been a watershed film for the automotive industry, especially for those specializing in aftermarket parts and customizations. Car makers are building cars that are geared to the ‘Tuner' market and horsepower continues to soar. Though my beloved Camaro is in the middle of a production hiatus, the front wheel drive, four cylinder sports cars have flourished. There are not many films that have an impact on culture, but "The Fast and the Furious" is one such film. Street racing reached near epidemic status after the release of this film, cars became brighter, louder and faster as teenage boys strived to mimic and emulate the cars seen in the film. Not since the old hot rods of the Fifties, has teenage street racing been as showy or prevalent as the couple of years that followed the 2001 film. The muscle car era of the Sixties and Seventies was all about power and speed, there was not a lot of showmanship. However, the ‘Tuner' craze has made street racing more than just bragging rights.

The film itself was not a great achievement in filmmaking or storytelling. The plot is relatively thin. Neither Paul Walker nor Vin Diesel delivers notable performances and there are many mistakes in both factual information and continuity in the picture. This is most definitely a popcorn film for the masses and not one that necessarily strives to entertain gear heads and hard core street races. "The Fast and the Furious" brings street racing to the public and not to a target audience involving its subject matter. It is watered down and not deeply technical; making it far more accessible to a bigger audience. "The Fast and the Furious" is a cliché heavy "Undercover cop befriends the bad guy" story that just happens to involve fast and colorful cars. It is a high octane action film that has enough race scenes and stunts for us car lovers to cheer, but doesn't become overbearing on its audience by discussing dual cam engines and the differences between a turbo charger and a super charger.

Paul Walker is undercover cop Brian O'Conner. He is hired to infiltrate the street racing gang led by Dominic Toretto (Vin Diesel) and uncover the truth as to whether or not Dominic is responsible for some daring truck jackings that are putting the truckers into a violent uproar. Toretto is a legendary street racer that is surrounded by a very talented crew and a lovely sister Mia (Jordana Brewster). Toretto's tough girlfriend Letty (Michelle Rodriguez) is at times a bodyguard, than a love interest. Toretto's friends pose a problem for O'Connor, as they are not ready to accept him with open arms and his own street racing skills are not quite up to par with their abilities. Only by saving Toretto from capture by the police does O'Connor gain Toretto's trust. Once he gains the respect of the driving kingpin, O'Connor must find out if Toretto is the one responsible for the daring hijackings.

The film is pretty predictable. Johnny Tran (Rick Yune) is introduced as a competing villain and foil to have the audience believe that Toretto is not the mastermind of the black cars that are involved in the hijackings. It is a quick ploy that is easily ignored and it doesn't take long for the audience to figure out that O'Connor and Toretto are going to butt heads and that they will discover the truth behind each other's facades. The audience can also safely predict that the race will feature the fast Supra that O'Connor builds to aid Toretto and a rather powerful black Dodge Charger. Fortunately, for all of the complete lack of cleverness, the film delivers the expected climax with entertaining results. I found myself cheering Toretto because he was driving the black Charger and hoping he would be able to ride off into the sunset.

It is with Vin Diesel behind the wheel that "The Fast and the Furious" succeeded. Directed by Rob Cohen, the film was a successful venture, but was a film solely intended to entertain and not educate or expand anybody's horizons. Vin Diesel is a man with charisma and the role of tough talking Dominic Toretto was a perfect skin for the strong actor. Paul Walker was a worthy partner for Vin Diesel throughout the film, but he alone would not have been able to carry the film. This was proved with the Diesel-less sequel. For as much as those brightly colored tuners had agitated me and brought me headaches when I drove my Camaro to work, I do enjoy the film that was responsible for their being. Once or twice, I had to let my adolescent side take over and show them what a souped up Z/28 can do to a horribly overmatched rice rocket, but I generally just smiled.

2 Fast 2 Furious

Without Vin Diesel and any intelligence, "2 Fast, 2 Furious" is a perfect example of a sequel that should never have been. However, with the huge popularity of the first film and the entire generation of street racing spawned by the first picture, there was no way Universal was going to not release a sequel. Director Rob Cohen did not return either. He and Vin Diesel decided to head off and film "XXX" instead of a follow-up to one of Vin Diesel's first bona fide hits. Some would say that the actors were not the stars of the first film and that Cohen was not the architect. They would proclaim that Mitsubishi and Toyota were the real stars and architects of the film. I avoided travelling to the multiplexes to witness this second film and ignored it when it was released on DVD. There was always a thought that maybe those who believed that the cars truly were the stars of the show were correct and when HD-DVD arrived, I was finally able to witness for myself if Paul Walker and a few cars could drive a feature film.

Adding Tyrese Gibson, Eva Mendes and Ludacris is not enough to replace Rob Cohen and Vin Diesel. Even dangling a Mitsubishi Evo VII, Nissan Skyline and vintage Camaro Z/28 wasn't enough for me to love this film. Yes, the cars were more impressive and numerous than the first film. I'm not a fan of foreign sports cars, but I have a great deal of respect for the Mitsubishi Evolution. If I ever had to purchase a four door car, the Evolution would be it. There was a powerful Z/28. I enjoyed the race with the old muscle cars, though they felt greatly out of place in this follow-up. It wasn't just this race scene that didn't quite seem to fit in the grand scheme of things; practically the entire film was a mish-mash of action sequences and car races that tried to form the semblance of a plot, but resulted in an incoherent mess that should have sunk this franchise and not resulted in a third film.

In "2 Fast, 2 Furious," Brian O'Connor has found himself on the other side of the law for allowing Dominic Toretto to escape with a car purchased through police funds. He is forced back onto the side of the law and into another undercover gig to infiltrate a drug lord in Miami and stop drug trafficking that seems to be handled with high performance cars. O'Connor strikes a deal and looks to an old friend to be his partner in the undercover operation. Convict Roman Pearce (Tyrese Gibson) has lost his brotherly love for O'Connor when O'Connor became a police officer. Still, he is the man that O'Connor trusts the most and a very qualified driver. The FBI agrees and give the two men two very high performance cars to aid them in their operation to bring down the druglord.

Their point of contact and entry into the druglords team of drivers is through the gorgeous latino Monica Fuentes (Eva Mendes). She is another undercover agent, but has been doing whatever it takes to earn the respect of druglord Carter Verone (Cole Hauser). O'Connor and Pearce must compete with other drivers hoping for a piece of the action, including Tej (Ludacris). They are given a high speed test to prove their merit and ultimately must find a way to bring down Verone, but also determine if Fuentes was fully compromised and save her from a potentially nasty fate.

The action and racing in "2 Fast, 2 Furious" is indeed fast and furious. It is however, heavily cliché ridden and quite unimaginative. Some of the themes and situations from the first film are rehashed and reused in the sequel. The writing and direction does not match up to the original, though I have more overall respect for John Singleton as a director than I do for Rob Cohen. Singleton created far better driving sequences for "Four Brothers" than he did here. Perhaps a loud and fast paced Hollywood action film is something that Singleton should have avoided in the case of "2 Fast, 2 Furious." He is a talented director and my belief is that this film was well below him and the final product is not indicative of his talent, but on the material and requirements provided.

There were a few scenes I did enjoy in "2 Fast, 2 Furious." I certainly enjoyed watching the big bad American muscle cars whip up on the foreign sports cars. They are magnificent beasts. A few others were entertaining and Eva Mendes is stunning. But in the end, this film is simply a mess and without Vin Diesel and the freshness that was associated with "The Fast and the Furious," this is a cookie cutter sequel that tries to be bigger and badder than the film is succeeds, but is among the numerous other sequels that just tarnished the good name of their pedigree.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

Paul Walker wasn't enough to propel the second film into the stratosphere. At least, not in my opinion. For whatever the reason may be, Walker was not included in the cast list for the third film in the lucrative "Fast and Furious" franchise. To return to my opinion, this didn't seem like anything that would hinder a third outing of ultra colorful and highly tuned imports. Instead of keeping in line with the undercover cop storylines of the first two films, the filmmakers decided to take the story to the lands where the cars came from – Japan. Of course, with its general lack of long straight-aways, crowded streets and winding roads, the Japanese style of racing greatly differs from that of North America. Racing no longer has anything to do with long straight-aways and tire smoking burnouts; it has to do with the concept of drifting, where speed does not necessarily warrant the winner, but style and attitude reigns supreme.

I admit that I find drifting to be rather intriguing. I'm a straight-line kind of guy and my nearly 400 horsepower Camaro doesn't take to turns too well. I've done a few autocross events and routinely find myself falling behind much slower Mazda Miatas and Honda Civics. Autocross has turns and bends throughout the course and very little straight-aways. In turn, I suffer on my times and do not do very good. On a racetrack or straight track, I can outrun Corvettes, Mustangs and a few older Vipers. Two entirely different worlds and my big engine, rear wheel drive car don't do very good in the one where turning is required. Drifting is neither of those worlds and a tremendous amount of horsepower to the rear wheels is a good thing. The basic concept is that enough power can allow cars to slide and smoke their way through turns and take bends as close to walls or other cars as you can. Drifting is controlled insanity in the guise of power slides. It is an entirely different style of street racing and "Tokyo Drift" does for drifting what the first film did for underground street racing.

The third film does not find any stars headlining the credits. Lucas Black is the only true familiar face and is known for his performances in "Jarhead" and "Friday Night Lights." The majority of the rest of the cast are Japanese actors. Of course, there is one great cameo at the end of the film that nicely ties "Tokyo Drift" into the canon of the franchise. In the film, Sean Boswell (Lucas Black) nearly destroys a housing development during a street race of his old American rust bucket muscle car. He is sent to Tokyo to live with his military father and must live by his father's rules, which includes not driving a car. Soon, Sean finds himself banging heads with some cocky Japanese drifters and is taken under wing by a legendary drifter who promises to teach him the craft in order to bring down a rival's reputation.

The first two films featured an undercover cop trying to bring down criminals. Here, a good ole American boy needs to bring down the legendary Yakuza. The Yakuza can make the Italian and Russian mobs look tame in comparison. When I discovered that the filmmakers decided to get away from the undercover cop plotlines, I was excited. However, the franchise does not stray too far away by having a teenage boy bringing down the Japanese mob. Many of the same plotlines and storylines from the first two films are again rehashed, but against the Tokyo city life and drifting, the film feels far more original than "2 Fast, 2 Furious," even if it is yet another basic rehash of the first film. This third picture does not contain nearly as many flashy and interesting cars as the first two films. Drifting isn't necessarily a place for ultra expensive vehicles. In fact, older Toyota Supras and Celicas are preferred cars. However, a vintage Ford Mustang does find itself with a Toyota motor; something that seems very blasphemous.

I liked "Tokyo Drift" far more than I did the second film, but not quite as much as I did the original entry in the series. Lucas Black was just as wooden as Paul Walker was in his performances, though some of the Japanese actors were fairly good. The cars were again the story in the film, but this time the concept of drifting helped elevate their appeal. Drifting and the awkwardness the main character faced while trying to adjust to Japanese society were the two elements that kept my interest. This is another example of a film that only strives to entertain and for the most part, I felt "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" held my interest and entertained me. Its story won't win awards and I won't recommend you start to dissect the plot. However, if you like fast cars and want introduced to an entirely different aspect of street racing and see the tuners in their ‘natural environment,' then "Tokyo Drift" is an experience worth experiencing.

Video:

All three films in the series are presented in 2.35:1 widescreen. They are generally identical to the former HD-DVD releases. The first film in the series is mastered using Microsoft's VC-1 codec, with the two sequels using AVC MPEG-4. These had all been VC-1 on the deceased high definition format, but I could not notice any differences in direct comparison. The overall quality of each of the films is very good and while I don't think they are consistently reference quality impressive, there are moments when each picture is quite gorgeous. This usually involves the brightly colored cars, but the detailed locations sometimes struck me as looking very good. Compared to DVD, the "Fast and the Furious Trilogy" is a vast improvement and far more detailed and colorful than how the murky looking standard definition releases appeared.

I found "The Fast and the Furious" to be the best looking picture of the trilogy and the early street race scene where the neon-lit and painted car bodies are showcased under the dark Los Angeles skyline is still a sight to behold. The CGI-created moments are very nicely done and look as close to perfection as anything in the trilogy can look. Where the first film really stands out is how well detail holds up under low lighting. Black levels are very good and this is a colorful and solid mix. "2 Fast 2 Furious" is another highly colorful affair, but I didn't feel the transfer was as detailed as the first film. The exterior locations looked quite good. As is the case with the other two films, skin tones look very good. The final film again showcases the overly colorful car, but I found the level of detail to drop off a smidgeon in some of the darker scenes. The cars are the best looking elements of the films and nobody is going to be disappointed with how good these hot rides look.

Audio:

"The Fast and the Furious Trilogy" was the first films I had the opportunity to watch using the new Panasonic DMP-BD80 Blu-ray player. This unit features an onboard processor for DTS-HD Master Audio and I must say that I was quite impressed with how great these films sounded on the newer player and definitely feel as if the newly mastered DTS-HD soundtracks are a strong step up over the Dolby Digital Plus soundtracks of the older HD-DVD mixes. Whereas I felt the visuals were strong, but not among the best releases available, there are moments when I believed that these street racing films were some of the best sounding releases I have yet to hear on Blu-ray. Comparing some older titles on the Panasonic player showed a definite boost in volume for this player, but these new mixes are definitely an improvement.

The first movie is simply amazing sounding and the volume level and activity of the surrounds during "The Fast and the Furious" was among the best usage of rear surrounds I have heard in a long time and this film is easily in my top five all time favorite pictures to showcase how rear surrounds can effectively be used. The .1 LFE channel explodes as well during the film and sound moves very naturally between all channels. I can safely say that this first film is one of the best sounding titles yet released. The second film is a slight step down, but still sounds quite good. The volume level seemed a little pumped up when compared to the first entry, but it was still quite solid. The third and final film is just a small hair behind the first film, but the sound of a Japanese drift care just isn't as impressive as cars built for pure speed. All three films have great usage of all six channels and strong dialogue.

Extras:

Some other ‘next-gen' functionality has been added to the three films in the "Fast and the Furious Trilogy." This is an upgrade over the previous HD-DVD releases. BD-Live access has been included on each disc. At the time of writing this review there is only promotional clips and previews that are selectable as well as other items that are available to each Universal title with BD-Live functionality. U-Control has been inserted onto each of the BD-50 discs as well. U-Control was not part of the former HD-DVD titles, but you additional items have been migrated over to the films and Profile 1.1 players now have a reason to feel better about their BonusView enabled systems. Of course, Universal also includes the My Scenes bookmarking functionality that can be tied to BD-Live. Unless something additional is added, these don't bring any value to the separate films. All three films include Digital Copies on a separate DVD and each film's Blu-ray disc is also formatted for use with D-Box Motion Code equipment.

The Fast and the Furious:

The "U-Control" extras include Tech Specs, which are included in eleven of the twenty chapters. The Tech Specs show information on each of the car and include technical information on what makes them fast and furious. This also includes a "Damage Calculator," which makes watching the movie feel almost like playing "Burnout" on the Xbox 360. The Picture in Picture video commentary is spread across the whole disc and features some very good interviews and behind-the-scenes footage. This is one of the more complete PiP features I've seen from Universal in some time. Most of the time the U-Control features are placed at certain chapters and there is not enough information to fill up the entire film, but for "The Fast and the Furious," there seems to always be something in a PiP window.

The three new items for the Blu-ray release are decent. Dom's Charger (4:22) is a very brief clip that shows scenes featuring the incredibly muscular Dodge Charger with some quick background information from Diesel, Cohen and the film's writer and picture car coordinator. The vignette then provides some behind-the-scenes information and film clips from the upcoming fourth film. Quarter Mile at a Time (9:44) looks at racing history, the Ford Motor Company and how moonshiners would make their cars faster to outrun the cops. This then moves into information about street racing and the quarter mile. The Fast and the Furious Video Mash-up lets you edit together clips from the film with pictures, a song and an ending to create your own brief "The Fast and the Furious" video.

The previous HD-DVD items and a few things from the former DVD releases are also carried over. This is a far nicer set of bonus materials than the HD-DVD version. The Deleted Scenes (6:24) feature optional commentary with Director Rob Cohen. These are composed of six deleted scenes and two extended scenes. They are a very nice set of extra footage and if you enjoyed the movie, you will definitely want to spend time watching both with and without the commentary. Hot off the Street (4:42) are five additional bits of excised footage that includes an alternate take of one scene from the film. These don't amount to too much. The Paul Walker Public Service Announcement (:36) has the actor asking viewers to not mimic the racing seen in the film and not to break laws. The Making of The Fast and the Furious (18:03) begins with a twenty second warning to not try this at home in regards to the racing scenes. The documentary itself is your run-of-the-mill EPK styled feature with flash, interviews and scenes from the film. There is some making-of footage and all-in-all it isn't too bad, but more promotional than informative.

The second page of bonus items begins with More Than Furious (2:23) , which is nothing more than a deleted scene that would have occurred at the end of the film between Paul Walker and Jordana Brewster. Tricking Out a Hot Import Car (19:13) is a unique little feature. Running for nearly twenty minutes, it combines sex and car to show off a lovely Playboy playmate and the art of tricking out a rice rocket. This was informative and thanks to the bunny, sexy. A supplement like this suggests that Universal really does know how to pander to its target audience. The Turbo-Charged Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious (6:12) was a promotional clip to introduce the second film and whet the audience's appetite for more. The Multiple Camera Angle – Stunt Sequence takes a look at the big Dodge Charger sequence and lets you swap angles old-school DVD style and get numerous looks at the short crash sequence. I had fun with this feature, but had to watch it numerous times to enjoy each of the angles provided.

The Movie Magic Interactive – Special Effects shows three angles for the climactic scene where the Charger and the Supra bust across the train tracks. You can select each angle and then see the various plates through the stages of special effects. This was a nice feature. The Featurette on Editing for the Motion Picture Association of America (4:36) shows the filmmakers toiling over once scene where a wire is cutting through one of the actor's arm and how it needs to be toned down for the MPAA to not be too harsh on the film for ratings as PG-13 was the target rating and violence and blood needed to be toned down from the particular scene shown. The Visual Effects Montage (3:44) is an odd mix of visual components from the creation of the film and mixed with dance music. Though interesting to see the pieces from the film, there was no logical flow and the supplement just came across as an odd attempt at piecing together some making-of elements.

The third and final screen of bonus features contains even more solid value-added content. The Storyboards-to-Final Feature Comparison (6:50) shows the early race scene from the film where storyboards of the film are shown above the film clips. This is a good long look to compare how storyboards are used to set up scenes. The Sneak Peek at 2 Fast 2 Furious (5:11) has Paul Walker introduce the second film and interviews and clips are supplied from the second film on this feature that was originally supplied on the second DVD release to send fans back to the theaters. The three Music Videos include Ja Rule "Furious," Caddillac Tah "Pow City Anthem" and Saliva's "Click Click Boom." The "Pow City Anthem" clip is edited for language. A "The Fast and the Furious" Soundtrack Spot is also included here. The Theatrical Trailer is thrown in as well. However, the final feature is the Feature Commentary with Director Rob Cohen. If you enjoy the film and the cars, this is a good listen.

2 Fast 2 Furious:

The U-Control items of the second film are slightly more in number than that of the first, but not necessarily any better. Sixteen of the nineteen chapters include the Animated Anecdotes pop up trivia. These are colorful and have little car overlays and provide some decent information. Ten chapters contain the Tech Specs that provided fun in the same manner as the first movie. These contain technical information and background details on each of the car and then tally up damages from wrecks throughout the film. Only thirteen of the chapters contain Picture-in-Picture video clips that contain making of footage and behind-the-scenes information from the movie. All-in-all, having these three items available does allow for a more interactive and informative viewing experience, but they didn't seem as deep as what was in the first movie.

The bonus features culled from previous HD-DVD and DVD releases are spread across two menu screens under "Extras." Fast Females (7:54) finds the film's director and others talking about the female characters that enjoy racing at high speed in the film. Each actress then gives their own thoughts on their characters. Hollywood Impact (13:23) finds many industry faces and cast and crew from all three films discussing the impact the series has had and looks at racing and other car films throughout Hollywood History. "American Graffiti," "Back to the Future" and other pictures are showcased and this was a short, but interesting featurette. The Prelude to 2 Fast 2 Furious (6:12) is the same exact feature from the first disc. The Deleted Scenes (6:06) are lumped together and introduced by the editor. Director John Singleton provides information before each scene about why it was cut and information on what the scene is about. The brief Outtakes (2:43) provide some laughs.

The second half of the first page has some good moments as well. Inside 2 Fast 2 Furious (10:02) is all about EPK promotional fluff. It has the actors talking about the cars and pimping the film. This talking heads feature has some clips from the film and some making of footage, but it doesn't get too deep. The Actor Driving School (6:38) is a collection of three vignettes that show Tyrese Gibson, Paul Walker and Devon Aoki learning how to drive some very powerful vehicles to prepare for the film. This would have been tremendous fun to drive the cars they were able to enjoy. This would help me better prepare for my forthcoming 426 hp Camaro SS. Tricking Out a Hot Import Car shows that Universal knows how to pander to its target audience. This feature includes sexy cars and a sexy Playboy Playmate. Its purpose is to show how to trick out an import car and even without the lovely lady, it would have been interesting. Supercharged Stunts (5:28) is a brief discussion with the stunt coordinators for the film. The Camaro scene into the water was interesting to see performed.

The final menu page has a smaller subset of bonus features. Making Music with Ludacris (4:59) finds the rapper talking about making the soundtrack for the film. This shows clips of recording and promotes the film with behind-the-scenes information and film clips. The Actor Spotlight (6:58) is three more vignettes focusing this time on the actors themselves. Tyrese Gibson, Paul Walker and Devon Aoki. The Car Spotlights (9:15) is three vignettes on the Spyder, the Evo VII and the S2000. Out of these three cars, the Eclipse Spyder and Honda S2000 don't excite me much, but I do love the Evolutions. Furious Afterburners (3:23) contains "The Derby Scene Extension" and "Verone, Whitworth and Monica at the House." These are two alternate scene clips from the film. The Feature Commentary with Director John Singleton is one of the more worthwhile commentaries. Singleton gives a great look at the making of the film and though I did not enjoy this track as I enjoyed the one for "Four Brothers," this offered up a lot of details and improved my opinion of the film ever so slightly.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift:

The third film in the trilogy contains four items under U-Control. The first is Storyboards and these populate only four of the disc's twenty chapters. This is a cool feature and provides Picture-in-Picture based storyboards that play nicely with the corresponding scene. The GPS feature is included in each location that has storyboards and this allows for mapping of the film's more appealing race sequences. Essentially, these two U-Control features are tied to the loudest and most impressive automobile moments. Tech Specs is a little more populace and can be found in seven chapters, but is a guaranteed find wherever the GPS and Storyboards are located. This provides information on each of the impressive autos and tabulates damage in a manner similar to the U-Control offering on the previous two films. The final feature is the Picture-in-Picture video commentary that includes interviews and behind-the-scenes footage for the length of the entire film. This includes some good material and if you want to watch the film with this activated, you may learn something interesting.

The standalone features include items from previous releases and a few new items for this release that help promote the newly released fourth film. Making of the Fast Franchise (17:02) is one of the new items and this looks closely at the cars and films beginning with the first "Fast and Furious" motion picture and then forward to include footage from "Fast & Furious." While this is overly promotional, fans will enjoy it. Drift: A Sideways Craze (1:00:00) begins with a warning about the dangers of drifting and then provides a very good look at the sport of drifting. I must admit that after watching this picture I gained an appreciation for drifting and this documentary only furthered my interest in the controlled precision of drifting. There is a lot of information and insight into what makes drifting popular and how it is quite different from street racing. Custom Made Drifter is an interactive item that lets you customize your own virtual drifter.

The remaining items on the first menu page are from previous releases. The eleven Deleted Scenes (18:16) include optional commentary by directory Justin Lin. While these scenes won't add any great depth to "Tokyo Drift," there are a few nice additional moments and I enjoyed the scenes with Lucas Black's character getting used to Tokyo. Drifting School (7:35) is a vignette showing Brian Tee, Lucas Black and others learning how to drift. This is short and just glosses over things, but it sure looked fun! Cast Cam (4:19) is just a few moments with the cast hamming it up for the camera. It is just random silliness. The Big Breakdown: Han's Last Ride (8:26) looks at the film's biggest and most impressive race scene in great detail and how it was shot in downtown LA and Tokyo. Tricked Out to Drift (11:00) looks at some of the two hundred cars used for the film and how they dressed them up to look impressive on the big screen.

A few features are contained on the second menu screen. Welcome to Drifting (6:17) is a promotional introduction into drifting and how it is the centerpiece to the third "Fast" picture. It gives a five minute overview on what drifting is about. The Real Drift King (3:38) is a short interview with drifting legend Keichi Tsuchiay, the real "Drift King." The world of drifting is exciting and interesting to hear a real drifter comment. The Japanese Way (9:45) was short, but showed the numerous headaches that were created by trying to film a "Fast and the Furious" film in Tokyo. All I will say is that it isn't the easiest film to create a major Hollywood blockbuster in. No wonder Godzilla smashes so many buildings. Music Videos are included for Don Omar "Conteo," Far*East Movement "Round Round" and a Soundtrack Spot. Finally, the Feature Commentary with Director Justin Lin was informative and entertaining and Lin shows his level of knowledge of the cars, the races and drifting.

Closing:

The new Blu-ray release of "The Fast and the Furious Trilogy" finds full remasters for the three films. The only carryover element seems to be the VC-1 mastered video portion of the first film, but it looks good and the AVC MPEG-4 look identical to their former HD-DVD counterparts. The new DTS-HD Master Audio mixes are a definite step up and push the surround channels to the max. With a strong improvement in audio that would almost make this upgrade necessary, Universal really seals the deal with all new Profile 1.1 and Profile 2.0 supplements and a bevy of new features that were produced just for this Blu-ray release or have been culled from former DVD releases and were not present on the HD-DVD releases from a couple years back. This box set is easily the definitive release of the first three films from this trilogy and I'll be looking forward to adding the fourth beside it on my bookshelf.