"Better Luck Tomorrow" director Justin Lin's "The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" qualifies as a departure from the norm for a franchise. First, the action takes place in Asia instead of Los Angeles. Second, until the ending, we don't see anybody familiar. Although the hero is a misunderstood misfit, he isn't anything like the major characters in the previous films. Lucas Black plays a high school kid who is attracted to trouble, but he isn't a professional thief or a public servant. As Sean Boswell, he winds up in Tokyo and has to prove himself in an entirely different culture. Inevitably, our hero clashes with the nephew of a Yakuza boss played by the legendary martial arts superstar Sonny Chiba. Lin does a terrific job orchestrating some complicated action, especially the scenes where drivers drift. The drifting here, particularly during a town race, is breathtaking stuff. On the basis of its stunt driving, ""The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift" ranks as a good movie. Of course, the Chris Morgan screenplay is shallow, but he fills the action with interesting characters. Lucas Black is terrific as the fish-out-of-water hero. Brian Tee makes a first-class villain as TK, while Sung Kang is appropriately laid-back and cool as a glacier. Superior stunts, adrenalin-laced races, and a sympathetic protagonist make this "Fast and Furious" installment a breath of fresh air.

This film may be part of the 'Fast and the Furious' series but, apart from a brief cameo, it features an entirely different cast. Instead of being centred on undercover cop Brian O'Conner it follows teenager Sean Boswell who is sent to live with his father in Tokyo after destroying his car in a street race. His father forbids him from having anything to do with cars but it isn't long before a classmate introduces him to the local 'drift racing' scene. Here he has a run in with DK, the best racer and nephew of a local Yakuza, who isn't happy about Sean talking to his girlfriend. Sean challenges him to a race and DK's friend Han Seoul-Oh lends him a car… which he promptly destroys; if he is going to race he will have to learn how to drift. Han teaches him how to drift while Sean works for him to earn the money to pay for the wrecked car. It isn't long before DK and Han's friendship ends when it becomes apparent that Han has been skimming money. This ultimately puts Sean in his sights; Tokyo isn't big enough for the both of them; a drift race down a treacherous mountain road will determine who stays.

At first I was a little bit disappointed that the character Brian O'Conner wasn't in this as the first two films were about him. New character Sean Boswell is entertaining and Lucas Black does a good job in the role even though he looks too old to be in high school… I can't think why they didn't make the character older as that would have also have avoided the ludicrous idea that an American teen who doesn't speak a word of Japanese would go to a Tokyo high school. Still this film is all about the characters racing their cars and the race scenes are exciting; this is particularly true of the final race down what looked like the most dangerous road in Japan. The appearance of Sonny Chiba as DK's Yakuza uncle was enjoyable and a cameo from a familiar character should leave fans very happy as the film comes to an end. Overall I enjoyed this as good mindless fun even though it is weaker than the first two films.

TOKYO DRIFT is the unwanted second sequel in a film franchise that seems to have absolutely zero point in existing – unless it's to get teenage boys to part with their pocket money. Each film is a stultifying excuse for flashy cars to be raced around and wrecked while attractive women in little clothing look on and cheer or boo as required. The first movie saw Vin Diesel playing a bone-headed racer in one of his worst performances; the sequel kicked him away and left wooden leading man Paul Walker to make a mess of his duties. This film does away with them both in favour of Lucas Black, a guy who I used to like when he was a child actor in '90s TV series American Gothic.

Nowadays Black is all grown up and as typically handsome-but-wooden as any other actor. He seems to have lost his charisma but then all the cast of this film live in a charisma-free zone. The light story sees him packed off to Japan to curb his racing tendencies, but inevitably he runs foul of a Yakuza gang when he starts racing again. It's same old, same old, with stock supporting characters and an uninteresting cast – aside from a cameoing Sonny Chiba, still proving his worth in a fun role as a mob boss.

These films are all about the races and these ones are pretty predictable. There are some interesting crashes and a few stunts here and there, but my heart wasn't really in any of them. I could enjoy the explosive chases in a film like DEATH RACE but I couldn't stop yawning as I watched the races here. They're serviceable perhaps but they're not going to set anybody's world alight. Then the film ends with a laughable twist that sets things up for yet another needless sequel. When are these guys going to give up?