AJ’s Review… Initial D
Looks can be deceiving. Ever heard the phrase ‘never judge a book by its cover’? I guess that would almost completely describe the basic story-line for Initial D. What is Initial D? Never heard of it? Then all I can say is… which planet are you from??
Winding roads, clear dark skies, burning asphalt, screeching tires, roaring engines… what else could a guy ask for? Finally the famous manga comic Initial D is put on the wide screen. The story (to me) is all about a small hatchback car called the Toyota Trueno AE86′ and how it overcomes more powerful modern cars like the Nissan GTR and the Mitsubishi EVO Lancer’s. For those who are not car-literate, those are names for other car models…
It was never about the actors. For MAJOR fans like myself, it has always been the cars! Secondly the girls and never ever about the guys. The guys are always the opposition! I just love the way how the cars in the manga comic are brought to life in the movie! The Trueno 86, the GTR, the EVOIII and EVOIV, the FC RX7 and even the S14 (or is it S13?). What I don’t like is how they changed a bit from the original story line. How’d they do it? OK, lets say you have all the episodes of the manga comics arranged in numerical order from Stage1 until Stage3. Now pick up all 18 books and drop it on the floor (I cherish my InitialD books so I didn’t do this). What do you get? A jumble of episodes right? That was how the movie was! Terribly all over the place! But I have to respect the directors of the movie Andrew Lau, Wai-Keung and Alan Mak for making this jumble of episodes mesh together into one great drifting movie! You have to watch the movie and see for yourself what I mean. For fanatic fans of Initial D, you can tell the difference from the very beginning of the movie.
Now, I always want to enjoy myself whenever I go for a movie. But when I was watching Initial D, all I wanted to do was grab the hand-phone from the person sitting next to me and JAM it down the motherf**ker’s throat! It was the baddest movie experience I have ever had! The guy was sitting with his big a$$ed girlfriend, talking as if he was at home with his girlfriend and friends. And what’s worse, he never even switched off or put his phone on silent!! It keeps ringing every 15 minutes! Trust me, I timed the intervals just so that I wont strangle the guy with his intestines! And he wouldn’t even get a clue from all the stares and glares he’s getting from all around him. He even answers the phone loudly! Arrgh!! Some people are just simply too f**king stupid!
Hmmm… Sorry people. When I watch a movie, I want to experience it to the fullest so that I can get my moneys worth. Hand-phones should be checked one by one by the attendants to make sure its off or on silent, talkative girlfriends or boyfriends should have their mouth muzzled, and snacks and crackers should be banned or stuffed up a place (on the human anotomy) ‘where the sun don’t shine’.
Where was I? Oh yes, the story is placed near a place called Mount Akina which is notorious for its winding roads. Young buck drivers go up mount Akina in their jazzed up cars just to race downhill and to pitt their skills and abilities between each other and other racers from different districts (I think they need one more hobby ;-p). The main character is Fujiwara Takumi played by Jay Chou. An 18 year old with a quiet demeanor. But unbeknown to his friends, Takumi has this hidden ability that only Mount Akina and its winding roads know. Racing at breakneck speed downhill, drifting through the corners, in his fathers black and white Trueno 86′ after sending tofu to the family business clients. Oh, did I mention father (acted by Anthony Wong) and son run a tofu shop? There’s also some lovey-dovey teen romance and conflict between Takumi and Natsuki Mogi (Anne Suzuki). Question. Why are nearly all Japanese girls so damn cute?? Sexy swimsuit? I don’t think so… And for gods sakes! Why the voice overs??? (watch the movie people 
Anyways, things get interesting further in the movie as other rival racing teams blast into town from the neighboring district Gunma. The RedSun’s (Mazda RX7 cars), led by RyousukeTakahashi (Edison Chen), The NightKids (Nissan GTR cars), led by Takeshi Nakazato (Shawn Yue) and finally the Emperor team (Mitsubishi EVO cars), led by Kyouichi Sudou (Jordan Chan). Now I wont tell to much on the movie because the last movie review I did kind of spoilt the movie for some people :-p All I can say is the cars and drifting scenes were awesome, the girls were cute (short skirts) and… I guess thats about it.
Before I sign off, all I can say, watch the movie people. Above is my own personal comments. Different people have different opinions. But overall, it was an good movie. The cars and girls.
(I)Rate: 8/10
Cast:
Jay Chou… Fujuwara Takumi, Anne Suzuki… Natsuki Mogi, Edison Chen… Ryousuke Takahashi, Anthony Wong… Bunta Fujiwara, Shawn Yue… Takeshi Nakazato, Chapman To… Itsuki Tachibana, Jordan Chan… Kyouichi Sudou, Kenny Bee… Yuuichi Tachibana
Directors:
Andrew Lau, Wai Keung and Alan Mak
