FAST & FURIOUS RETROSPECTIVE - PART IV: BETTER LUCK TOMORROW

 Before there was Tokyo Drift, there was-

Better Luck Tomorrow

2002

Director: Justin Lin

Producer: MC Hammer

Starring: Parry Shen, Sung Kang, Jason Tobin, Roger Fan, John Cho, Karin Anna Cheung

Rated R

Rumors about us came and went fast and furious

                        ~Ben Manibag

Huh?  How does this fit in with the Fast and the…what?  You told me Tokyo Drift was next! No, I’m not doing a Justin Lin retrospective.  This film very much indeed is a part of the Fast & Furiverse (if I coined that...make sure I get credit).  This is the origin story of Tokyo Drift and beyond’s Han Lue.  Granted, this is not his story per se, but he’s a main player in the group we’re following.

This is, so far, the best movie in the retrospective series at this point.  It’s a film that feels very much like it fits in with the mid 90s independent film boom.  It’s basically about a bunch of smart kids doing bad things.  It’s a really entertaining and thoughtful film.  Had this come out in the mid 90s and I saw this at the age I was then, I might be preaching this movie or would have watched it a ton.  Yes, these kids are able to commit a murder and not get caught for it, but the damage does take its toll on them and promises to be a cloud hanging over them for the rest of their lives.

From the moment we first see him, Sung Kang is DEFINITELY the same Han from the Fast & Furious series.  The guy just radiates “cool”.  He’s typically smoking a cigarette by his vintage mustang looking like a calm, collected, badass.  He’s sorta the brains of the operations with swindling and dealing.  I totally buy this guy growing up and becoming one of Dominic Toretto’s crew.

If one thing this Fast & Furious retrospective has done, is make me a bigger fan of actor Sung Kang (We’ll forget Bullet to the Head ever happened to him, and its also not his fault).  I had enjoyed him in a couple things before, but I’ve really liked his character of Han.  I’d love it if someone like Lionsgate took a chance on this guy and gave him some low budget pure action films for him to lead in.  Pipe dream and not likely to happen, but it’d be cool.

K…next time is Tokyo Drift…I promise