Initial D

Initial D

The beginning of the 2000s was full of racing films that spawned from the launch of the franchise “The fast and furious” which gained popularity amongst the masses worldwide. The franchise only moved back to Tokyo one year after its third driving installment relocated to the city to expand its story which revolved around drifting techniques, but even prior to that, Hong Kong cinema had already started looking eastward for “Initial D”, which was a film based on a manga and anime which also tackled the street racing and drifting scene in Japan.

During the day, he is employed at a gas station owned by the father of his close friend, Itsuki. When night falls, he drives down from Mt. Akinas a mountain and delivers tofu for his father’s Bunta “Tofuman” Fujiwara’s business using the AE86 car belonging to his father. The Mt. Akina mountain pass has become a favorite among street and professional racers where they can test out their skills and each other’s on the tight and winding mountain pass.

Although most do not know it, and even he does not know it either, all those long days of practicing driving through that road has pretty much made Takumi a champion of that track and all the lessons from his father, a renowned Racing Warrior of Mt. Akino, just made him a better driver in that road. Takumi finally gets to think about racing when he lifts off the throttle and wins over a car which is way ahead in terms of performance. And other more experienced drivers are already lining up to battle him for the honor of becoming the Racing God of Mt. Akinas.

When it comes to the plot, “Initial D” could be considered quite lacking and dealing with the same issues again and again, where each race has build-up to the same scenario. The only worthy narrative worth making mention of has to do with the son-father relationship where the father is a drunk-wood and a womanizers’.

There is the love line between Takumi and his longtime girlfriend Natsuki which is out of the box expectation as to where it goes in the second half of the film however it does not do enough to lift the storyline. A combination of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak makes it seem as if they do have fun with the story even though they do not take it too seriously and that is a good thing for the right audience.

It is the racing scenes that actually arise as the hallmark of the entire feature. These, while not very original are however sufficiently engaging such that the viewers would want to keep their eyes glued to the scenes. Not to mention the horrible taste in music, the scenes are entertaining because of the stunning scenery of mountains and narrow roads. Editing is going to be a contentious issue, with some appreciating it while others are going to hate it.

If there’s one thing that the movie could have done with less of, it is the continuous, rather pointless spilt second ‘freeze frames’ which were simply out of context in most places. However, the directors luckily do manage to restrain themselves when it comes to the sometimes excessive use of slow motion, which are just the right length and are not overused.

This film marked the acting debut of singer Jay Chou and also aimed at increasing the presence of the King of Mandopop in Japan due to the manga origins of the story. While it may have served the latter purpose, Chou’s work here should be testament to the fact that not every popular singer can act. In what must surely be regarded as one of the most half-hearted acting debuts, Chou’s bland performance is even more baffling since it is an Andrew Lau and Alan Mak film in which actors have in the past created some of their best performances.

The argument in his defense relating to this character states that he is based on a character in the source material Mao’s Revenge who is also an unfathomable blank slate. However, in the absence of the knowledge of the manga and anime, it would be perfectly alright to feel disappointment while looking at Chou for the reason that he also seems indifferent when he is behind the wheel during the descent from Akina mountain.

Luckily, Chou is also surrounded by other good actors who are much more entertaining than him. It is a delight to watch Anthony Wong as Tofuman Fujiwara have fun, especially during the tag team scenes with Kenny Bee.

There are times when Chapman To appear to be too humorous and overacts: this time however, he comes close to the right edge. Also, while Anne Suzuki does not have much range as Natsuki, Edison Chen has hardly anything else to do besides looking cool pictures. Shawn Yue as the other racer Takeshi brings his usual slat but he appears in few scenes than he should have.

As it is, “Initial D” is typical of the time it was made, although one can cut Jay Chou plenty of slack for what is a tiresome performance, making his accolades at the Golden Horse & Hong Kong Film Awards for Best New Performer very baffling. Not worth spending the effort to watch it and join the league of horrible adaptations, unless of course you happen to be a fan of car racing amines in general.

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