Initial D (2005)

I don't know about all the other reviewers, but I have been an avid follower of this animation since the beginning. To begin with, I d say that this director n everyone involved in the making of this movie has no idea whatsoever about the legacy of original story. Where shall I begin...... any movie you see with an all-star cast means only one thing; publicity without any depth in the film.

While I applause the director's effort of trying to imitate some of the out of this world angles used in the animation, there is nothing in this film which suggests it has been properly written or related to the original drawings of the manga writer himself.

An all star Hong Kong cast (except Anne Suzuki) + venue in Japan + actors and actresses speaking in 3 different languages (which eventually was dubbed) is weird enough and to spice up the ridiculous plot, the Hongkies made Takumi's father a drunk and a child abuser. Totally revolting and disgrace how they bought the rights and twisted the whole plot into a circus act.

Takumi (played by Jay Chow) plays the easiest act, showing his emotionless corpse now and then in the film. Only positive thing about him is that he bears some resemblance to the Takumi in the Japanese animation. Ryousuke Takahashi played by Edison Chen lacks the vibe and aura which makes him stand out as a great leader as well as driver. All he had with him is a bunch of mechanics, a van and a laptop. Finally, the biggest mistake was the Itsuki Tachibana character, played by Chapman To which is obnoxious and shallow. The problem in this film is that the moron who casted all these people i this film felt it was alright for them to act out what they have been doing in all other movies. So before you watch this movie, close your eyes and imagine all Chapman To's movies and you will know what I am saying. If I hadn't known better, I thought Itsuki Tachibana (Chapman To) was the lead because he was the loudest and the director paid too much time in his character developing which is totally unnecessary.

I felt ashamed knowing I once admired the director and he screwed up such a beautiful and exciting story and the fact that I was a big Initial D fan didn't help. To make matters worse, Itsuki Tachibana was the petrol kiosk owner's son (wtf?!!!!!). I know it is unfair to expect a good storyline in a 2-hour film from a four staged animation / manga which spanned more than 8 years to created, but other films have done it before with great success (i.e ichi the killer, spiderman, lord of the rings).

The only good thing about this film is that the cars are made to resemble the ones in manga and animation, and that s just as much excitement you will get. Car races shows no formula or tactics so there isn't much connection or man-to-car relationship in this one. Just pure luck rather than skill. Kyouichi Sudou (from Emperor team) might look arrogant and over-confident, but his skills are well-timed and counted for and his experiences are matched by only the best drivers. So to see him irrationally trying to overtake 2 cars after being warned that there is an incoming vehicle and then crashing top-sided beggars belief. If you watch the film very carefully, you would realize that all the director is interested in is the fact that takumi won all his races. No time given on how the races build up to the end where usually our hearts would be pounding trying to figure out what Takumi's next super trick would be.

NOTE TO MUSIC PRODUCER: FIND ANOTHER JOB, YOU BOU

Fmovies: You know I'm a man and I like cars. There's nothing to be ashamed of there. I also liked The Fast and the Furious, it had some fun in there but it also had big, fast, shiny cars, and one like mine too. So when I heard that there was this movie (Initial D) about drift racing popular with Japanese teenagers and it had been adapted from the Manga story, I was interested, and courtesy of Moviesville, I got to see it.

Movie The movie itself is good, it's quite comic in places which could be traced back to its Manga origins, and unfortunately this takes away from the story because it does present itself as having a serious underside.

Something that surprised me about this movie is there isn't that much racing. For a film that is supposed to be about drift racing, there's not that much that goes on. However, the four or so races that do occur are superbly filmed and driven. Mixing unusual camera angles, some CGI, and smooth stunt driving, you end up with every race scene being exciting and visually rich.

The pace of the movie is quite back and forth. It's this feeling that there should be more racing, and yet we're taken through scenes that range from comic to romance. It's understandable considering the group that the movie is aiming towards, but you can't help but feel a little bit of growing up could have been applied to the story.

The romance thread is interesting, and brings a dimension to the character of Takumi. Not only does he awaken his racing spirit, but also other feelings as a teenager. However some of the scenes are a little long and can feel like they jar you out of the story. It's a shame because again, this movie is about racing. Ultimately though it's a good plot device and comes to a satisfying ending, comparable with his Fathers life and choices.

Some characters are not full explained, and although that can sometimes be a good thing, here it makes them feel as though they are only brought in as a distraction. The character of Takumi's friend is straight out of a comic, and nothing much appears to have been done to bring him into the world of the movie. Perhaps this was a deliberate move in order to retain the connection with the story's roots, but he just seems to get in the way of events.

Jay Chou playing the lead of Takumi, don't have that much to say, and although this reflects a troubled teenager, it does quickly get grating and you can understand why his Father wants to kick him into action!

Picture Presented: 2.35:1 The picture is very sharp and clear, this is particularly noticeable during the racing scenes which mainly occur at night. The CGI is seamed in very well and the picture remains strong even when the camera is locked to a crane sticking out from a speeding car! It looks like a lot of work has gone into making this DVD look good.

Audio Presented: DD5.1:EX DTS:ES During the racing the sounds are really good, you can hear the engines changing gears and over revving, and when the camera is near the car the LFE kicks in well. Good use is made of the DTS track during these races, and you feel immersed in the action.

Outside of the racing little is made of the DTS, but then the story doesn't really dictate it at these points. Use of the DTS would have felt forced and unnatural.

Extras Presented: Behind the Scenes, Character Bios, Making of Featurette, Deleted Scenes, Outtakes, TV Spot, Promotion in Shanghai, Promotion in Japan, Photo Gallery, Cast and Credits Unfo

Based on a long running comic series by Shuuichi Shigeno, this all star cast Hong Kong movie puts on screen what's on the comic's volume 1-15 ( Part until Takumi joins Project D ).

Takumi Fujiwara (Jay Chou) is a high school student who lives with his single father running a tofu shop. Inbetween his tofu deliveries, he frequents Mt. Akina that has winding roads to improve his driving skills. He gets involved with the street racers that frequents the area, and a battle ensues to prove who's the fastest one on the road. Takumi with his outstanding driving skills, bests other racers with better performing cars. Amongst the people who shows up was Ryosuke Takahashi (Edison Chen). Ryosuke takes notice of Takumi's talent, and takes interest in him. Takumi's girlfriend Natsuki (Ann Suzuki) is chummy with Takumi, but she also has other things going on with older men. Takumi goes head to head with Keiichi Sudo (Jordan Chan) to prove who's the fastest man on the road.

The same staff from Medea Asia that's created the "Infernal Affair" series made this movie. The movie was shot on location in Japan around Yahikoiwamuro highway in Niigata Prefecture, and Shibukawa city in Gunma prefecture. The production quality is high despite the difficulty of bringing the location to Japan. Mt. Akina is a fictitious mountain that's modeled after Mt. Haruna in Gunma prefecture.

One of the center piece of the action is the Sprinter Trueno AE86 that Takumi drives. Despite its diminutive size, it succeeds in out performing cars that are designed for racing performances. Trueno is is a sister model of Corolla Levin, and shares the same frame, and the engine. It's a performance version of the standard Sprinter model with a twin cam 4A-GEU engine. In the '80s Japan, 4A-GEU souped up to 450 horse power was sold by custom shops. Used on AE86 that weighs less than a ton, the combination made the car into a deadly rocket that can go head to head with lesser powered cars like the GT-R. So a car to car battle like the one seen in this movie was entirely "Possible". The original comic states that the story is occurring sometime in the '90s time frame, and the cars appearing in this movie also reflects this fact.

I wonder if China these days are following the Hollywood style casting that casts compatible astrological sun sign actors in the leading role. This method seems to ensure good chemistry between male and the female lead. In this movie, three earth sign actors plays the lead (Ann Suzuki - Taurus, Anthony Wong - Virgo, and Jay Chou - Capricorn).

The movie has a world of its own that's completely different from the TV anime series, and in some ways more exciting due to the interaction between the stars, and the actual driving that takes place on the road. It's an excellently made movie that combines best of what Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan has to offer. I only wish that Edison Chen would return to Hong Kong cinema. He was very good in this movie.

A very enjoyable movie that takes you into the world of street racing culture of Japan.

Initial D fmovies. Overall, I'll have to say right off the bat that as a fan of the original anime I found it somewhat amusing.

There are a few things that the movie does right. The camera angles and the overall feel of the movie was spot-on to the original source material. A particular highlight was the "zoom-in-on-the-eyes" of the loser in one particular race. This was exactly like the anime, and was a great touch.

People might slam Jay Chou, but I thought he did a good job in this. It's rather hard to screw up a character who is generally bored and half-asleep (as he is portrayed in the anime).

There are a lot of small changes here and there, such as Bunta being a drunkard for comedy relief, and the complete lack of Keisuke (his character was combined with Nakazato). Or the fact that the anime Nakazato drove the 4WD GT-R model of Skyline, and did not drift. I won't touch on these in detail, as they didn't really bother me that much.

However, the biggest element lacking in this is the music! Inital D fans know that Initial D is known for it's high energy dance-style J-pop music. Considering there are at least 10 Initial D soundtrack CD's out in Japan, I can't believe they didn't realize how popular the music is.

The music in the film is best described as "Chinese rap/R&B" I guess, which really hurt the feel of the movie in my opinion.

As synonymous the anime is with the music, I can't help but think what it would be without it. We'd be left with scenes of car racing with cheesy dialog, intertwined with brief romance scenes. Which now that I think of it, pretty much sums up this film.

If they were to make an Initial D anime series with music similar to this movie's soundtrack, I wonder if I would like it as much.

I just might feel the same way about it as I do this movie, in that it's a nice reminiscent film somewhat faithful to the original, but nothing to get really excited about.

If you're not a fan of Inital D or of import racing, there's not much for you here.

I feel I must apologize on behalf of all Hong Kong folk for this film. It wasn't made for the international audience. In fact, it doesn't even appear to have been made for fans of the manga/anime 'Initial D'. It was almost certainly made exclusively for the Chinese market, because frankly, I don't see how it might have any appeal anywhere else.

There are some good examples of great stories from other countries which when remade under the Hollywood banner, stink. This film would be an example of a great story being remade under a Hong Kong banner. Hongkong-ized, if you will. And it stinks too. The tragedy is that the two directors once upon a time made a fantastic trilogy called Infernal Affairs, which won international acclaim, and is ironically about to be Hollywoodized by Martin Scorcese.

So how is it that two very talented directors who already have a good track record can turn out such a piece of excrement? Well, because it was made for the all-style-no-substance appetite of the Hong Kong movie going public, who basically just want to see an extended music video starring their favorite popstars.

And so on behalf of Hong Kongers everywhere, sorry! We're not all like this.

Of course I had to watch this movie since I was a big Initial D fan. I had high hopes when watching the opening scene where Jay Chou's character is effortlessly gliding down the mountain pass in his Trueno. That was the best part of the movie unfortunately.

Let's talk about the good first. The car scenes are pretty fun to watch sometimes. In many of the scenes they'll hug a turn on the inside and let the rear slide out and overtake the opponent. It's pretty fun to watch and you just have to wonder who the stunt men are or if they brought in Japanese drift legend, Tsuchiya on to the set for some of these shots.

Unfortunately that's the only thing that is good about this movie. Let's talk about the bad now. The characters are two dimensional. If you are a fan of the anime you will not find your beloved characters here. Jay Chou does a pretty bad job as the protagonist. I feel like he's always mumbling out his lines or is just wondering why he isn't doing the music video yet. Also, let's talk about his friends. They're morons. His best friend Itsuki is more of a raving idiot than his anime counterpart would ever hope to be. In the anime, this character talks about trying to get better and having Takumi as his inspiration. In the movie, this character talks about how he's a racing god and when he loses and wrecks he asks his poor father to buy him an even faster car (GTR) so that he can rematch and wreck that one too. Takumi's father is also a drunk and a bum. Also he is abusive. He beats his son and Jay Chou has scars on his back from all the beatings. I don't know what they were thinking by making him an abusive drunkard since obviously from the original material he was never one. Obviously, you can tell from what I'm writing here that the director probably never watched an episode of Initial D in his life.

I find the camera work to be also crappy and low budget. There are lots of scenes where they freeze the frame and you are left thinking "did something happen to my DVD player?" Nope. That's their creative take on racing. To freeze the scene even when it's a person's face talking. Then there's the music. Nothing in the movie was good except for Jay Chou's song. The racing scenes have music that sounds like a background track for a rap battle without the rapping. If you're a fan of the anime don't expect to hear your favorite eurobeat tracks or Move songs.

Overall I was bored, only paid attention during the races and got utterly perplexed by the ridiculous ending sequence where the people are celebrating. The other team and even his abusive father who has his arms around two young girls start cheering. Also I'd like to point out that not only is a 3 car race unfair, I've never seen a race with 3 cars in Initial D or any mountain race scene in any movie!

Next time try not to squeeze so much crap in.