The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		5.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.5
Overall		3.5

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie Review

Universal has released the tangential franchise film 'The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift' to the UHD format. The new release includes a 2160p/HDR video presentation and a DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack. No new supplements are included but the bundled Blu-ray, identical to that which Universal released a decade ago, carries over all of the legacy content.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The included screenshots are sourced from a 1080p Blu-ray disc.

Unfortunately, the video presentation is nowhere near as strong as the previous two films in the franchise. The picture appears processed with smoothed over details that betray the noise reduction that has seemingly been applied to it, quite liberally but mercifully not to the point of completely wiping out broader details. But it's clear that textures are much flatter and smoother than they should be. Faces show lines and pores but the UHD doesn't visit them. The textures benefit from the UHD resolution but suffer from the increased scrutiny it also provides. Grain is not at all organic, appearing clumpy here, frozen there, brushed away in yet other locations. It's a fairly bland, lifeless image and, texturally, very disappointing. There are even random spots and speckles appearing throughout.

The HDR color spectrum doesn't measure up, either. Colors lack the punch and polish of those seen in either of the first two movies on UHD. There's not a sense of the real color depth, the perfect contrast, and the unbeatable nuance demonstrated in the other movies. There is certainly some appreciable adds to color intensity when comparing the UHD to the Blu-ray. It's most notable on the various cars, which offer examples of brighter, shinier purples and oranges, for example, which find another gear over the SDR Blu-ray, though not so substantial as those colors seen in the original film and the sequel. Black levels enjoy a little more depth and skin tones a bit more refinement. But the SDR to HDR upgrade is not so drastic as one might expect. The Blu-ray may be a little softer and a little less dramatically colorful, but it might actually look a little better in the aggregate.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift features a prodigious DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack. The presentation might lack the absolute precision found on the tracks accompanying The Fast and the Furious and 2 Fast 2 Furious but, unlike this UHD's video presentation in comparison, the drop-off is not at all drastic, and perhaps not even a drop-off at all. The track belts out full, exciting sound elements, including, as usual for the franchise, music and car sound effects. Other than focus so much on high octane engines, the track offers some interesting sonic alternatives in the drifting effects, including plenty of squealing brakes and tires rubbing against pavement. Races often wind up going sideways rather than straight ahead, though there are several examples of more traditional racing styles that offer the expected barrage of high intensity effects, from guttural revs to high speed zips and zooms around the stage. Regardless of the scene or racing style, the track offers fluid movement and perfectly saturating engagement, which includes a well defined and nicely integrated overhead component. The overheads also play a part in carrying the aggressively positioned and intense music. It's sharp but detailed, potent and highly effective at setting the scene while spilling into the stage. Atmosphere around schools or city streets is effectively enveloping; a ringing school bell partway through emanates from a tangible overhead position. Dialogue is clear and center focused with natural positioning in the front-center channel.

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift's UHD disc only includes the legacy Justin Lin commentary track. That track, plus all of the other extras, can be found on the bundled Blu-ray. For convenience, below is a list of what's included. For full supplemental content coverage, please click here. A Movies Anywhere digital copy code is included with purchase.

• Making of the Fast Franchise
• Drift: A Sideways Craze
• Custom Made Drifter
• Deleted Scenes with Optional Commentary with Director Justin Lin
• Drifting School
• Cast Cam
• The Big Breakdown: Han's Last Ride
• Tricked Out to Drift
• Welcome to Drifting
• The Real Drift King
• The Japanese Way
• Music Videos
• Feature Commentary with Director Justin Lin
• U-Control: Storyboards
• U-Control: GPS
• U-Control: Tech Specs
• U-Control: Picture in Picture

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift 4K Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift certainly doesn't look poor on UHD. But it doesn't approach its potential, either. For viewers not looking too closely, it works well enough, especially if one is picking it up as part of the larger 8-movie collection. But even with tweaked colors and the largely excellent DTS:X Master Audio soundtrack, there's no reason to pick this up individually, especially if one already owns the arguably superior Blu-ray.