The Every Fast & Furious movie is slightly different, and that’s both the franchise’s biggest strength and its central weakness.

The question of which Fast & Furious movie is the best ultimately comes down to personal preference as they’re all so tonally distinct - but there’s one film that stands out among the crowd. While many of the sequels blend into one another with their sweeping narratives of international conflict and global espionage, one of the series’ earliest entries remains separate from the others as it is the only Fast & Furious sequel that’s truly about cars. Unfortunately, it is also the franchise's lowest-grossing movie.

Tokyo Drift Is The Best Fast & Furious Movie (Because It’s Actually About Cars)

The Film Has A Clear Focus And It Works Well

Fast & Furious: Tokyo Drift was far from a hit when it came out, but there’s no denying that it’s the most unique entry in the saga. While the first two movies were essentially crime dramas about friendship, merely using cars as a backdrop to explore this dynamic, Tokyo Drift embraced the street racing element of the franchise. With new characters and a fresh location, the Fast & Furious ​​​​​​movies lived up to their name for the first time, even though Tokyo Drift was also an action movie with a crime storyline.

While the dynamic between Dom and Brian is undeniably compelling (and the reason Fast & Furious became such a long-running franchise after all), there’s something about Tokyo Drift that feels proud and unapologetic in ways the other sequels don’t, not even Fast Five. Where later Fast & Furious movies stopped being about cars, focusing on bigger stunts and more sweeping narratives instead, Tokyo Drift feels unafraid to fully immerse itself in the racing world and bring the audience along for the ride.

Tokyo Drift Has Aged Much Better Than Its Box Office & RT Score Would Suggest

The Film Profits From The Benefit Of Hindsight

Tokyo Drift is one of the worst-performing Fast & Furious movies both critically and commercially. The film currently holds a 38% score on Rotten Tomatoes, which is underwhelming in comparison to films like Furious 7 at 82%. Naturally, Tokyo Drift isn’t the critics’ favorite, but these scores have to be considered in context. The third film had nothing to do with the previous two and was, essentially, a standalone action film about cars, which many saw as a poor decision that would kill the franchise for good.

But with the benefit of hindsight, knowing how much the later sequels would focus on Dom and Brian again, it’s actually refreshing to get a Fast & Furious movie that is not about them or the "family." It may have been detrimental to the film’s box office performance, but it’s a much-needed change that prevented the series from becoming stale. Tokyo Drift only pulled in $158.9 worldwide, which was the lowest of the franchise at that point and doesn’t even compare to Furious 7’s record-breaking $1.5 billion.

Tokyo Drift Feels Part Of A Different Franchise After How Much Fast & Furious Changed

The Franchise Would Never Make Tokyo Drift Today

Although Tokyo Drift was poorly received at the time because of how unfamiliar it seemed, this is now what makes it so interesting. There are several moments in the franchise that changed Fast & Furious forever, and the series is now unrecognizable from the place where it began. With the benefit of hindsight, Tokyo Drift feels like a glimpse into a parallel universe where the franchise stayed focused on cars and racing instead of shifting its interests to a safer, more commercially friendly approach.

Tokyo Drift will likely continue to be appreciated despite how much the saga has changed.

One of the biggest problems with Fast & Furious in its current form is the characters, who often feel misused and underdeveloped. Tokyo Drift doesn’t have this problem, as it leaves the old characters in the past and dedicates time to introducing new figures and making us care about them. This makes the story much more compelling than some recent sequels, which give too much attention to the action stunts and the special effects. A simpler, more straightforward movie, Tokyo Drift will likely continue to be appreciated despite how much the saga has changed.