initial d, hong kong
Categories: cinema, live action
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One of my housemates picked up the Initial D live action movie. I’m not sure who exactly it appeals to… people who never seen or heard about the manga/anime? People with rice rockets? People who actually think this might be a good idea? The movie contains basically a condensed version of the first season where Takumi races against the Red Suns. They managed to squeeze in Mogi’s entire arc somehow too.
The Fast
The most enjoyable part of the movie, at least for me, were the races. The camera angles and the tracks were done very nicely, but it is pretty obvious that they were using stunt drivers as you only see Jay Chow with a bluescreen. They also kept fairly close to the manga except…
The Furious
… Takumi’s dad goes from moral center to child-abusing drunk. He also goes along with Takumi now to races and cheers him on and provide running play-by-play. This is just… wrong. Almost as unforgivable as the live action You’re Under Arrest where they had Natsumi sleep with all the men in the department. They also gave the Takahashi brothers mustaches and cast men who look like they are 30-40 to play them. They look like restaurant waiters more than rich playboys.
I like Initial D… most of the appeal isn’t comedy or emotional angst. It’s about the racing, and while the movie does a good job with that respect, they managed to string out the rest like a typical Chinese soap opera. Questionable casting and really bad character change for Takumi’s dad doom this film in this fanboy’s eyes.
One Response to “initial d, hong kong”
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Hey ! you didnt talk about how hateful and annoying is Takumis “best friend”. It may have been a decent movie if they wrote the script properly and didnt try to fit the first season in a single movie.
The movie worked really well in asia , cause the main target was asia only and i seriously doubt about an european or american release, cause only prepared people can watch this kind of movie.