The long and storied history of the Fast & Furious franchise has seen the series evolve from mid-budget, B-level racing films to $200 million globetrotting blockbusters that deliver some of the most jaw-dropping and laughably ridiculous action sequences ever committed to film, and throughout it all, Tokyo Drift has always been regarded as something of an outlier.
Retroactively, it turned out to be a pivotal moment in the mythology by putting Justin Lin behind the camera for his Fast debut and introducing audiences to Han for the first time, although the sequels eventually retconned its place in the timeline. If it wasn’t for Vin Diesel’s brief cameo at the very end of the movie, in fact, it could arguably be dropped entirely and it wouldn’t change much in the grand scheme of things.
A new poll by Looper asked Fast & Furious fans to choose which film they would get rid of if they had to choose just one, and Tokyo Drift was named as the runaway winner after scooping over 32% of the vote. Second place somewhat surprisingly went to The Fate of the Furious with over 17% of those polled happy to jettison the most recent installment, while 2 Fast 2 Furious came in third despite being regarded by a lot of folks as the weakest entry in the entire Fast Saga by some distance.
The majority of people polled may have named Tokyo Drift as the movie they’d be most willing to eliminate from canon altogether, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t a cult favorite. One person who definitely didn’t cast a vote was Christopher Nolan, director of mind, reality and time-bending existential blockbusters, who has admitted on more than one occasion that not only does he love Fast & Furious, but he has a real soft spot for Tokyo Drift.