One of the most anticipated films from Hong Kong since the sequels to Infernal Affairs, Initial D is set to take on the world of fast cars and hairpin turns. Ages in the making, the movie with Japanese Manga and Anime roots is a well-oiled hype machine just waiting to careen over the cliff of high expectations. With a superstar cast consisting of Jay Chou, Anne Suzuki, and Edison Chen combined with the superstar directing talent of Andrew Lau and Alan Mak can this movie be the summers blockbuster hit? Can Takumi navigate a curve without having to brake?

A bit of warning before I delve deeper into the world of Initial D, I haven’t read the Initial D manga or caught any episodes of the anime on television. I don’t find that important. It’s great to stick closer to the material, and really most movies should try their best, but as far as time constraints are concerned as well as what may or may not be possible to put on screen, you have to give movies a little leeway. Everyone agreed that Jurassic Park was a great movie, but it deviated greatly from the book, but that didn’t change people’s minds about the movie, and such things shouldn’t bother you either. So if you know the original Initial D, clear your mind a bit before moving on.

Jay Chou plays Takumi Fujiwara, a high school student whose days consist of working at a gas station and generally looking pretty vacant while he’s at it. He hangs out with racing aficionado Itsuki (Chapman To) and shares some of his free time with lifetime friend Natsuki (Anne Suzuki) who secretly has a crush on him. Takumi doesn’t look like an extraordinary guy he seems to prefer to stay out of conflict and hidden out of the way, he’s never raced his car and he only drives an old Toyota Trueno AE68. To everyone’s surprise, including Takumi but excluding his father, Takumi does have one hidden talent; he can street race against the best of them.

Takumi didn’t have designs on being a racer on the fabled Mt. Akina, a popular deserted stretch of road curving down a mountain for street racer types, but he just wanted to cut his delivery times of Tofu to the mountain on behalf of his dad Bunta (Anthony Wong.) During one of these Tofu-runs he happens to burst past street racer and Night Kids racing team leader Takeshi Nakazato (Shawn Yu) who notices his skill and ability to drift around curves (taking a turn without braking.) Long story short, Takeshi visits the gas station in hopes of finding this incredibly skilled driver, and they all know according to the description of the vehicle who was driving; Takumi.

I found the movie extremely enjoyable, but as the tendency with a lot of stories coming from Japan, the lead character seems to only have one trick up his sleeve. Takumi loves drifting, he drifts all the time, drift better than anyone, drift you into next week, drifting is the secret of space. Another repetitive aspect of the story is the featuring of Mt. Akina, I do hope in the sequel they get to race down something else.

The heart behind the story is cute, Takumis long time friend Natsuki had a crush on him since forever. She promised that she bought the skimpiest bikini available and wants to show it off if he drives her to the beach on Sunday. Sunday dad needs the car to make it to a convention, the father however has already heard from his circle of racing buddies that Takumi is one hell of a driver and in order to even out a restaurant bill Takumi must participate in a race. Bunta gives his son a deal, win the race and he can have the car on Sunday. I was disappointed to see Natsuki that Sunday, and that her swimsuit wasn’t skimpy as promised, woe is me.

The love story soon turns into heartbreak, when Takumi’s life seems to be coming together, he’s just gotten into racing and found it was just the thing he needed in his dull life and he’s just gotten a girlfriend the world decides to slam on the brakes. The girlfriend didn’t die in some fiery car crash, she’s not actually a man, she’s not dying of cancer or moving away. Oh god, far worse, from what Itsuki gathers from seeing Natsuki leaving a love hotel in a very expensive car, it seems like Natsuki is a girl for hire. Nothing to ruin your day like finding out your girlfriend is a hooker huh?

The characters are cute, the situation under which the story progresses is vaguely realistic and the storytelling and acting are nothing to shake a stick at. Four days at the box office and Initial D had already matched the total gross of Hong Kong’s 2005 top-selling Hong Kong film Himalaya Singh. It is no question the movie was a success both in storytelling and economically. While Jay Chou may not be a racing god (it was rumored he wrecked one of many AE86’s involved in production) Takumi definitely takes the steering wheel during the movie and drives us towards a really good movie. I do imagine sometimes though, if Batman’s Tumbler from Batman Begins were to race in this puppy, how would he do?