After a bit of haggling, I got to drive :) Well, after all, since public transport after midnight consists of midnight-surcharge taxis... Initially we wanted to go cine, since the cinema is open 24 hours, but amazingly for some funny reason, cine didn't show Initial D, so we went to lido instead. We got there only around 10 mins before the 12 midnight starting time, and amazingly the movie started on time (considering how packed and popular the movie is, you would think they would do like 20 mins of adverts, or maybe its cos its 12 midnight).

What did I think of Initial D? Well, if you are looking for story, you would be disappointed. There is no real deep story or special philosophical discussion involved. The plot twists are shallow and most of the dialogue is devised for the standard humour slapdash stuff that you see so often in Hong Kong movies. The conclusion is very open and doesn't leave the audience with any sense of closure; it is also very sudden and it appears that ths scriptwriters didn't put much thought into this aspect of the movie. However, as a caveat, it does leave open the possibility of an Initial D sequel.

Of course, there are some redeeming features. It appears that the authors tried to parallel the development of the hero with the development of his car; through its crashes, its suspension and engine upgrades, its fine-tuning. This makes for a slightly interesting plot twist, although it was not smoothly carried out. The "Like Father, Like Son" point made in this movie is also one that could be used for philosophical discussion, although in the movie itself it was used more for comic effect than anything else.

Most of the characters are one-dimensional, in the sense that they don't have much depth - what you see in your first impression is almost always literally what you get - I think the one character that may have some depth is the hero's father, although for the most part, he's portrayed as your standard chi ko pek. Even the main protagonist's so called internal conflict between racing and his love life is superficial in my opinion, as it was quite obvious what his path would be from the very beginning.

The acting is semi-decent, sub-standard at times. Most of the actors are just around to be a pretty or handsome face. But I suppose there's not much to blame them for, as their characters themselves are so shallow that even a decent acting job would not have portrayed or developed the character much further.

But of course, none of this is why people go to watch Initial D. The real reason everyone goes to watch it is for the action, the car racing down Mt Akina. And even for someone like me, who had watched the anime before and knew more or less what to expect, I was impressed. The drafting and braking action was top-notch, and the filming of the drivers' hand and legs motion was expertly done as well. For me, I highly enjoyed the race scenes; they mixed humour with action and kept the audience excited and interested. Although there was some degree of predictability in the sequence of the action, overall I would say that the action alone made the movie worth it.

In conclusion, I would say that if you want a light-hearted, fast paced movie in which you don't have to think much and just sit back and relax and enjoy the movie, Initial D is for you. Makes for a perfect midnight movie, when you are tired and can't think much. If you're watching at 4pm, watch something like Memento (old, but good!) instead.

Anyway after the movie, we drove down to Mustapha Centre, where there's a 24-hour prata place nearby. Not-so 24 hour still; they ran out of all except egg prata by 11pm. But still, we enjoyed two egg pratas apiece and had a good time talking cock.

I think I scared some people by my driving. It's not that bad, seriously :P But after sending fcs and then yy home, by the time I reached home it was 5am already :( Grrrr.