Weekend in Taipei 2024

Weekend-in-Taipei-2024
Weekend in Taipei 2024

The Weekend in Taipei poster touts the phrase From the creator of Taken and The Transporter. This means Luc Besson co-wrote the script for this film just as he co-wrote the scripts with Robert Mark Kamen for the other two movies. His co-writer this time, however, is the film’s director George Huang. That does seem somewhat odd, as Huang last directed in 2007 when he shot several episodes of American Heiress. His last writing credit was for the mock sequel, Hard Target 2, in 2016.

In Tilei, Mob boss Kwang (Sung Kang of Obi-Wan Kenobi, The Fast and The Furious: Tokyo Drift) is on trial. As reporters swarm him, accusing him of being a mob boss, he shouts that he has never been one. His wife, Joey (Lun-Mei Gwei of Flying Swords of Dragon Gate, Women in Taipei) is at this time purchasing a new Ferrari. Naturally after an adequately quick test drive of the car across the busy city of Taipei

In Minneapolis, Agent John Lawlor (Luke Evans, No One Lives, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies) faces the prospect of his six months of undercover work going to waste after his partner’s cover is blown. He does manage to get a drug bust out of it, but he is unable to relate the drugs to his last target, Kwang. And as a reward, he is made to take some holidays off.

Even if the film was not called Weekend in Taipei, you could probably have an idea that this is exactly where Lawlor intends to go on leave. And he gets there just in time, Raymond (Wyatt Yang), the teenage son of Joey, has Kwang’s ledger which he has just stolen rather serendipitously because the very seafood businesses that Kwang uses to mask his smuggling, kill tens of thousands of dolphins.

The script could not be any more cliche, and, out of all the characters, it is the fact that Lawlor and Joey have some history that makes him the real father of Raymond. All of these questions are still unresolved. There are many failures in the process. Weekend in Taipei was the simplest movie ever made. It’s the most boring UVR Cliché ever expressed. In and of itself, that is not too horrible in a picture like this, as long as the action sequences are on point.

Sadly, it’s quite apparent from the outset that this is not going to be the case here. It is nice to see Ferrari ramming through a race, but since it’s not a chase but only a test drive, qualification in no way brings up anxiety. Meanwhile, Lawlor’s fighting in the restaurant is a reason for worry as Jackie Chan has always been about that frenetic maniacal energy featured in brawls. A lot of foes and kitchen tools are used as weapons, however, it’s been done a lot. The most notable of the many cliches in this picture is the funny one that appears to be an interpretation of Audrey Hepburn when the main character Joey appears with the song ‘Moon River’ playing in the background. It is remarkable but has no functional bearing either.

The handling is fair, even though the car chases and all the fights offer nothing new and are rather routine. Yet, when you cast practically the whole Fast and Furious troupe and stencil The Transporter somewhere on the poster, it is understandable that viewers expect a few rather impressive chase scenes. The car chases in Weekend in Taipei are what you might find in almost any DTV action movie.

Yet, while Besson rushes to make the movie, please remember that it goes global on the big screen Weekend in Taipei is, at the end of the day, about what you think it is. It’s a poorly composed but sturdy action video film that has no innovation or spark. You can watch it and you wouldn’t hate the experience but it is the bore of a film which wouldn’t entice you as well.

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