Weekend in Taipei Review
Some fun action moments give this otherwise sluggish action thriller a much needed boost.
Agent John Lawlor (Luke Evans) and former undercover operative Joey (Lun-Mei Gwei) revisit their romance during a fateful weekend in Taipei, unaware of the dangerous consequences of their past.
Written by Luc Besson and directed by George Huang, Weekend in Taipei has a curious affinity for other movies. That comes through right off the bat with a shot egregiously ripped from the hallowed halls of Breakfast at Tiffanys, and continues throughout in much the same way. There’s a fine line between homage and rip-off, and this film doesn’t always tread that line effectively.
On the acting and scripting front, it is a big jumble indeed. Evans is fun at times, but the rest of the cast can be a bit hammy; the dialogue a consistent mess. It all culminates in a fairly rote and unsurprising thriller that never truly hits high gear, despite the high-octane car chases. There’s always something that feels a little cheap about the whole affair.
The redeeming feature of Weekend in Taipei is the action setpieces littered throughout. Evans does quite well in a series of fights clearly inspired by the asian setting of this movie, and Huang blends some crazy action with a decided sense of fun and frivolity. These action moments don’t take themselves too seriously, and while they do stretch on for quite a long time (perhaps to push the runtime up), they don’t overstay their welcome long enough to become annoying.
