by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $13.00
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Luke Evans, Gwei Lun-mei, Wyatt Yang, Sung Kang
Intro:
The plot is perfunctory, and the characters are basic, but are easy easily overlooked in favour of the well-shot action scenes, the actors (mostly) piling on the charm to make up for the lacking script, and a decent sense of humour about itself.
The plot is perfunctory, and the characters are basic, but the specifics are easy enough to get past in favour of the well-shot action scenes, the actors (mostly) piling on the charm to make up for the lacking script, and a decent sense of humour about itself.
The latest from the reliably interesting action mill that is Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, Weekend in Taipei is a standard B-action flick. DEA agent John (Luke Evans with a spotty American accent), while on assignment in Taipei, crosses paths with Joey (Gwei Lun-mei), battle-tested driver and wife of local drug baron Kwang (Sung Kang)… for the second time, as they were once lovers in the long-long ago. Cue the high-speed chases and dual-wielding woks.
The story, as written by director George Hwang and Besson, exists solely to string the set-pieces together. Quite a bit of it, from the casting to the emphasis on cars to the framing of the races and chases, feels designed to bank on Fast & Furious-association coin. Except, given the weakness of that franchise’s latest outing, this actually does it better. The driving scenes are fun, with creative camera angles; ditto the fight scenes (second-unit director Barthélemy Grossmann seems to be working overtime to make up for directing the woeful Arthur, malediction), and rather than embracing ‘family’ as a meme, this film actually embodies it.
Evans, Lun-mei, and Wyatt Yang as their kid Raymond are beholden to the cliches of the script, but keep things entertaining. Evans does well as the cop who plays by his own rules, Lun-mei makes an immediately good impression with her introductory trip to a car dealership, and Yang’s precocious eco-warrior schtick fits surprisingly well with his down-to-earth attitude in the talky scenes. Together, they make for a weirdly wholesome family unit, with the adults getting increasingly lovey-dovey while their kid is hiding his face in his hands from the PDA.
Shame that Sung Kang doesn’t hold up so well in the villain role. His natural charisma on-screen made him the most consistent ‘guy you’d want to share a drink with’ of the whole Toretto crew in Fast & Furious, but Kang is an uneasy fit with the colder and more callous figure here. He sells the suspense, and the final confrontation between him and John at a cinema is a highlight, but for a role that could’ve allowed for memorable scenery-chewing, downplaying it just seems odd. It’s the one aspect that would’ve benefited from sticking to the B-movie playbook.
Weekend in Taipei is a ‘90s-style disposable action flick, albeit one that stands out from the pack because it is fun to watch. The plot is perfunctory, and the characters are basic, but are easy easily overlooked in favour of the well-shot action scenes, the actors (mostly) piling on the charm to make up for the lacking script, and a decent sense of humour about itself. It’s true turn-brain-off material, not because it requires such to avoid picking it apart, but because it doesn’t rely on overthink to get into. Just chill out, grab the popcorn, and you’ll have a reasonably fun couple of hours.