Weekend in Taipei was one of those films that snuck up on me. It wasn’t heavily promoted in advance and features supporting actors rather than big-name stars: Luke Evans (Gaston in the live-action Beauty and the Beast and a villain/reformed villain in the Fast & Furious franchise) and Sung Kang (Han Lue from Fast & Furious). Out of all the films I’ve seen this year, I only saw one trailer for Weekend in Taipei, and it wasn’t even showing at my usual theater. Quite honestly, it’s a B-movie through and through.
At times, the film wants to be a slapstick action flick, and at others, it aims to be a sappy love story. Some films can pull this off, but this one is often tonally confused. Its best humor comes through the action sequences—especially the first, which features a John Wick-styled fight in a restaurant kitchen.
The drama is pretty standard, typical of formulaic action movies. As for the acting, well, when your stars are B-teamers from the Fast & Furious franchise, don’t expect any awards-season recognition.
Still, despite Weekend in Taipei’s shortcomings, I can’t deny that I enjoyed watching it. It has that 1990s action flick vibe, with a flimsy story, a drug-lord villain, a love story, and a surprise kid. If this were still the '90s, I’d expect to find it in the bargain bin for $1.99 on VHS, and I’d probably grab it and add it to my collection. But it's 2024 now, and there’s no bargain bin. I’ll forget about this film in a few months and probably never watch it again.
