Perseguição em Taipei

Picture a guy who shoots faster than a Call of Duty sniper and drives through Taipei's streets like he's in a Need for Speed DLC. That's Luke Evans in Weekend in Taipei. Seriously, the man's a machine. He's so intense even red lights seem to give him the right of way.

Opposite him is Gwei Lun Mei, a driver so skilled she could drift circles around Vin Diesel and leave him in the dust. Her character, Joey, is a whirlwind of style and speed, giving you chills with just the sound of her car starting. But don't be fooled-she's got a Kill Bill side to her: soft yet deadly.

Luc Besson, true to form, serves up an explosive cocktail of action and romance. He's firmly in his comfort zone, but honestly, that's all we want. It's cinema that hits hard, packed with chases, explosions, and dialogue as subtle as a rocket in GTA. The plot? Simple. But let's be real-who's here for the plot?

The real star, though, is Taipei. The city is filmed like a character in its own right. Neon lights everywhere, narrow alleyways, and buildings practically screaming, "Come have a car chase here!" Between the fights, you could almost believe you're in an open-world Yakuza game.

The film's strength lies in its explosive blend of action and romance. One moment, you're hooked on a fight scene where Luke Evans is smashing jaws; the next, you're hit with a ridiculously cheesy exchange between two ex-lovers still hung up on their breakup. It's so cliché it's brilliant.

Weekend in Taipei is like a four-cheese pizza at 3 a.m.: you know it's not gourmet, but damn, it feels good. With punchy action scenes, a visually stunning city, and a romance running on pure adrenaline, this film is a guilty pleasure at its finest. Don't expect a Palme d'Or, but buckle up for a hell of a ride.

I don't mean to hate on this movie so much so I'll make a compliment sandwich. I think this movie has some seriously well made action scenes and visually stimulating cinematography. The drama in this felt so cheesy like drenched a fondue pot.

Ultimately it's a spy movie, and they really spent a bunch of money in the right place on this movie, except maybe find someone else to do a score, because my god, can someone arrest the man who scored this movie. I swear every action scene was scored with something that managed to make no sense with what was happening at all. The only scene where the music felt ok was when it was diegetic.

It was hard to pay attention to much else once you notice how off the music is compared to what's happening on screen. The romance was cute and I appreciate that it was an older, matching aged couple. But it wasn't a strong story line. The few moments that sparkled didn't stand out against the rest of the bland film.

Overall an okay watch with some fun action scenes and poor music.

The director and producer Luc BESSON still stands for French genre cinema that aims to reach a global audience. This is also the case with this English-language WEEKEND IN TAIPEI, which BESSON produced with his company EUROPACORP.

It all begins with a Taiwanese Holly Golightly, who treats herself to breakfast at Ferrari and turns out to be an excellent racing driver (Lun-mei GWEI as Joey). At the same time, an undercover agent (Luke EVANS) in Minneapolis uncovers a drug ring based in Taiwan and run by Joey's nasty husband (Sung KANG). What connects these three people becomes clear during a weekend trip to Taiwan. And then there is Joey's precocious teenage son (Wyatt YANG), who will learn a lot about his family.

Fast-paced action, solid shots from an exotic location! This is how the GERMAN ADVENTURE FLICKS worked 60 years ago in the tradition of the KOMMISSAR X films with Tony KENDALL and Brad HARRIS. And like in the films of the Roman CINECITTA, an English-speaking B-star was hired to appeal to a global audience. The fact that the plot is not particularly original doesn't hurt either. After all, the film is primarily intended to lure a teenage audience into the cinema seats. But the film is certainly fun, even if it's better to switch off your brain.

The French film industry of the Paris CINECITE, especially in the form of Luc BESSON, manages to produce a genre film every year that has what it takes to appeal to young moviegoers and to work in cinemas around the world.

This movie is either written by a kid or by a low budget Xbox 360 video game writer And weirdly it's not that bad, it's really not good either Also I don't understand why it's shown in English when the actors have the worst accent possible.

The story is very basic, the actors are not really good, thankfully it's not too long, which makes it okay to watch if you want to clear your mind and not have to think too much.

It's cool to see Taipei and Taiwan.

There are a lot of flashbacks and the way to show that the characters are in the past is to have them have long hairs, in the past they all have long hairs and in present all short.

Marketed as a "throwaway" foreign action film with veteran action/thriller star Luke Evans, I went in with low expectations. To my surprise, this was a better than expected action flick with great action sequences.

What with an assassin-like lead in a foreign country, with heavy family theme overtones, the movie had heavy Taken vibes. Similarly, prominent car action sequences in a foreign country - including Fast and Furious regular Sung Kang by the way - clearly gave off Fast and Furious vibes.

The first and last quarter of the movie had top-notch edge of your seat action, gratifyingly up to the standards of legendary co-writer and co-producer Luc Besson.

The middle 50 percent of the movie, unfortunately, does get bogged down in complicated relationship entanglements between Evans, the bad guy Kang, and Kang's wife. In an almost James Bond-ian, if not Gilda-esque, plot point, the -ex of the good guy is now the wife of the bad guy - which is always a problem.

The movie relies heavily on a series of massive and incredulous coincidences and contrivances, yet, to be honest, I was willing to overlook these flaws in deference to the overall entertainment value of the flick.

If you're looking for a light action flick, perhaps only a notch below a Jason Statham flick, then you will like this movie.