George Huang’s “Weekend in Taipei” (2024) is the stuff of old, familiar action movies. The narrative is jaded, the characters tiringly dull, action formulaic. There’s not even a shard of pretense to serve up something alluring or formally captivating. The story is dead on arrival. There are molls, figures returning from the past, and an excessively smart kid who pokes into matters he should leave cold. To top it all, the acting seems to belong to some overly sincere league, trying to inject meaning and intention into empty gestures and stiffly boring narratives.
There’s an influential tycoon at the center with a syndicate at his beck and call. The rival has to cook his goose and bring him to account for his many crimes. Luke Evans gives a valiant effort, fully committing to his role, but the screenplay offers little depth to his character or to those he interacts with, leaving them devoid of personality. The narrative lacks genuine menace, relying instead on empty posturing. It makes you question the purpose of portraying organized crime when most of the criminals are effortlessly taken down by a single man—Luke Evans’ character.
Weekend in Taipei (2024) Plot Summary & Movie Synopsis:
A Web of Corruption, Unfulfilled Lives, and Hidden Motives
“Weekend in Taipei” opens with investigations into the business dealings of influential industrial tycoon, Kwang (Sun Kang). Following up on complaints of shady dealings in his seafood empire and legal violations, he has been brought under scrutiny. But the main thing is to get the evidence, determining proof of his exploits that will put him behind bars and throw his empire into disarray.
His wife, Joey (Gwei Lun-mei), is a rash driver. She is palpably unhappy in the relationship. We come to know her son from a previous relationship, Raymond, who got the chance of a comfortable life thanks to him. It may have been the reason why Joey got together with him. She needed the security he promised. Her backstory will reveal itself over the course of the narrative, colliding with another primary character who quickly emerges as the protagonist, though the film barely succeeds in making us care for any dynamic.
Can John and Joey’s Past Help Unravel Kwang’s Web of Crime?
The film sidetracks to the dealings of DEA agent, John Lawlor (Luke Evans). He has just survived a scuffle over getting critical proof that confirms Kwang’s complicity in a network of evasions and crimes. He entreats his boss to let him go to Taipei where he insists he has a solid source further outlining Kwang’s dealings. She tells him he can take a leave. Using that excuse, he arrives in Taipei by himself.
Here, his past and present intersect in a series of unexpected encounters. There are several crucial points, though, which beg suspension of disbelief. Firstly, you have to get past young Raymond’s passionate espousal of the environment and its linkage to his absolute rejection of Kwang. Raymond promised to send the ledger containing evidence to the DEA. But Kwang catches him in the act of intended theft. Meanwhile, Joey realizes the DEA guy is none other than her ex, John. Kwang threatens to chop off Raymond’s leg but he is somehow averted. Joey rushes with her son to the hotel where John takes pictures of the ledger to warn him of the forthcoming tide of Kwang’s henchmen.
How did John and Joey initially meet?
Yet again, as is common in a film stacked with contrivances and convenient plot turns, John, Joey, and Raymond manage to escape unscathed from the hotel. The three disappear and take shelter at Joey’s grandmother’s house. Raymond is finally told the love story of his parents. Joey grew up in a fishing village. One day, a drug shipment washed ashore. Her grandmother had hidden it, but eventually, the gang who owned it showed up, demanding its return. They also ordered Joey to be given over to them. But since she had superb driving skills, using which she tried to escape. Instead, she was offered the job of a mule by the gang.
John, impersonating a client and attempting to source information on Kwang’s business, got involved with her in pursuit of special details. But the two developed a special tenderness for each other. She didn’t know he was a DEA agent until the very last minute. When push came to shove, he insisted she walk away from him. She was already pregnant with his child. She didn’t tell him and chose to enter a relationship with the boss, Kwang, with such a life offering her the financial security necessary for her son’s future.
It was part of the deal he proposed to her, a gesture of promised safety. Once again, Raymond sneaks off to Kwang’s house in the hope of retrieving the ledger that has all the shady accounts in precise detail. However, Kwang catches him red-handed. John requests an exchange: Give over Raymond while Kwang can take John in his place. The two fix a spot to meet.
Weekend in Taipei (2024) Movie Ending Explained:
Does John’s Victory in Taipei Lead to Redemption and Healing?
Of course, a film like this leads up to a combat/action scene to tie it all up. John chases Kwang. It’s an absolute hot pursuit. They end up in a theatre where they have a go at each other. By this point, the confrontation has tipped over into personal territory. Kwang has an axe to grind. After all, doesn’t he have more right to own Joey given how he stood by her and took care of her when John was gone? John is regretful but also asserts Joey is not someone who needs saving. He fights her infantilization.
Certainly and ultimately, John overpowers Kwang. The latter gives up. It seems like an easy task for John to decimate his opponents, hence the emotional connection is never given space to grow. John gets the hard drive containing all the evidence. Kwang is arrested. John’s boss is displeased that he didn’t follow instructions but admits he did a pretty neat job with stealth and finesse. He is exhorted to disappear along with his family and lay low. He is thrilled. It gives him the opportunity to catch up on years of missed intimacy with his family. Joey is pregnant again. “Weekend in Taipei” ends on a positive note, with the family angling for happiness and finding a safe space in each other at last.
