Part of the climax of George Huang’s action film Weekend in Taipei takes place in a movie theatre that is showing Zhang Yimou’s House of Flying Daggers. It is a bold choice, and certainly a mild creative risk, since films like Weekend in Taipei likely do not benefit from reminding their audience that better films are available.

The picture comes from Luc Besson’s EuropaCorp, whose tried and tested model of European action fodder with internationally appealing stars has brought the world Kiss of the Dragon (2001), The Transporter (2002), Unleashed (2005), Taken (2008), From Paris with Love (2010), and Lucy (2014). Experience seeing any of these films provides a solid insight into what Weekend in Taipei is like. The new film features a glamorous destination – the island of Taiwan, glossy photography, an accelerated pace, and appealing actors – in this case Welsh star Luke Evans and Chinese actor Gwei Lun-mei. It is EuropaCorp’s first major release in five years; the company having been left to lie fallow while Besson faced sexual assault allegations.

Evans plays American DEA agent John Lawlor, who takes matters into his own hands in tracking criminal kingpin Kwang (Sung Kang) to Taiwanese capital Taipei. There he is reunited with ex-lover Joey (Gwei) – now Kwang’s unwilling wife.

The narrative is entirely mechanical: a burly American protagonist chasing down an evil Asian mastermind, forced to fight wave after wave of anonymous henchmen, renewing an old romance, running down alleyways, shooting guns, and having fistfights. It is lowest-common-denominator stuff, in that it honestly could not feel more disposable, but also – and this is worth noting – in the sense that this is the sort of stuff that entertains audiences all of the time. A key part in reviewing cinema is assessing what any given film is trying to be, and then deciding if it is successful in that endeavour. Weekend in Taipei is not made to be artful, or top quality, and certainly not to be original. It is what it is, and as I like to say: expect what you get, and you will get what you expect. The plot, such as it is, successfully chains the action scenes together. The action scenes, while little more than proficient, are fast-paced and glossy.

I have always enjoyed Luke Evans as an actor, and it is nice to see him alongside fellow Fast & Furious alum Sung Kang. The real gem here is Gwei Lun-mei, star of such Chinese films as Black Coal Thin Ice, The Wild Goose Lake, and Beautiful Accident. She is a truly superb performer, and while she is definitely slumming it here in terms of the job requirements she definitely adds a lot of value to the film.

Director George Huang seems an odd choice to helm the picture: his last directorial feature was How to Make a Monster 23 years ago. He does a serviceable job, but not a great one. The film’s regular flashbacks sequences are particularly egregious, and unintentionally benefit from some hilarious bad wig action.

This is deeply undemanding stuff, yet there is an audience who want undemanding stuff to watch. Those who enjoy it do not need encouragement to sample it, and those who do not will not likely consider watching it anyway. You know your own tastes – if you think you are the target audience then you very probably are.