It was filmed and set in Taipei, Taiwan, centering around an American DEA agent (Evans) who reunites with a Taipei-based mercenary driver (Gwei) and becomes entangled in a romantic relationship with her.

After evading both Kwang's men and the police, Joey brings John and Raymond to the fishing village where she grew up, seeking refuge at her grandmother's house.

John confronts Joey, whom he met while undercover as a drug trafficker 15 years ago, revealing his true identity to her after falling in love and helping her escape.

[10][11] In 2022, Taiwanese-American director George Huang conceived a film about a female mercenary driver set in Asia and approached Luc Besson to help develop the project.

[13][14] Under the working title Weekend Escape Project, the film was announced to be produced by EuropaCorp in June 2023, with Luke Evans and Gwei Lun-mei cast as the lead actors.

[19] Principal photography began on 3 July 2023 in Taipei and was expected to span across three months,[10] with Evans arriving in Taiwan to prepare for the shoot in June.

[23] Production moved to Keelung on 25 July, where a car chase scene was shot near Dawulun Beach,[24] as well as at the Aodi Fishing Harbor.

[13][28] Most of the interior scenes were filmed at Marriott Taipei, where the foreign cast and crew stayed during the shoot, with the hotel mainly serving as the setting for a business tower, as well as the characters' homes and offices.

[34] Internationally, the film opened in the United States and Canada with US$360,000 from 1,021 theaters in its first weekend, for which Deadline Hollywood described the figures as "lackluster".

[36] Dennis Harvey of Variety described Weekend in Taipei as a "familiar, formulaic but fun action-thriller", offering a throwback to boilerplate action films with energetic chase scenes and a light-hearted tone, but ultimately lacking depth and memorability.

[38] James Marsh of South China Morning Post gave the film 2/5 stars, observing that despite Gwei Lun-mei's "captivating" performance and the abundance of action, it was "repeatedly bogged down by unnecessary backstory and exposition", and he suggested that "budgetary constraints or simply a lack of creativity" contributed to its failure to deliver the aesthetics commonly found in Luc Besson's works.

[39] Christy Lemire of RogerEbert.com rated the film 2.5/4 stars, describing it as a "B-movie straight out of the 1990s" with "solid" and "over-the-top" action sequences, but criticized its "hilariously stupid" dialogue and lack of character development, which rendered it ultimately forgettable.

[40] Berton Hsu, writing for The News Lens, considered the film as a commercially driven popcorn movie aimed at global appeal, noting that while it features compelling action and thrilling vibes, it lacks authenticity and misrepresents Taiwan with a convoluted plot.