Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance - Blu-ray Review

Movie
When I reviewed Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman back in Nov of 2023 I remember thinking that this was the sort of fun action movie that China had been missing for quite some time. There was no patriotic jingoism slathered on heavy. No overly complicated plot, and some seriously brutal fight scenes. Sure, the revenge flick genre is pretty well saturated, but it’s a trope that has stood the test of time. Binjia Yang had done a competent job with it, and a sequel was already in the works by the time I ended up reviewing it (the film was actually a 2022 film that Well Go USA released at the tail end of 2023, so there was plenty of time lapse where Bingjia was able to green light a sequel), so I was more than eager to check it out. Less than 1.5 years later, we get the sequel. And much like the original, it sticks to a simple and straight forward revenge tale that will satisfy most martial arts fans.

Blind Vengeance picks up some time after the first film, with a young girl named Zhang Xiaoyu (Enyou Yang) witnessing the brutal murder of a peasant rebellion against a maniacal warlord. The only way she survived the slaughter was thanks to the intervention of Cheng Xiazi (Miao Xie), a blind bounty hunter who stepped in just in time. Desperate for revenge, young Xiaoyu begs Cheng to take her with him, only to get the cold shoulder from the wandering bounty hunter. Not taking no for an answer, the girl follows the bitter killing machine around until he begrudgingly agrees to train her so that she can stand a chance in carrying out her vengeance one day.

Blind Vengeance is a VERY solid follow up to The Wandering Swordsman. Instead of trying to make things bigger, better, and more complex, director/writer Bingjia Yang sticks to his original formula of making a 90 minute film that is filled with fights, but not a whole lot of complications. The trope used is one that has been used and re-used a thousand times in cinema. You know, the old assassin taking on a child protege, only to start to care about their ward enough to lay their life on the line to protect them. We’ve seen in with The Professional, The Enforcer and many other films over the years, but it’s a long running trope because it WORKS more often than not. And guess what, we get a simplistic story filled with tons of blood soaked action, and the film just WORKS.

Probably the shining element in the film outside of the short run time (80-95 minutes PERFECT for a martial arts film) is that the action is some of the most brutal I’ve seen in Chinese film making for a while. The martial arts combat is great, but the blood and absolutely nasty kills elevates the film above others. Instead of a splash of CGI or practical bloodwork, we get a literal river of the stuff as Cheng slashes, hacks, impales, and generally cuts the minions of said Warlord to ribbons. I’m not a wild fan of most modern Chinese films due to their influence in a post Hong Kong world, but this is way better than it should be. Short, sweet, great fights, and a solid cast that does fantastic with the straight forward tale.




Rating:

Not Rated by the MPAA




Video:

Typical of these foreign films, I can’t find any information on the cameras used, nor the resolution of the master struck. My gut reaction is some type of digital camera (Arri Alexa logos were found in the credits) and a 2K master, but if anyone knows differently I’d love to know. Anyways, the film looks very similar to the first film, with that heavy desaturated ash gray overtone for the most part, with splashes of primary colors coming through (such as blood, a red cloak etc). Fine details are quite nice, with some awesome contrast levels used to balance out the monochromatic grays, and good black levels. I didn’t notice any major banding or crush, but the film’s heavy gray grading sometimes means that we don’t’ get AS much fine details in the shadowy scenes as I would have liked.









Audio:

Much like the first film, the audio track is the highlight of the entire movie, giving us a rousing, robust, mix that simply will knock the doors off a god home theater system. Tons of action makes this a kinetic roller coaster ride, shifting from quiet dialog heavy moments, to the thunderous roar of a mano e mob battle. The surrounds do quite well for themselves, but the LFE is outstanding. There are several long extended bass pules that drop easily into the teens (there’s a 45 second one right around the 9 minute mark that stands out), shaking and rattling everything not bolted down. This is a superb mix both in English and Mandarin, but I’m giving the Mandarin original track the nod as the dub’s acting is only so-so.











Extras:

• Theatrical Trailer
• Well Go USA Previews














Well Go USA once again does a great job with the Blu-ray, giving it good video, fantastic audio, and the typical barebones extras that we expect. The film itself should please most fans of classic Kung-Fu (the fight scenes may not be 80s and 90s single take shots, but it is by no means a Paul Greengrass quick cut film either.). I mentioned this in my review of The Blind Swordsman, but Blind Chen has been in Martial arts cinema for over 30+ years. If you go back far enough, he was the chubby little “son” of Jet Li in Jet Li’s The Enforcer and The New Legend of Shaolin. All in all, this is a fun watch that put a smile on my face, which is rare for modern Chinese action cinema anymore.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Miao Xie, Enyou Yang, Tah Huang
Directed by: Bingjia Yang
Written by: Bingjia Yang
Aspect Ratio: 2.39:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 5.1, Mandarin DTS-HD MA 5.1, English, Mandarin DD 2.0
Subtitles: English,
Studio: Well Go USA
Rated: NR
Runtime: 90 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: March 4th, 2025

Thanks for the review. Do I need to watch the first one? Or, I can just watch this as a standalone?

tripplej said:

Thanks for the review. Do I need to watch the first one? Or, I can just watch this as a standalone?

Click to expand...

not really. they're two standalone stories. The only benefit of seeing the first one is that there is a solid backstory for how Blind Cheng got to where he is. but it's in no way NECESSSARY to see them in order

Just checked tubi and the first one is available so can check that one out for free.