“Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance” Theatrical Poster
Director: Bingjia Yang
Cast: Xie Miao, Yang Enyou, Huang Tao, Kuishan Pei, Pema Jyad, Fengchao Liu, Jampa Tseten
Running Time: 90 min.
By Paul Bramhall
In my review for 2022’s Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman I expressed the hope that we’d see a “continued collaboration between Yang, Qin, and Miao in the future”, referring to director Bingjia Yang, choreographer Pengfei Qin, and star Xie Miao. Thankfully we didn’t have to wait long, with an unexpected sequel arriving less than 2 years later in the form of Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance. The dynamics in the world of Chinese direct to streaming movies are fast moving, and while I predicted at the time of the original’s release that director Yang could be a talent to look out for in China’s DTV action scene, it’s actually choreographer Pengfei Qin who’s come to the fore.
Stepping into the role of co-director alongside Yang for the Xie Miao starring sequel Fight Against Evil 2 in 2023, its Qin who’s gone on to become the premier director when it comes to China’s straight to streaming action. The likes of 2024’s The Drunken Prodigy, Black Storm, Blade of Fury, and Bodyguard all offer up the kind of no frills mid-budget actioners that used to by synonymous with HK in the 1980’s and early 1990’s (and cranked out at a similar pace!), making the genre his own. Amidst his own directorial efforts, Qin also returned to choreograph EfaE: BV (as I’ll refer to it from here on in), while for Yang the production marks his sophomore feature sitting solo in the director’s chair. Interestingly Yang seems to have switched his focus primarily to screenwriting, penning both the sequel and the original, in addition to more outlandish efforts like 2022’s Mutant Tiger (Xie Miao vs. mutant tigers in the Ming Dynasty!).
It’s a shame, as the world that Chinese DTV encompasses tends to be one that’s populated by one-hit wonder directors, and with this sequel Yang proves the first wasn’t just a fluke. Now with a longer runtime (a whopping 90 minutes compared to the original’s 75 minutes!) and a broader canvas to tell his story on, there’s no point in EfaE: BV where you feel that time is simply ticking over until the next action scene. We meet Miao’s blind bounty hunter wandering into a small town to conduct his latest dealings, where corrupt officials are quelling anyone who threatens to rise up, and poverty plagues the streets. When a young street urchin and her toddler brother witness a sadistic official (played by Huang Tao – Huge Shark, The Killing Angels) massacring a group of rebels, he mercilessly kills the younger brother, leaving the sister (played by Yang Enyou – Lighting Up the Stars, Always Have Always Will) to swear revenge.
If the first Eye for an Eye was a riff on Japan’s Zatoichi (as the character has been for almost any blind swordsman that’s graced the screen in the last 50 years), then the sequel seems to be riffing more of the Lone Wolf and Cub series. Knowing what Miao’s capable of, Enyou begs him to take her under his wing, and although initially reluctant, much like a certain Leon and Mathilda, eventually he agrees to show her the ropes. Movies that feature kids as main characters tend to be hit and miss, with the miss end of the scale being particularly painful, perhaps no better recent example being 2022’s Polar Rescue to prove the point. However here Enyou, who was 10 at the time of its release, nails the role as an innocent child filled with a desire for revenge. While their story arc is entirely predictable, it’s effectively executed, with the bond that develops between the pair feeling like a convincing one.
Complimenting the engaging characters are noticeably superior production values for a straight to streaming movie. A sequence that sees Miao and Enyou clinging onto the side of a cliff after the horse and cart they’re travelling on goes over the edge feels particularly well done, lending a sense of proportion to a genre that can often feel like it’s restricted to a handful of limited locations. The overall sense that Yang really cares about the story he wants to tell extends into the smaller details, like the way the contact who provides Miao with his targets uses a pin to create brail on the wanted posters, allowing Miao to read about who he’s after.
Of course as with any production that sells itself on the promise of some action, it’s the fight scenes that need to deliver if the sequel is really to be viewed as a success. Thankfully the uptick in quality across the board also applies to the choreography, with bones snapped so they protrude from the flesh, and blood gushing out of slit throats, and all of this before the opening title appears onscreen! EfaE: BV is perhaps the goriest example yet of just how much more a straight to streaming movie hosted on platforms like iQIYI and Youku can get away with (including a distinctly un-wuxia like stabbing frenzy by one character, the shock of which gives the narrative a welcome grounding), compared to their more censorship afflicted mainstream counterparts, with blood spilled liberally.
Miao himself continues to prove why he’s at the forefront of the genre, a role which he now has some healthy competition from Ashton Chen (who seems to have become Pengfei Qin’s go-to leading man), clocking in a performance that delivers on both the acting and the action front. Qin orchestrates a couple of excellent close quarters fights, one in a small hut on a lake and another in the vault of a bank, allowing Miao’s blind swordsman to use the confined environments to his advantage. While the action in the original leaned into brief bursts, the sequel allows for more elaborate choreography, striking a pleasing balance between the swift efficiency of the chambara style, and the rhythm that feels like such an integral part of Hong Kong action.
While the editing occasionally feels overly frantic, resulting in disorientation of who’s fighting who, for the most part it serves its purpose of imbuing the action scenes with a sense of urgency and danger. The finale in particular is a highlight, which sees Miao and Enyou team up to take on an army numbering in the hundreds. Fans of 1990’s Hong Kong action cinema will appreciate the call back to Miao’s origins, when as a 10 and 11 year old in 1994 and 1995 respectively he was paired with Jet Li in The New Legend of Shaolin (itself a Hong Kong take on the Lone Wolf and Cub series) and My Father is a Hero. They’re brief, but there’s a few moments in the choreography which are clearly inspired from the Corey Yuen Kwai choreographed classics, and if you’re going to take inspiration from anyone, then the late kung-fu legend is as good a reference as any.
For those who’ve been left wanting by the restrictions on how much violence a mainstream Chinese production can show, the eventual face off between Miao and Huang Tao sees the later meeting his demise in particularly brutal fashion, delivering a welcome dose of catharsis to a tightly paced tale of vengeance. While just a few years ago the Chinese straight to streaming action scene (or ‘web movie’ as it was referred to in the 2010’s) was seen as a murky backwoods (primarily populated by Fan Siu-Wong starring low budget wuxia’s), the quality and talent behind these productions has come along (wire assisted) leaps and bounds in the 2020’s, and in this case both the original and the sequel are testaments to the same.
Part spaghetti western, part chambara, and part wuxia, Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance takes everything that worked well in the original and does it better, from the characterisation, to the world building, to the all-important action. Whether we’ll see more of Xia Maio as the wandering blind swordsman is still a question mark, but for anyone who askes the question of “what happened to that kid from the 90’s Jet Li movies?”, the Eye for an Eye movies are a good direction to point them in.
Paul Bramhall’s Rating: 7.5/10
Black Storm is fab