Movie review - Eye for an Eye 2

Eye for an Eye 2 ** (out of 5) In November, 2023, I favorably reviewed the first outing of this Chinese period chopsocky film in which a blind swordsman makes his living as a top-tier bounty hunter despite his impairment. (He’s not a DEI hire, since he’s self-employed as an independent contractor for the Emperor.) Miao Xie starred as Cheng - a quiet loner who winds up staying with a woman and her child in a small town run by a vicious bandit gang that inevitably has to go via his blade in order for us to have a movie. This seemed faithful to the raft of Hong Kong martial arts films from the 1970s that featured a hampered hero (blind, deaf, mute, missing limbs, etc. Any condition more serious than male pattern baldness might suffice) saving the day against all odds.

But Eye for an Eye 2 suffers an unfortunate degree of the old sequel drop-off curse. In the first, Cheng's laconic manner was softened by evolving relationships with his hosts and other villagers. His stellar character and determination also emerged from beneath his distant, gloomy demeanor. This time, he’s wandering from place to place, dogged by a young orphan who latches onto him as a means to exact vengeance against the rich sadist who massacred the rest of his family.

But by continuing to try ditching the kid while solely focusing on the next wanted poster before him, he comes across for most of the tale as too surly for sympathy. Even as the youngster proves somewhat more helpful than annoying, Cheng remains aloof. Without more of an emotional anchor coming from the principals, the proceedings satisfy less.

As the returning director, Bingjia Yang again delivers on the action sequences – especially the opening fight and a massive clash at the end. But between those highs, the good moments are disappointingly sparse. As the returning writer, he turned out to be less focused on the essential character elements he’d established in the original that made it work as well as it did.

One could stream the action scenes and fast-forward through all the rest to maximize enjoyment of the film. At least that’s what I wish I could have done. But duty beckoned.

(Eye for an Eye 2, in Mandarin with subtitles, debuts on Digital and Blu-ray from WellGo USA on 3/4/25)