“Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance” is the follow-up to 2023’s Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman, where we first met Cheng Yi (Xie Miao) aka Blind Cheng, a highly-trained and exceptionally-deadly swordsman, who once fought as a Lieutenant in battle, but has since lost his eyesight. He now makes a living as a registered bounty hunter for the Youzhou Prefecture, tracking down criminals from the government’s wanted posters and collecting on the rewards.

Cheng prefers to be a loner, but as the second film opens, a young homeless orphan named Zhang Xiaoyu (Enyou Yang) seems to have latched onto him and won’t go away. The child recently witnessed sadistic, well-connected government official Li Jiulang (Tao Huang) massacre a bunch of innocent people including a young mute boy/friend named Cho. Xiaoyu hopes that Blind Cheng can find the men responsible for this attack and kill them. However, Cheng warns the child about heading down that path of vengeance, and refuses Xiaoyu’s requests of offering to be his eyes in exchange for learning his methods of killing. But Xiaoyu is persistent and soon becomes Cheng’s sidekick, helping him track down his bounties, and hoping that Cheng will change his mind. But when it looks like that isn’t going to happen, and Xiaoyu heads off seeking vengeance, Cheng must find the orphan and intervene before it’s too late.

If you’ve seen Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman, this sequel gives more of the same. Even though Cheng is blind, and can’t see his opponents movements, his other senses appear to have been heightened. He is able to sense and predict his opponents movements, dodging their attacks and utilizing his his walking stick/sword to take down his enemies. The fight sequences are so well-choreographed and exciting that you almost forget that Cheng is supposed to be blind. Whether he’s being attacked by a murderous couple on a small, enclosed houseboat, a pair of killers waiting in his home, or a room full of enemies, it seems like Cheng is ready for anything, and that nothing can stop him.

Much like the first film, where Cheng was helping out a widowed tavern owner and her son get justice, this second film finds him once again reluctantly teamed up with someone in need. While the film synopsis on the back of the Blu-ray case refers to Xiaoyu Zhang as “a young girl”, in the movie Cheng refers to Xiaoyu as a “he”, so I’m not sure if the character is supposed to be a boy or a girl (I had assumed girl until the “he” came up). But since Xiaoyu is portrayed by a young actress, I’ll go with “she” for the purposes of this review.

I really enjoyed the dynamic between Cheng and Xiaoyu. Cheng is cold and closed off, and claims he doesn’t want anything to do with the orphan, but Xiaoyu doesn’t give up, and constantly pesters and follows him. Cheng slowly warms to her, and eventually sees it as his duty to protect her. They also start this fun partnership, with Xiaoyu helping Cheng identify, trap and catch his bounties. At the same time, Xiaoyu also helps Cheng evolve and grow. He has always tried to bury his past and feelings, but now Xiaoyu’s constant questions about his hometown and why he left make Cheng confront this trauma and think about going back home.

While I probably still prefer the original movie, I found this to be a solid follow-up, giving more of the action and humor that made the original film so entertaining, while also exploring more of Cheng’s past and allowing the character to grow and evolve.

Well Go USA has released Eye For An Eye 2: Blind Vengeance on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital, and we were sent the Blu-ray version for review. The video quality is excellent, with a clean, sharp picture, with a solid level of detail throughout. There is also this neat visual style whenever we see Cheng start to detect that some enemy is about to attack. I never really found the video presentation lacking in any way. The film’s audio track is even more impressive, providing clear dialogue throughout, and making extensive use of the surround channel to provide a really immersive experience. The action sequences also really come to life thanks to the sound design used to capture every hit, blow, or slice of a sword. The disc offers both the original Mandarin audio track as well as a new English dub. With these foreign releases, I always prefer to try the English track first, so I can concentrate more on the visuals. I found this one to be well-acted, and the dialogue to be very natural. The original language track also sounds great, and includes well-written English subtitles.

Well Go’s Blu-ray release does not include any bonus material (unless you count the English dub) besides the usual trailer and previews. The Blu-ray disc comes packed in a locking HD keepcase. There is no digital copy, and our review copy did not include a slipcover.

What’s Included:

Film: (1:30:15)

Blu-ray:
• 1080p / Widescreen 2.39:1
• Audio: Mandarin 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, Mandarin Stereo, English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English Stereo
• Subtitles: English

Extras:

• Trailer (1:45)
• Previews
  • Panda Plan (1:31)
  • 100 Yards (1:28)
  • A Legend (1:46)

Final Thoughts:

Eye For An Eye 2: Blind Vengeance is a solid follow-up to the original. It is an exciting, action-packed story, with interesting characters, some excellent fight sequences, and creative visuals. The picture and sound quality is great and also offers a solid English dub option. There is no bonus material included other than the film’s trailer, but based on the film alone, it’s certainly worth a look for fans of the genre or of the original.