Verdict
Summary
Stylishly slick and fast-paced, Eye for an Eye 2 is basically Zatoichi retold in the ongoing exploits of “the Lieutenant,” and this entry is pretty brutal, but it has a satisfying return on your 90 minute investment.
Plot:
A blind swordsman becomes a tutor and protector to a young girl who seeks vengeance for the death of his mother.
Review:
A wandering blind swordsman and bounty hunter known sometimes as “Lieutenant” (Xie Miao) who has unparalleled skills with his keen senses that virtually make him a superhero crosses paths with a little girl (played by Yang Enyou) who has just been orphaned by a cruel government official who brutally murdered the girl’s mother over an infraction that went too far. The child latches onto the gruff bounty hunter, imploring him to help her get revenge, but since there’s really no incentive for such a job, he instead agrees to be the kid’s guardian for a time, instructing the child on how to wield a knife, how to both engage and evade in combat, but mostly just keeping the orphan alive in this cruel world. It becomes inevitable that the swordsman will eventually learn to care for this kid whose only thought in life is to get revenge, but because he continues to ignore the girl’s pleas to get her closer to the man who killed her mother, the girl sets off on her own, leaving the Lieutenant by himself. When she finally gets close enough to try to assassinate the man who killed her mother, she’s nowhere near ready enough for the task … which brings her protector into the picture once again (just in time!) to help her finish the job.
Stylishly slick and fast-paced, Eye for an Eye 2 is basically Zatoichi retold in the ongoing exploits of “the Lieutenant,” and this entry is pretty brutal, but it has a satisfying return on your 90 minute investment. At times you’ve just got to suspend your disbelief as the hero takes on dozens upon dozens of foes at once (in one scene he’s got the kid strapped to his back), and if you’re willing to go with the flow then there’s no reason why you won’t enjoy this bit of escapism because it’s done right. Directed by Bingjia Yang.
Well Go USA’s new release of Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance comes with an English language and Mandarin language option, and some trailers.
