“An Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance” is, as the title clearly suggests, the sequel to a film from 2022. The Chinese action superstar Xie Miao played “the blind swordsman”, a fighter named Cheng Xiazi who earns his money as a bounty hunter. He meets a young woman named Yan Ni (Gao Weiman), whose entire family has fallen victim to a brutal attack. Cheng is only reluctantly persuaded to help her with her mission, which is of course revenge. The film lasts 77 minutes and is a flagship product of the bustling Chinese streaming service iQIYI. iQIYI, it seems, produces new films and series practically around the clock. These are now also finding fans in the West. As different as the quality of these products might be – the output of iQIYI alone is impressive.
Buy This Title
by clicking on the image below
In order not to make things unnecessarily complicated, the same director, Yang Bingjia, was hired for the sequel to “An Eye for an Eye”, and the story is practically the same. The crucial difference and the asset of the second film: This time it is not about a young woman, but about a girl of about ten named Zhang Xiaoyu. After her little brother and her family are brutally slaughtered by a sadistic, well-connected government official named Bai Shisan („White 13“) and his henchmen, the girl vows revenge and turns to Cheng Xiazi, called the Lieutenant, a blind but highly skilled bounty hunter. Though he refuses to help the child exact vengeance and become a murderer herself, the Lieutenant grudgingly lets her stay in exchange for her help with his daily tasks. But when the girl suddenly vanishes, the bounty hunter goes on a furious rampage through the city in a desperate attempt to locate the child before it’s too late.
Check also this video
“An Eye for an Eye 2” is a solid piece of work for fans of Asian action films. The plot is as simple as it is understandable. The good guys are particularly good and the bad guys extra-bad. The Tibetan actor Jampa Tseten plays a charismatic, extremely unpleasant villain. The technical performance is first-class, and the action sequences are also impressive. No wonder: They were designed by Qin Pengfei, who had already worked as a stuntman on John Woo‘s two-part “Red Cliff” (2008). Qin’s directorial work “Blade of Fury” (2024) is one of the declared fan favorites on iQIYI. The increased use of fight scenes also means that the film is 13 minutes longer than the first one, i.e. 90 minutes long. The only criticism is that the fights are a lot more brutal and bloody than absolutely necessary. And the very impressive sound design must be mentioned.
Eleven-year-old Yang Enyou, who had already had four acting credits before “An Eye for an Eye 2” and has since made three more films, plays the bright child who is dying for revenge. Despite her urgent desire, she is unable to get through to the stoic swordsman for a long time. But thanks to her persistence, she finally gets her way. The young actress’s blossoming career is very reminiscent of that of the lead actor – this is certainly no coincidence. In 1994, an action film from Hong Kong caused quite a stir.
The director of “The New Legend of Shaolin” (aka “Legend of the Red Dragon“) was Wong Jing, and the film starred Jet Li, Chingmy Yau and Deannie Ip, all of them household names in the commercial cinema of the then crown colony. But the first appearance of a ten-year-old boy from Beijing named Xie Miao (Cantonese: Miu Tse) as Jet Li’s son was particularly spectacular. Together, the two fight all kinds of villains all over China. The boy’s martial arts skills impressed everyone. The film itself was inspired by the legendary 1970s manga and film series “Lone Wolf and Cub”. And because the father-son formula was so successful, the following year the police action film “My Father Is a Hero” was made. This time Corey Yuen directed, and superstar Anita Mui played the female lead. Kung Fu became Gun Fu.
Today, Xie Miao is 40 years old and still, or more than ever, doing well in the business. It is almost certain that the series about the blind swordsman will add another sequel; after all, the topos is indestructible and immensely popular – see also Takeshi Kitano‘s “Zatoichi” (2003). Xie Miao has also made four more films since “An Eye for an Eye 2”. So we will certainly hear and see a lot more from him.
