Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.0

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman March 3, 2025

If you're among what I must assume are the millions wondering what a mash up of Zatoichi: The Blind Swordsman and True Grit might be like, Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance may provide at least a bit of a clue. Joking (maybe?) aside, this follow up to Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman is another offering from Well Go USA's Hi-Yah! streaming service. That fact may result in whatever the modern day equivalent of a "made for television" shrug in response from prospective audiences might be, though that said, if Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance is arguably not quite at the perhaps surprisingly consistent level of its progenitor, it's still rather energetic and involving for a perceived "lesser" feature. It also has a knockout performance from Yang Enyou (or Enyou Yang, depending on your preference) as the little girl who is this film's "Mattie Ross", albeit even younger than that girl is in the Charles Portis tale.

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman offered an able introduction to the character of Blind Cheng (Miao Xie) as a laconic and kind of actually robotic killing machine who seemed divorced from any human emotions. A sweet little girl on the hunt for revenge is obviously the antidote to that predicament, and unsurprisingly a lot of Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance sees little Zhang Xiaoyu (Enyou Yang) slowly but surely breaking through the crusty facade of her protector as they both set off on a "road trip". Cheng actually refuses to help the little girl actually gain the skills to become a killer herself, but suffice it to say Cheng's "particular set of skills" obviously comes in handy later in the story when Zhang is threatened herself.

This follow up has some of the same lunatic action elements that energized the first film, and a somewhat lighter tone that I'm not sure entirely works for this nascent franchise. Still, for a "made for television" effort, it has a certain degree of heart and some fun fight choreography going for it.

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. As with the first film, there's really not much technical information that I could easily find online, but this is another appealing looking digital capture that I'm assuming had a 2K DI. I'd in fact rate the overall appearance of this sophomore effort as arguably a bit more consistently sharp and well detailed looking than the generally excellent transfer for the first film, and this does not show any of the rather noticeable banding that was on display on that earlier Blu-ray. The outdoor material really looks lovely a lot of the time, alternating between some burnished golden moments that are decidedly warm looking, and other, cooler, sequences that tend to feature blues. The blue work in particular still can show just a bit of the murkiness I mentioned with regard to the first film's look, but I'd say even that is somewhat improved here.

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance features nicely rendered DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks in either Mandarin or English. Much as with the first film, I toggled between the two surround tracks and didn't notice much if any difference other than the voice work (as with virtually all Well Go USA releases, there are also Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks in both languages for those interested). The glut of outdoor material helps to keep the side and rear channels regularly engaged with some realistic sound effects. There's frankly next to no realism accompanying the fight sequences in terms of sound effects, in time honored martial arts film tradition, but even those gonzo moments reverberate with a lot of force. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Optional English subtitles are available.

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:45)

Note: As tends to be the case with Well Go USA Blu-ray releases, the disc has been authored to automatically move on to trailers for other Well Go USA releases after the trailer for this film plays. Those trailers for other Well Go USA releases also play automatically at disc boot up.

Eye for an Eye 2: Blind Vengeance Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hi-Yah! may have found a "marquee" character of sorts with Blind Cheng, and my hunch is we'll be seeing more adventures with him down the winding backwoods Chinese path. There's a lot to like here, but the film still doesn't deliver the same consistent, well, punch that the first film did. Technical merits are solid for anyone who may be considering making a purchase.