Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		3.5

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 28, 2023

Zatoichi Smatoichi.

That may have been the mantra the creatives behind this effort were repeating, since any film that has the audacity to include Blind Swordsman in its title (or subtitle, as the case may be) is obviously going to evoke memories of that iconic character. Perhaps surprisingly, then, Eye of an Eye: The Blind Swordsman is generally a quite effective production that doesn't attempt to offer anything really new to this kind of curious nook and/or cranny in the martial arts genre, but which has some nicely choreographed fight scenes along with decently defined characters. This would seem to be a "pilot" of sorts for a new franchise, judging by a close which seems to hint at more story yet to be told.

Blind Cheng (Miao Xie) is identified repeatedly in this outing as a "ghost killer", which might automatically make some think this is a supernaturally suffused tale that involves Yōkai, but the "ghost" part is evidently alluding to Cheng's relative anonymity. That said, it's hard to stay really anonymous when you're repeatedly beating the daylights out of any number of villainous types who cross your path. That part of the story assumes frankly almost ludicrous proportions and Cheng attempts to help a damsel in distress named Ni Yan (Gao Weiman), who finds herself a more or less helpless pawn after her family is massacred and a nefarious local official wants to blame her rather than the real culprits.

Cheng and Ni Yan set out on a journey toward vengeance, but a number of other arguably over convoluted plot elements are added, none of which thankfully really distract from the film's visceral fight sequences. There's really never a question as to whom will prevail in any fight with Cheng, but the story doesn't shirk from some tragedy nonetheless.

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Well Go USA with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. The final credits roll doesn't offer a camera logo, and unsurprisingly the IMDb doesn't offer any technical information (and even has the sole data point, the aspect ratio, listed incorrectly), but this is a competent digital capture that offers generally very secure detail levels and a nicely natural looking palette. A number of scenes have been pretty aggressively graded toward either blues or yellows, and the blue sequences in particular can suffer from a certain amount of murkiness and deficits in shadow detail. This is the first Well Go USA release I've reviewed in a while that has some very noticeable banding, but it's thankfully relegated mostly to a few opening shots that are misty and feature rapidly changing light values.

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman features energetic DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks in either Mandarin or English. I toggled between the two just to get an overall sense of any differences, and aside from the voice work, I frankly didn't notice any. I'd advise sticking with the Mandarin track though unless you can't stand reading subtitles. The side and rear channels have some nice engagement in all of the fight scenes, and effects like swords being pretty violently removed from their sheaths offer some fun effects. LFE is really not a major presence, but there is some appealing low end in action sequences. Dialogue is rendered cleanly and clearly throughout. Per Well Go USA's standard operating procedure, Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks in both languages are also provided. Optional English subtitles are available.

Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer (HD; 1:36)

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: The Blind Swordsman Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Some of Well Go USA's streaming service Hi-Yah's efforts have that "made for television" feel, and this effort probably doesn't manage to completely escape that sense, but I found it surprisingly well done, within certain contextual limits. This won't erase memories of Zatiochi or any other similar property, but it's generally enjoyable and has some nicely done fight scenes. Technical merits are generally solid, and at least for (sub?)genre enthusiasts, Eye for an Eye: The Blind Swordsman comes Recommended.