Eye for an Eye I & II

                                                        
Eye for an Eye (2022) - 7.0



A Mainland wuxia that is simple and traditional and doesn't indulge in excessive CGI as so many of them do recently. You could also think of it almost as a Chanbara, very influenced by the Zatoichi films. Blind action protagonists have been a theme in Asian cinema on a regular basis and this one fits in nicely. Wanderers, gamblers and a sense of justice guides them. Here Blind Cheng is of all things a bounty hunter during the chaos of the Tang Dynasty when the government was dependent on bounty hunters. Wanted: Dead or Alive. A blind bounty hunter may seem absurd, but like all the blind action heroes, he has other skills that make up for it.



He is portrayed by Xie Miao, a name that will be familiar to Hong Kong film fans. He was of course Jet Li's son in two classic films when he was a young boy - The New Legend of Shaolin (1994) and My Father is a Hero (1995). He was impressive back then with his martial arts skills. From my perspective, he disappeared after that and I assumed he went back to school and civilian life. And he did for about eight years when he then returned to film and appeared in about 30 films over the next 20 years, but they were all Mainland films and got no play outside of China. That is changing though with this film and its sequel, but especially with his role in The Furious, which I have yet to see but hear that it is fantastic.



I would never have recognized him as the dour weather beaten swordsman. He seems to live in a darkness that surrounds and follows him. He comes into town with a burlap sack thrown over his horse. It moves. It is his latest bounty. But he smells wine and enters an outdoor restaurant. The woman there Ni Yan (Gao Weiman) tells him the wine is for her wedding later that day but he is welcome to stay and drink. But the day turns to tragedy when the Yuwen Clan kills her husband to be and her brother. Blind Cheng was sleeping it off. When he wakes, he finds Ni Yan and promises to take her to the town where the Yuwen Clan lives. But that is it. It is up to her to exact revenge.



But we know how this will go. We have seen it in many Zatoichi films. A female in distress is his weak spot. And she gave him wine. Good wine. Now he will do what has to be done. A lovely finale with snow gently falling, the minions dressed in white, better to see the blood, a little Lady Snowblood in this. This basic film plot has been done hundreds of times and there are no surprises, but that in a way is the pleasure of the film. No need to be edgy or original. Give us a hero, a woman in danger and a sword that kills all. At a very kind 77-minutes.


Eye for an Eye 2 (2024) - 8.0



The follow up to the 2022 film continues the story of Blind Cheng, the bounty hunter but approaches the film with a much deeper sense of narrative and characterization. The film is in no rush to tell its story, but slowly builds an emotional framework that pulls you in. At times lyrical, at times violent, the world it is set in is dangerous, grimey, chaotic and cruel. Everything here feels and smells real. Blind Cheng is again played by Xie Miao, but even darker, more withdrawn, his humanity drained out of him death by death. The man who saved the woman in the first film feels very far away.



So when a young homeless girl (Enyou Yang) asks Blind Cheng to avenge her younger brother who was murdered by a vicious gang leader, he turns her down. Tells her revenge is never the answer. But she persists, won't leave him alone, follows  him on his bounty trips. Tries to learn from him. Wants him to teach her how to kill. Eventually, his armor is broken down and he accepts her as his helper, as his eyes. But he still will not kill the man responsible for her brother's death. So she goes to do it on her own.



 Leading to an awesome finale of death. The action through the film is sporadic giving the narrative room to grow, but the action is terrific; incredibly fast and beautifully choreographed, some use of wires but not extensive. And then that finale as he has to protect her from hordes of killers. Both films were directed by Bingjia Yang who only has a few other credits, so someone to keep.an eye on.