Eye for an Eye 2 is an interesting martial arts narrative which dwells on the issues of mentorship, vengeance and survival. The hero of the plot is a blind martial artist, who, despite his sightlessness proved to be a virtuoso in his field. Unwillingly, he becomes the mentor of Zhang Xiaoyu who is an orphan whose family was killed mercilessly. Their relations allow exploring the conflict between the teacher-student relationship that highlights the values of discipline, trust, and inner strength through their efforts to fight the justice.
Visually the movie is a demonstration of graceful dance and moody cinematography that captures the passion of battle and the calmness of solitary meditation. The fight scenes are well thought out, respecting the use of martial arts, but also the emotional tense of the characters. The score fits the action perfectly making some scenes more tense or even more resolute and the pace is at a constant speed and does not make any audience lost in the movie. Acting is touching including the depiction of blind swordsman, who is wise and disciplined which brings richness into the story.
The most striking element was the approach to patience and inner strength given in the movie: how the sufferings and the sacrifices turn the characters into their journey of revenge and purity. There is the notion of hope in the darkness in this story that is muffled yet makes you think of the real power that might be inside surviving and sticking to the moral of the story. Although the premise of the film is simple, the richness of emotion and stunning martial art artistry convert the film into something more than action, which makes it an intellectual tool to analyze justice and healing. Altogether, Eye for an Eye 2 is a martial arts movie which is brilliantly done and leaves an impression of invincibility and optimism.
