0
0
It’s been a tough two months and with a new year here, I’m trying to move on and writing always seems to be my refuge when things go awry. This weekend saw two action pics hit streaming and with Aaron Eckhart delivering a solid outing in The Bricklayer, I figured I would also check out the first HI-YAH! exclusive of 2024 with Andy On starring in Blind War. I’m not going to lie when I say that I did a post about this flick back in 2022 and ever since the radio silence, I completely forgot about into last week when HI-YAH!, the martial arts and action streaming service of Well Go USA, announced that the film would hit that weekend.
It’s important to mention that Blind War is a product of China’s streaming service IQIYI which is like Netflix in the sense that they unveil a slew of exclusive movies with a lot of them being more miss than hit. The quality of most of these titles are subpar but there are standouts like ONE MORE SHOT (not to be confused with the Scott Adkins action sequel coming next week). Blind War is on the more positive side of the spectrum with On delivering a solid one-man war type performance with the added crutch that his character is blind through most of the movie. Think Daredevil if he was a former SWAT operative. He eventually gets over his depression and hones his skills and other senses to eventually do damage to all that have tried to take him down. It’s also channeling the glory days of 80’s and 90’s Honmg Kong action cinema when these types of revenge thrillers littered the market.
The movie opens up with an impressive and stand out courtroom siege that definitely used a good deal of the budget and unfortunately, the movie never lives up to the initial carnage until the finale which used up the rest of the budget. The initial opening is laced with enough bloodletting and stunts with On even getting on the oner bandwagon as there is a small one take part of the fierce battle erupting giving On his moment in the bullet riddled sun.
It is here, where On’s character Dong is blinded, and the assault goes terribly awry forcing him off the force and giving up on his life. If it wasn’t for his teenage daughter, suicide might have reared its ugly head. The resulting siege also claimed the life of one of the criminals leaving his wife vowing vengeance on Dow. Played by Yang Xing, Cena essentially steals the show as her character has several layers. You know she’s evil and unhinged but there are certain circumstances in the past that make you feel for her all at the same time.
Cena forms an elaborate plan to use Dow for her purposes only to take him out at the end when she’s done with him, so she tells him she’s a cop. Her plans are to kill all that did her wrong while at the same time getting revenge for her husband who was killed due to Dow’s hand. It’s this part of the plot that makes it rise above other films like this and as much as I like On, Xing is the real reason for it.
Andy On has always been an enigma for me as I feel he should be bigger worldwide then he is. He’s huge in China but mainstream audiences, for the most part, won’t have heard of him. On has had many above average roles including Abduction with Scott Adkins and he certainly has the physical attributes to carry any action set piece whether it be with weapons or empty handed. His charisma might lack sometimes, and I feel that’s why he never really took off but here with Blind War, On delivers a much-celebrated performance in both drama and action.
Where Blind War suffers is the perplexing shift in tone of the movie as there is a character called Detective Rama who serves nothing for the film except for some misguided comic relief but it’s completely out of context here and there is even weird comical music that accompanies him when he’s on the screen. It simply just takes the viewer out of the drama and is not warranted.
The action sequences are immensely well staged, and the finale almost lives up to the opening with Dong and Cena executing their assault on the baddies in spectacular HONG KONG 90’s style carnage. Cena really goes all out as she does her best John Wick performance while mowing combatants down with a shotgun. Her reloads of the weapon brought to mind that of Keanu Reeves doing his thing in the third film of the franchise.
On also gets plenty of John Woo style gunplay here and being blind only heightens the tense feeling of the scene as he makes it look like he can see perfectly. On and Xing deliver plenty of bloody maneuvers and it’s a shame that the finale is your standard race against the clock to diffuse a bomb that is strapped to Dong’s daughter. That’s the unfortunate yawning moment of an otherwise hyper-kinetic sequence.
Throughout the movie, we do get some sufficient beatdown moments with a clear winner being On executing some bad ass moves while being chained up. He switches gears and uses them against his attackers in rather brutal and satisfying fashion and this all leads up to a showdown with one of the movie’s villains that is both stripped down and grueling and shows off the execution of throw caution to the wind in Hong Kong action choreography.
Overall, Blind War is a satisfying watch for those who want a quick fix for violence but at the end of the day, it probably won’t be more memorable than the intro and finale. On does an admirable job with Xing chewing up her scenes and delivering the goods when it comes to drama and action. there’s plenty of mayhem to go around but I’m one who wanted more memorable thrills when all is said and done. You’ve seen a lot better, but you’ve seen way worse so give Blind war a shot and see for yourself which part of the spectrum you fall on.
VERDICT: 3 Out of 5 Stars
Andy On and Yang Xing are high-octane goodness in an otherwise hit and miss actioner that falls prey to unnecessary comedy and less than memorable set pieces. If anything, think of the movie as book ends. It’s just too bad the filler doesn’t match up.
