Blind War

Story: Dong Gu (Andy On) is the captain of a SWAT team, and he is supposed to oversee the sentencing of a gangster boss who is accused of drug and human trafficking as well as multiple murders. The team is guarding the courthouse when Dong Gu thinks he can hear gunshots from inside. Cena (Yang Xing) and her boyfriend are supposed to free the boss on behalf of the gangster's son, but since he has abused Cena, the couple kills him. After a big shootout Dong Gu is finally face to face with the two. But then a hand grenade goes off and Cena's boyfriend dies while Dong Gu loses his eyesight. Cena swears to take revenge but is taken away by the police. In the meantime, Dong Gu has to accept full responsibility for the deaths of several police officers and gets fired. But he still has his daughter, who is all the world to him now. During one of her performances, however, she is kidnapped by the son of the boss, who was killed in the courthouse by Cena. He has taken over his father's organization and wants to sell Dong Gu's daughter. When Cena finds out through the news that Dong Gu is looking for his missing daughter, she agrees to her lawyer's deal to be transported to another prison, knowing full well that this is a trap as the new gangster boss wants to avenge his father's death. Nevertheless, she manages to escape and pretends to be a policewoman when she tells Dong Gu that she knows where his daughter might be. The reason being that Cena wants to take revenge on all the others who abused her in the organization at the time before she actually kills Dong Gu.

Review: "Blind War" is a real nostalgia trip to 90s Hong Kong cinema. Nice action, which sometimes even turns out quite spectacular, and some neat ideas, but unfortunately, we also get all those negative aspects that defined the action genre at that time too. There is a rather simple revenge story, which - and you have to give it credit for that - offers a few original peculiarities, and performances that fall into the B-movie category. The direction is also quite strange. Most of the time, it's so good and ambitious that you don't feel like you're actually watching a movie for the streaming service iQIYI - after all, Well Go USA also distributed the movie -, but every now and then, there are scenes that seem so cheap in such an obvious way that they could only be meant as a bow to past HK productions. This includes unnecessary slow motion in dramatic scenes as well as over-the-top acting that almost makes you laugh.

However, the opening sequence throws us right into an extremely captivating shootout, which offers the necessary intensity and brutality. The villains are so over-the-top that you immediately know where you stand, and even with the subsequent tragic developments you know in which direction the whole thing is going. Dong Gu loses his eyesight and does not know how to deal with his anger until his daughter proves to be his only anchor. Of course, she is kidnapped, although apparently this is only a coincidence and not some kind of revenge trip or anything like that. Cena, on the other hand, clearly wants to take revenge. Nevertheless, she has her emotions under control for the time being so that she is able to use Dong Gu for her plans. You wouldn't expect her to have so much self-control, though, since she has been completely insane since the death of her boyfriend at the latest. And this is where the real appeal of the story becomes apparent, as the unequal couple has to join forces for now. This gives the movie its very own charm.

Andy On ("True Legend") has apparently been on streaming services more and more lately, which is only understandable, after all, he somehow always seems to be overlooked and rarely gets a leading role. However, he already impressed me back in the day in "New Police Story" with his fight against Jackie Chan. He combines speed with strength and knows what he's doing. He is also allowed to show off during some nice fights in "Blind War" too, but you shouldn't build up false hope. "Blind War" is an action movie and not a martial arts flick. The choreography is really not bad, but the movie is more about fast pacing and shootouts. Nonetheless, the flick still manages to score points with a few nice ideas that make the individual skirmishes a bit more original. Dong Gu has to defend himself against several attackers while he is tied up with a chain that lowers his partner upside down into a water tank if it is not kept under proper tension. Or the ex-policeman has to tactically drop through a window into a lower floor in order to then come back up and now hold his own against his overpowering enemy using the right "equipment".

Now you might ask yourself how Dong Gu even has a chance in the fights as a blind person - or you are simply used to a blind action heroes since Donnie Yen in "Star Wars: Rogue One" and "John Wick 4", not to mention the various "Zatoichi" versions -, but it is made clear quite early that the policeman is basically "Daredevil" without a costume. He can "see" sounds. Nevertheless, it has to be mentioned that Dong Gu has to take a lot of hits. After all, he is not really a superhero, and he constantly has to work around his disadvantage. But there is also a lot of suspense since we never know when Cena will finally betray our hero. As there is never any doubt that she is crazy and wants her revenge. Still, at some point you even somehow manage to develop sympathy for her. When she shoots and fights her way through a horde of villains, with a dynamic camera always following the action and creating the illusion of a single long shot, she almost seems like some kind of anti-heroine. In addition, the direction by Huo Suiqiang as well as the script are always able to keep up the high pace.

However, the characters stand in the way of the visually appealing production. Most of them are just horribly written clichés. In the comedic supporting role, we get a detective who is hell-bent on hunting down Dong Gu and who just tops off the embarrassing moments in the movie. The already mentioned slow-motion used during the dramatic moments doesn't really help taking the events seriously either, and the story about the daughter is as uninspired as the villain. In addition, the world seems cobbled together. We are in a fictitious country, which could be the occupied Hong Kong as English is spoken in court, but sometimes the German word "Polizei" is actually written on the police uniforms. In the end, the unpolished nature of "Blind War" certainly manages to remind you of old HK cinema and will therefore find its fans. The nice pacing and the decent action are also undeniable plus points. Despite there being some moments in which better quality shines through, you also have to have a soft spot for B-movie charm to warm up to this action movie, though.

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