Batty BLIND WAR

BLIND WAR (Blu-ray)

2022 / 108 min

FROM WELL GO USA

Review by Bonnie the Batty😼

In the bonkers pre-title sequence that sets the stage for the entire story, Blind War lays all its cards on the table. This Chinese action flick is gonna be a hyper-active, over-the-top bloodfest that throws plausibility to the wind and invites the viewer to climb aboard. 

Dong Gu (Andy On) is a SWAT team captain on duty outside a courthouse  where a powerful mob boss in on trial. Inside the building, the boss’ thugs, led by psychotic couple Lei Du and Xing Na (Yang Xing), start a killing spree in order to spring him. However, they Lei and Xing murder him as well (for reasons provided later). Ignoring orders, Dong leads his team inside and a massive firefight ensues, along with plenty of explosions, stabbing and brutal close-quarters martial-arts mayhem. Dong kills Lei with a flash grenade, but also goes permanently blind. The siege also gets a lot of his own men killed. Xing, however, survives and goes to prison.

After 18 months and several bouts of “mania” (diagnosed by his doctor), Dong learns to adjust to his disability with help from his dedicated daughter. He’s still a kick-ass fighter, but now his hearing has become almost supernaturally acute. This skill comes in handy when his daughter’s kidnapped by human traffickers. Still, he can’t do it all alone and help comes from the most unlikely person…Xing, who has broken out of prison. It turns out the leader of the traffickers is the son of her old mob boss. She still wants to avenge Lei’s death, but agrees to help Dong save his daughter first in order to kill the son as well.

Another great Stephen King book with a shitty ending.

Aside from a mundane middle act of father-daughter time that feels like it was included more out of obligation than character exposition, Blind War charges full speed ahead. Dong and Xing’s unlikely teaming drives both the story and action, with the latter’s backstory revealed over the course of the narrative through brief flashbacks. For the most part, watching them raise hell with the mob (and police) is both exhilarating and ridiculous. Occasionally, however, the action is disrupted by truly stupid moments of comic relief courtesy of a bumbling detective (Dao Dao) who spends a majority of the film collecting wounds and bruises.

Brash, outlandish and loaded with bloody violence, Blind War wins no awards for subtlety. Still, I can’t honestly say it was boring. Right from the get-go, the film proudly (and loudly) emphasizes bombast over believability. The sooner the viewer accepts that, the more fun they’re likely to have.