Fighter in the Wind

I believe that this is one of the best movies to come out Korea in along time. It has got heart and soul and you can see that the director and the cast really care about bringing to life this story of one of the greatest martial artist in history. However despite how much I enjoyed this film there were a few flaws.

First some emotional parts in the story moves to fast and there are scenes f Korean and Japanese customs (such as shaving his eyebrows) that we don't understand and we are not given an explanation to. Another thing is that some moments of this movie are incredibly exxagerated and some are just made up for the movie. I don't understand why they did this since Oyama Mas had an amazing life without all the made up scenes.

Last is the action, I hear that most people didn't like the action because the fight scenes were short and brutal. However because I do martial arts and know a lot about Oyama Mas I believe that this was the right way for the movie. This is because Oyama never did any soft kungfu which you see in most movies these days, He did hard taekwondo and later created kyokushin karate and he always tried to finch his opponent with one punch. combat is not a dance where you can predict each other movements.

I was pretty excited when this hit theaters. There was a lot of buzz floating around about it being the next great martial arts film. Unfortunately, for everything it does right, it does equal wrong.

For starters, this is a martial arts film, so you would assume there would be lots of fighting. And there is fighting, just not all that much. Most of the film is littered with lengthy dialogue scenes that are intended to deepen the characters, but this fails as well. Character motivation seems to be limited to "spur of the moment" reasoning and the ultimate plot is nothing more than standard fight-film fare (boy gets beat up a lot, boy trains, boy beats up everybody).

This isn't to say that the film doesn't have some positive aspects. The film is gorgeous; color, cinematography, lighting, all handled with expert flare. As for the fights (when the film gets around to them), they are excellent. Eskewing the modern trend penchant for treating fights like elaborate dance sequences, here instead we get some real hard-hitting brawls that also maintain a look of grace.

If only the filmmakers had put as much effort into the writing as they did into the look of the film, this could easily have been one of the top martial art films, instead of mild entertainment destined to be forgotten.

Score: 6/10

I was impressed and satisfied with Fighter In The Wind. Most martial arts movies tend not to be very serious, but in terms of grit and realism, this was one of the few martial arts movies that maintained complete seriousness throughout.

Apparently, it is biographical of a real karate master, which I didn't realize until the end. It is also apparently based on a comic book version of the story, which in hindsight is easy to see in the colorful and visually well-arranged cinematography. Many different environments, landscapes and buildings are encountered in the course of the story, and they are all beautifully presented. The director is a master at his craft.

Baedal's geisha girlfriend, played by Aya Hirayama, is absolutely stunningly beautiful, and the movie is worth watching just for her. But it is a good movie in its own right, with a good portrayal of the Korean minority in Japan just after World War II. Although parts of the story and characters lack depth, I do find the movie generally satisfying, except in one respect: As the other commentators point out, it doesn't have a great deal of fighting, and the fights it does have are brief and relatively unimpressive - all the more so because Baedal apparently doesn't use any specific style. It doesn't ring true, either, that he gets to challenge every kind of martial arts school, from karate to judo and others. Would such schools accept challenges from someone with such an unspecific fighting style? I doubt it. But, I'm no expert on this.

In any case, despite these flaws, I think the overall style of the movie is very well made, and I enjoyed it a lot. I'd definitely recommend it to any fan of martial arts and action movies.

My rating: 7 out of 10.

OK, first things first; this is NOT a martial arts kung-fu beat em up movie (If you want that, go watch Ong-Bak!). Throw those expectations OUT and prepare to enjoy a very gripping action/drama with some of the most beautiful filmwork i've seen in a while. To keep it simple, this movie is very exaggerated biography of Choi Baedal (Later changed his name to Mas Oyama), founder of Kyokushin karate, starting from before WW2. The fight scenes are not like standard kungfu flicks. They don't fight for 5 minutes. It's realistic in this sense. They trade a few blows and one or the other falls down in severe pain. This movie screams of a comic book feel. Fight scenes are stopped in mid-action to emphasize the form and the impact of the blows, the color and framing of each shot is reminiscent of comics as well. It emphasizes Choi Baedal's super-heroish qualities. The storyline is very interesting, although it runs a little long. Overall, its a very beautiful film to watch. Its great to see a movie really focus on the philosophies and ideas of martial arts rather than just the fighting itself. It also deals with the fears mindset of a fighter. Its VERY sad, and can sometimes come off as corny, but the overall emotional impact is there. Watch it, and remember, its NOT a pure kung fu beat em up movie and you will enjoy it.

This korean movie claims to be inspired by the life of Choi Bae-dal, who founded the kyokushinkaikan variation of Karate, and the film explores the prejudice between the Koreans and the Japanese back then.

The setting is in post-WWII Japan, with Yakuzas and American GIs abound, not to mention the influx of Korean immigrants. This film narrates the life of Bae-dal in a fairly straightforward way, following his path to fame amongst fighters - taking on karate, judo and even kendo exponents.

Somehow this film parallels Stephen Chow's KungFu Hustle, which also narrates the life of a nobody to a somebody, with a pretty babe in tow for good measure, except this one is without the slapstick comedy.

The first half plods on, as our protagonist is still a greenhorn in the martial arts world. Once you've gotten past the first hour, things start to pick up when he trains himself to be the best of the best, but towards the finale, it somehow hints of Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai. Probably no fault of its own, as it explores the same theme amongst all martial arts - honour and justice.

The fight scenes, which looked spectacular in the trailers, actually offers nothing new. Most of it are quick cuts and slow motion, and given the premise, could've offered more in terms of actual fights.

This should appeal to those who wanna know more about the myth behind Kyokushinkaikan Karate. If you're looking for real Kung-Fu action, you'll probably be better off with a Jet Li martial arts movie.