stcostanzo
This movie is utter Korean Propaganda from the very beginning until the end. I can understand it's a work of fiction but distorting the reality in this manner, filling it with anti-Japanese feelings and displaying Korean martial arts superiority over Japanese ones is just ridiculous and unpleasant.Masutatsu Oyama never learned any Korean martial art in his life, he spent his entire existence living and working in Japan, creating a new Karate style in Japan from other Japanese martial arts. Portraying him like a lonely Korean wanderer traveling the country beating up Japanese masters is silly since the respect and devotion that he always manifested for Budo and ancient martial traditions. For a period of his life he studied under a Korean master but that was again on Japanese soil and the martial art was Goju-ryu Karate.Another pathetic attempt from Korea to downplay their arch-rivals the Japanese. I believe that the fact that Oyama was born in Korea is indeed something to be proud of, but there are certainly other and more suitable ways to pay homage to his memory.
Cronquist
One of the best Karate movies I've seen so far in my life which has nothing to do with the crap from Hollywood.It gave me interesting insights about the development of Karate-do, the historical setting after WWII, the post war problems and of course about the life of Oyama shihan.There are no high tech special effects, no rope action but the pure essence of martial arts and it's philosophy. No matter which martial art or which style you practice this movie is a real inspiration. The soundtrack is amazing and the fighting scenes are very impressive.A must see for every true Karate-ka out there. 9/10
refresh daemon
Fighter in the Wind is a Corea-produced martial arts biopic about Masutatsu Oyama (born Choi Baedal), the ethnically Corean founder of Kyokushin karate. I actually went into this film bracing for the worst kind of nationalism that I often expect from Corean film when dealing with Japan, but was pleasantly surprised at how subdued it was. In addition to some limited, but kinetic fight sequences, Fighter in the Wind ends up being a mostly satisfying, if limited, portrait of a prominent figure of the martial arts world.The fictionalized story covers the early portion of Oyama's life in Japan. While history shows that Oyama had actually trained in two schools of karate before developing his own technique, I imagine that much of the actual of events of his life were elided for both running time as well as nationalistic purposes, in re-centering Oyama as a Corean (perhaps to appeal to the Corean movie-going populace). In addition to watching Baedal/Oyama get beat up, beat people up and become a total badass, we also watch him make friends with another ethnic Corean (the vice-ridden best friend), develop a relationship with a Japanese woman, get schooled by a Zainichi karate instructor/circus troupe guard, and spend a chunk of time brutally training in solitude in the mountains.The film follows a rather unsurprising approach that you can find in many martial arts films, following the hero's journey as he starts from a scrapping fighter, who gets beaten, learns and trains with a master and learned to use his skills for good and not selfish ambition, is forced to fight to protect someone, beats the big bad in the end. Yeah, totally formulaic since this film mostly fits the basic formula, but like many films before it, it works. You see the growth of Baedal/Oyama's character, you see his victory from rather rough beginnings and how he changes the lives of those around him. Basic biopic/hero-film stuff. But it's pretty well executed, so although it's nothing that's going to amaze you, at the same time, the character remains interesting enough to keep your attention, like any biopic. Unfortunately, most of the Japanese villains are painted with a rather broad near-mustache-twirling brush, so if you're looking for complexity in your story-telling, you won't find it here.The fight scenes, while not plentiful, are kinetic and hard hitting, especially the montage as Oyama takes on school after school of Japan's elite fighters. It's fun to watch the different martial arts interact and it's hard not to root for Oyama's practical underdog style. Photography is pretty good, adapting to the different dramatic material well, while still seeming cohesive and the film doesn't tank in terms of sonic presentation. The acting was overall good, although sometimes I felt like Yang Donggun, who played Oyama, had a rather limited character to work with, but he still seemed to embody that rather simple determination with his posture, even if I had a hard time believing that his body was one of a brutally effective fighter.I still have some issues with the probably nationalistically motivated fictionalizations to Oyama's life and the rather obvious bad-guy characterizations of the antagonists, but in terms of an engaging biopic, Fighter in the Wind actually manages to make it out okay--if you like martial arts. It's no visionary work of art, but a rather modestly put together biopic that tells the story of a man whose determination and courage led to greatness. These things work for a reason and Fighter didn't screw it up, even if it did nothing astounding. Good for martial arts fans and probably passable for everyone else. 7/10.
to_kill_better
A romanticised biopic of karate legend Mas Oyama (here called "Choi Baedal") this is rare gem in Korean cinema and the genre of martial arts films. As many reviewers have mentioned, the fight scenes in this movie are shorter and more brutal than the average Hong Kong action film, but this is easily forgiven as the quality of the film-making is so high. Most people watching martial arts movies will find themselves dozing through the story waiting for the next fight, but the good storytelling, quality acting, beautiful cinematography and stylish editing make the story elements of "Fighter in the Wind" a pleasure to watch.The cast all seem perfectly at home in their roles, making it easy to love or hate the characters as required. Dong-kun Yang plays Baedal with the right mix of naive idealism and hard-headed brutality. The stunning Aya Hirayama provides a likable love-interest. Taewoo Jeong is charming as Baedals cheeky con-man friend Chunbae, and Masaya Kato is suitably arrogant and superior as old-fashioned karate master Kato.This may be a film based around martial arts, but it is not a typical martial arts movie. The story features some spectacular fighting techniques from the surprisingly acrobatic Yang, but the fighting is an embellishment to an otherwise fascinating and well-told story rather than the focus of the movie.
