Just perfect...

A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

This is a typical Korean movie with full of anti-Japan sentiment and lies. Choi Bae-dal was so-called "chinilpa" (pro-Japanese traitor), who loved Japanese martial arts and got Japanese name and nationality. He practiced Shotokan-karate and Gojyu-Ru karate, not Korean martial arts or Tekkyon.Because Koreans don't like to admit that they learned many Japanese cultures during the colonial period, they have distorted the history as if the origin of all Japanese cultures was in Korea. Korea's Taekwondo association has made similar distortion and hided the truth that karate was the origin of Korea's national martial arts.When Choi Bae-dal was alive, he pretended to be Japanese. He never used his Korean name "Choi Bae-dal" in Japan and wrote some books in which he described himself as if he was patriotic Japanese. However, because he made a success in Japan, Koreans have created the image of nationalistic anti-Japan hero of him in comic and movie.This movie must be feel –good victorious story for Koreans. Anti-Japan movies in which Koreans defeat Japanese occupy one of the major categories in Korean movies. The producer says it is based on true story. Yes. Choi Bae-dal existed and he founded Kyokushin-karate. It is true. But the other story is just a fantasy. Nothing more.

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.

To be quite honest, I didn't know anything about this film before I had purchased it. In fact, I had only bought it for two reasons. The first was that I knew it was a martial arts film and two, because it featured Masayo Kato, who appears in a few movies that I happen to like. However, by the time I had finished watching the movie, I had to admit that it exceeded my expectations for a few reasons. For instance, it had some drama, which most martial arts films tend to lack; the picture quality was superb; and above all, it was an autobiographical sketch based on a real life martial arts master.I won't go over the story, as I'm sure that a few other people had already given it away anyway. But to those who have criticized the film on the basis that it was "boring" just because the fights were too quick and not very well choreographed, I think it's important for them to acknowledge the fact that this was based on a true story. Most fights really did end relatively quick because of Choi Bae-dal's lethal blows. In fact, it was said that most fights between him and his opponents did not last more than three minutes, while other matches ended with only single blows coming from one of Bae-dal's kicks or punches.Needless to say, I did enjoy the film as I've already emphasized above and was glad that I saw it for another reason: because I would not have embraced Bae-dal's depicted character with the same respect that I currently have for the other great martial arts legends, the likes of which include Musashi, Bruce lee, Wong Fei Hong, et al.8 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.