Great Film overall

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Story: It's very simple but honestly that is fine.

The level of realism for a female practising martial arts is very poor. Awful.The lead character is a featherweight at best. In real combat sports, even pro fighters have poor chance against someone 5-10kg heavier. In the movie she fights man clearly far heavier than her and their interaction is unrealistic at best.The teacher coaches in Chinese Martial arts - the routine practised by the students are modern Wushu style routines but they are dressed in Japanese 'Gi' and wearing coloured belts. There are no belt ranking in traditional Chinese Martial arts. There are samurai swords in the background and the training mat Japanese style. For a movie that centred around the theme of Martial Arts, it appears that the makers of the movie made little effort to research on their theme. It is rather appalling

"What has been will be again,what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun."--Ecclesiastes 1:9So the most important question is, was it done well? I think that's a general Yes. And the second most important question is, does it pass the Bruce test? (i.e., both interesting ideas and good Kung Fu?) Again, Yes.The plot is lifted straight from Karate Kid, mixed in a little with Dragon, and reinterpreted with a Turkish teenaged girl as the lead-- not a problem for me. Hey, if the story is good, the actors are competent, and the fight scenes well-choreographed, then that's all I need from my martial arts dramas. But just to be clear, this film is primarily a drama, not an action movie, nor a true martial arts movie: the focus is mainly on the lead, her personal problems, and her relationships with family; the Kung Fu serves almost as a poetic metaphor for her inner struggles.Fighter's strengths: good cinematography, especially the fight scenes and the fantasy sequences; entertaining Kung Fu scenes; solid coming-of-age story; interesting exploration of culture clash between the Muslim immigrants and the native population of Sweden; sympathetic and charismatic lead actor Semra Turan in her debut role as Aicha--in fact, everybody in the cast was effective and believable.Fighter's weaknesses: genre confusion -- did it want to be fantasy or realism? because some pretty unrealistic fighting powers suddenly materialize in the middle of even the non-fantasy fight sequences (come on, she did a back flip over her *standing* opponent?); some questionable writing lapses, such as how did she pay for her elite new Kung Fu club, and why did her stodgy father even let her train in martial arts for 3 years in the first place?; an over-reliance on ready-made martial arts movie clichés such as the tournament held at night in some obscure "underground" venue, dramatically lit by flaming tin barrels. My eyes rolled more than once during that one.It's far from perfect -- nonetheless, Fighter was a heartfelt story which kept me engaged to the very end. Come to think of it, that reminds me of something else about this film that I liked very much; without giving away any details (I am determined that this review will need no spoiler alerts!), Fighter left a few side conflicts unresolved. The film didn't try to wrap up each and every story arc in a neat little bow. I believe this is intentional, because for a long time afterward the dangling story threads provoked me to consider the issues Fighter presented a little more deeply. Basically, this film respects the viewer enough to depart from the expected resolutions. I would have awarded it 7 stars, but that earned it one extra.I think Bruce would have approved.

I am a passionate about karate/kung fu/kickboxing movies. My cousin use to be like ten years ago, when he was younger. We have 7 years difference, and i became crazy about this style around 1 year ago... and i gave back the passion to my cousin. When this was released here in Quebec, i talked about it to my cousin, to my surprise he didn't wait to be with me to rent it... like we usually rent these movie together. And when he saw it, he totally dislike it... said to me there was not much fights and the story didn't save it... Well it took me almost 8 months to finally rent it, a night i really didn't know what to pick... and here we are... Glad i did, cause i totally enjoyed it... Sure there is indeed not that much fight and this have nothing to do with grudge match bloodsport style or undisputed style... Its all about the story, about a little girl who want to do what she want and should be allow to do so like every normal north American can do, but sadly she is born in a country and a culture that is way too much old school like its still the 1800s.... I may shock people here but i could never and will never understand the Muslims culture.... I am just SO NOT in religion and old school way of life... So for me that movie was very important, it use a subject i really like(martial arts) to demonstrate a story about racial problems and discrimination... It may not show a lot of fights, and they are very basic too, but its so much more than that.... Im the kind of guy who can appreciate an old school 1995 kickboxing movie about a grudge match between the former and the new champion, but i can also appreciate a good story movie and this is what it is.

A beautiful and touching movie that deserves a wider viewing than it is likely to get. Semra Turan plays Aicha, a second generation Turkish immigrant, who tries to break the mold. Neither entirely at home with her moderately conservative Muslim family, nor with her liberal Danish friends, Aicha's martial arts experience becomes a fight to find herself and have the strength to allow herself to be who she wants to be in spite of both family and friends.Director Natasha Arthy manages to balance introspection and narrative so that it has depth without becoming ponderous philosophical discourse, and drawing on Xian Gao's choreography skills pays off in spectacular fight sequences. In the end, however, it is Semra Turan's stunning debut performance that gives this movie spirit. Raw charisma and requisite martial arts skills are complimented by heart to make her personal drama believable.Well worth your while.