Customer Reviews

Fighter In The Wind

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

"Fighter In the Wind" (Paramui Paito)is the story of Choi Bae-dul, a real-life legendary martial arts figure who, during his peak, defeated hundreds of martial arts experts in Japan and around the world. Or more precisely, based on the comic (manga-Japanese comic)based on the martial artist's life. Choi Bae-dul is also the founder of Kyo kushin karate, millions of students still practice today.

Much of the film takes place during World War II and is set in Japan. The first half of the film follows the adventures of a young Choi Bae-dul (Yang Dong-Geun), whose desire to become a pilot takes a side-winding nose dive when death and humiliation destroy his dreams. After his humiliation at a marketplace, he is tagged as the "pant-wetter". After a run-in with the Yakuza, greatly influenced by the tales of the samurai, Miyamoto Musashi, he embarks on a training regiment in the mountains to develop a unique form of Karate.
Choi Bae-dul, now in top physical condition, travels all around the country, roams around by foot, train or whatever to challenge and defeat opponents of different styles and origins. Even his worn out, white Karate Gi looks identical to the one Ryu wears in the "Streetfighter" video game. This cartoon-like transition is strange, but doesn't hurt or strengthen the film in any way.

Fighter in the Wind shows the inherent racism towards Koreans living in Japan, especially towards one person who proves himself the superior martial artist to many famed Japanese masters. The Japanese people (a select few) hated the fact that Choi was being compared to the great swordsman Musashi Miyamoto by the media. What is most interesting (at least to me) is how those Japanese that don't know Choi show nothing but contempt towards him, while those that get to know him, end up with a certain respect, fondness and adoration for him. Teenagers started copying his hair, his outfit (torned Gi)and his mannerisms.

Beautiful Aya Hirayama plays Choi's(Yang Dong-geun)love interest. He is forced to leave her when his conscience won't allow him to stay with her.

The thing I loved about this film is that no wires, CGI was used in its extensive fight choreography. It is well-staged, realistic and a bit brutal, although not as hard-hitting as Ong-bak or TOM YUM GOONG. The music/soundtrack also fits the film and makes it feel epic-like. All the elements compliment each other to give us a very entertaining action film.

PICTURE: ANAMORPHIC WIDESCREEN. The Korean region-3 release is fantastic. The transfer is very clean, I didn't notice any enhancements or video noise. Colors are radiant and blacks are very detailed.
AUDIO/SUBTITLES: Korean 5.1 DD and DTS-ES. The DTS track is loud! Yopu feel the impact of the hits in your living room. The english subs are very well-translated.
I'm not sure what is being sold in amazon, I have the Korean 2-disc region 3 release with a ton of extras.

I really enjoyed this film. Of course, no one can expect an entertaining, accurate film about the life of man in 2 hours. FIGHTER IN THE WIND makes a very decent attempt though.
RECOMMENDED!! (4 stars)

Great movie, the story is a bit exagerated in comparison to Sosai Oyama's life, but it has a lot of true aspects of his life. Long live Kyokushin!

The Best I've seen yet.. A friend of mine bought it and we couldn't find it anywhere after that.. I had to get this movie! He went through ALOT to become THE BEST!!!! Motivated me to THE BEST at what I want to pursue.

This was unlike every martial arts movie I've seen. It was dramatic, plot-driven, and deep. It's a movie you want to see if you are a martial arts enthusiast, martial arts lover, or a lover of a good story. This is a very underrated movie. I suggest all moviegoers get this for their libraries.

I've practice Shotokan in the past, and others martial art, and in my opinion there is a few karate movies, I'm not talking about kung fu but karate, and trust me I like this movie a lot, it's a classical one. Kiokushin kai is a good karate sistem.

I'm a big fan of martial arts films, but normally I don't hold my hopes up with picking random finds off the rental shelf in this category. However, this film amazed me. I thought the story line was awesome, romance perfect and fight scenes beyond great. Then at the end, I find out it's all about a real life person :*(. Such a great story. I loved it! Best martial arts film I've ever seen. Normally I don't write reviews for movies, but when it was over, I said 'it was so good, I have to write a review so everyone can hear how great it is.' lol... MUST WATCH!!!!!!

Fighter in the Wind is an action packed martial arts movie with great Karate fight scenes. The main character goes through rigorous training and then travels from dojo to dojo, challenging Japan's finest fighters. He faces off against the likes of Karate, Judo, and Kendo fighters.

Not being a fan of "Wire Fu," I loved this movie for its hard core realistic martial arts fight scenes. This movie, along with the movie Black Belt, are some of my favorite martial arts movies. They are definately worth watching if you love the fighting arts!

This movie traces the life of Choi Baedal, a Korean who learns to prove himself in the martial arts world of post-WWII Japan. Loosely based on the life of Mas Oyama (Sosai), founder of Kyokushin Karate, it is an enjoyable watch, especially for those who practice Kyokushin. It is not, however, all fighting and training. A fair amount of the film focuses on Baedal's life before training in the mountains, including a love interest.

The movie is in both Korean and Japanese. English subtitles are available. The only downside is that in the options submenu, the languages are not labeled in in English, so I have to fish around to see which of the five subtitled languages is English (I think it's the third).

On the whole a good movie.

Spectacular.
A full fleshed martial arts movie.
A journey into someone's vision of a summary opf the life of an actual historical martial artist.
Never trained in kyokushin but I heard they trained full contact and I was impressed.
I saw this on redsun dvd and the short summary looked pretty intriguing.
It was well worth the purchase.
Especially the parts when Baedal was traveling around fighting and defeating the different stylists.
And I am not sure but I think one of the guys was a ninjutsu student even though he was not labeled as such.
The techniques resembled those of the Bunjinkan/Genbukan seminars I viewed on video.
The plotline is classic but touching.
A man who gets stronger from adversity.
And goes on to become a martial arts legend.

Wonderful and a must own for any martial arts student.

As far as the guy who rated the film low due to its portrayal of American soldiers.
You are entitled to your opinion. this is a Korean made film and one person's
vision of certain things. To low rate it because of that minor plot point is a bit
small minded, yes.

I digress.....

I use this film as inspiration when my depression sets in.
It helps me to maintain my own training.
Better than drugs and clinical psychotherapy.

absolutely amazing movie. A few parts are exaggerated like the flying kicks, hah, however that's only part I didn't like. the movie was over all fantastic.