Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

To all you haters,It's real simple....the film never said "based on a true story" AND lets think for a moment, (sarcasm here), what would Koreans have to hate Japan for anyway? Only 40 years of martial law, dictatorship, kidnapping and jailing the royal family, forced participation in Japanese army during WW2......could fill a novel. Then lets look at Nanking!

Fighter in the wind... Haven't i watched it like a 100 times. Friends even make fun of my passion about this movie. I love it not only for the writing or martial arts scenes, but mostly for letting the main hero progress and grow as a person through the film and letting me know him better all the time during his changes. The unskilled, afraid young Korean in the racist Japan community, having to take on bullies, underworld and surviving. The guy who watered himself out of terror, became the best fighter in the world. This film gives him space and time to evolve and make us know him better over time. This is how you get attention from the audience Hollywood!! Many lessons can be taught to western action movie makers, even to this day 11 years later. The human aspect of the hero taking beaten, letting us see his wounds, care for him... Seeing his knuckles and body bloody and beaten. Showing us his suffering. Even more showing us how he fought his own demons and set his mind to victory, how he decided to take off to the mountains and train, how much he wanted to become better and stronger. Not only as a fighter, but as a person as well. This is what makes him exemplar to us watching. I know that this is not Oyama's 100% real story, but i do not care. Character build up, minimalistic editing and great fight scenes made me fall in love with this movie.I will never forget his notion about fighting and perhaps dying. His deepest fears. Great movie, must see!

I have a problem with this film as it purports to associate itself with Sosai Oyama and hence, it may affect the way in which young minds see the great legend. Mas Oyama dedicated his life to karate, he didn't aim for fame but instead used it as a tool to spread his message of the benefits of karate, it's meaning, purpose, etc, or "the search for the ultimate truth". My problem with this film is that instead of furthering Sosai Oyama's message or giving an accurate portrayal of his life, this film tends to be full of Korean propaganda. At a certain sequence, one of the characters, after seeing some moves from Bae-dal ( the hero ) notes that, "it's Tae Kyun" ( a Korean martial art). At the film's climax, it shows how the evil Japanese martial masters conspire to stop this upstart ( because he's Korean ) from being superior to the Japanese. With the evil syndicate conspiring to assassinate the hero. The film then proceeds to emphasize how the bad Japanese oppress the poor helpless KOREAN who uses a KOREAN martial art to defend the oppressed against the evil Japanese ( it's that redundant, trust me ) and all the Japanese martial masters including the head of the Japanese Martial Arts Association. Hell, while we're at it, why did they not portray him using KOREAN weapons and items as well! Now, I'm not Japanese, nor do I have anything against the Koreans but puh- lease, enough from the Ministry of Propaganda already! First of all, Sosai Oyama loved Japan, he loved the culture, that's why he adopted a Japanese name. He even tried to be a Japanese pilot in World War II to defend the nation he grew to admire a great deal. The leader of the Shotokan at that time was NOT his enemy. In fact, Funakoshi, Gichin Sensei was gracious enough to have taught Sosai Oyama. An event that Sosai would refer to often in his lifetime as the basis of his karate. Sosai Oyama also studied a form of Chinese Kempo, Goju ryu and Judo by the way.As a fantasy- period piece, this film would've been fine. I liked the sets and how they portrayed post- war Japan. Granted, there may have been some forms of discrimination at that time but not to the extent this film portrays it to be, otherwise, the Japanese would not have taught so many of their arts to Sosai Oyama. As a film associating itself with the great legend, great care should have been taken as to avoid confusing young, impressionable minds.Sosai's message was to strive hard in life, persevere, overcome all obstacles in one's search for the ultimate truth. Karate, being a convenient vehicle in such a search due to it's benefits to humanity if studied arduously and properly. This film instead, bastardizes that message and translates it into: It is better to be Korean and learn Korean martial arts to get back at the evil, cruel Japanese since all their martial arts are crap.For the record, I respect both the Japanese and the Koreans. I also appreciate and admire all of their contributions to society. It's with this film that I have an issue with as it tends to affect Japanese and Korean sentiments which, until now, are quite sensitive. Stay away from this film, it is difficult to classify as an art piece, action film or as a documentary. It is however, clearly a form of bad, misinformed propaganda. This is the movie industry's version of an Internet Troll.

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