I already talked up a good deal about Yang Yun-ho’s hard-hitting martial arts period opus, Fighter In The Wind, although I’ve never really delved into it the way I did with Shunichi Nagasaki’s Kuro Obi or even David Mamet’s Redbelt. That’s mainly because the film was never available on a proper streaming platform which makes having just seen it land on Tubi over the weekend all the more worthwhile discussing. That’s how titles like this one end up in the “Streaming Sleepers” category, and it’s a great find if you know the film and the vibe it carries, but I can’t help it that this film was another blind buy from a Korean bookstore one day as the root of my fandom.
Yang Dong-geun carries the mantle of Mas Oyama, otherwise known as Choi Bae-dal, a street fighter whose efforts to be a Japanese pilot find him face to face with a Japanese General (Masaya Kato), a seventh level black belt in a fight that sets the stage for a gripping, brutal, and often raw and humbling character drama of epic proportions. The film takes its cues from Ikki Kajiwara’s novel, “Karate Baka Ichidai,” whose storied narrative based on the life of the legendary full bore karate master, was also central to Sonny Chiba’s own portrayal in the 1970s. Yang’s update takes nothing away from those, or even the animated projects that the novel inspired.
Invariably, Fighter In The Wind fuels its narrative with the kind of raw energy and emotion you could expect, thriving off its cast performances, and action sequences which, while aren’t the typical Hong Kong-stylized fanservice some folks might expect, deliver with utmost fervor in manifesting rock-solid tenacity in a series of karate battles that contribute to Choi Bae-dal’s legend. This task also comes with handy introspection as the life and toils of a martial artist are on full display, with Choi eventually forced to choose between the life of a fighter, or that of a loving husband. That choice is a bittersweet one, in depicting the sacrifice it takes for Choi to later redeem himself to a Japanese village widow and her son after killing her husband in self-defense.
Fighter In The Wind proffers everything you know and love about comeback tales, and Choi is an underdog here if there ever was. The best scene by far is the transformative moment in which Choi crashes out in a state of madness after the death of a friend, losing himself in the wilderness and devoting himself to a life of monastic solitude and training to become the strongest fighter of all the dojos in Japan. That scene is layered thick with a training montage music score that goes so hard it would even leave Rocky himself swooning.
I put this film right up there with one of my absolute favorites, and I don’t even have a proper list. I might start making one after all. In the meantime, head to Tubi and watch Fighter In The Wind today, or head over to JustWatch for other available viewing options, and then follow me on Instagram for of these pleasant rants!
