There have been a few adaptations of the life and work of Mas Oyama, the Korean born martial arts master and founder of the infamously tough as nails Kyokushin Karate style. The better ones having starred Sonny Chiba, one of Oyama's actual personal students.
It's no secret that stories of his feats and life have always been embellished to say the least, sometimes by the man himself so this is new version is no exception, however it goes so far in distorting his real biography as to be almost completely unrecognizeable. The term "based on a true story" has to do a lot of heavy lifting here.
It's no secret that Korea and Japan have a lot of historical baggage, with the latter having often done a rather bad job at acknowledging past wrongdoings, so the anti-japanese bias portrayed here isn't surprising, it's however an absolute disservice to the man this story is supposedly based on. Ironically the real life story of Mas Oyama is one of understanding, respect and synergy between these two cultures. Even without knowing that fact, the plot devices at play here are just beyond tired and cliche by themselves. By the end the plot eventually becomes so ridiculous that it fully leaves the realms of reality. There are 70s Shaw brothers productions that show more restraint.
A lot of genuine martial arts classics have problematic, even jingoistic undertones and themes so this could be forgiven if the movie were any good. Unfortunately it comes across more like an alright tv drama with cheap sets and mediocre acting. There is theoretically some great martial arts talent involved but very little of it is shown and the film meanders too much between story threads that lead nowhere, at a snail's pace to boot. The less is being said about the music the better.
As just a film it's unengaging and surprisingly amateurish, as an adaptation of a real person it is rather problematic, so I suggest avoiding it altogether. If you're still curious just watch the fight scenes on Youtube and save yourself 90 minutes of filler.
I'm not sure why this film ever got any international attention whatsoever. It came out at a time when South Korea started to establish itself as a major player in quality cinema, a role it carries to this day, so I assume international distributors were looking for the next big thing after Oldboy and Memories of Murder made such a splash. South Korea can do so much better than this though, especially in the action and drama genres. Compared to its contemporaries like Hyeongsa, Cheonnyeonho or the aforementioned Oldboy it falls completely flat, not to mention epics like Hwal that came after it.
It's no secret that Korea and Japan have a lot of historical baggage, with the latter having often done a rather bad job at acknowledging past wrongdoings, so the anti-japanese bias portrayed here isn't surprising, it's however an absolute disservice to the man this story is supposedly based on. Ironically the real life story of Mas Oyama is one of understanding, respect and synergy between these two cultures. Even without knowing that fact, the plot devices at play here are just beyond tired and cliche by themselves. By the end the plot eventually becomes so ridiculous that it fully leaves the realms of reality. There are 70s Shaw brothers productions that show more restraint.
A lot of genuine martial arts classics have problematic, even jingoistic undertones and themes so this could be forgiven if the movie were any good. Unfortunately it comes across more like an alright tv drama with cheap sets and mediocre acting. There is theoretically some great martial arts talent involved but very little of it is shown and the film meanders too much between story threads that lead nowhere, at a snail's pace to boot. The less is being said about the music the better.
As just a film it's unengaging and surprisingly amateurish, as an adaptation of a real person it is rather problematic, so I suggest avoiding it altogether. If you're still curious just watch the fight scenes on Youtube and save yourself 90 minutes of filler.
I'm not sure why this film ever got any international attention whatsoever. It came out at a time when South Korea started to establish itself as a major player in quality cinema, a role it carries to this day, so I assume international distributors were looking for the next big thing after Oldboy and Memories of Murder made such a splash. South Korea can do so much better than this though, especially in the action and drama genres. Compared to its contemporaries like Hyeongsa, Cheonnyeonho or the aforementioned Oldboy it falls completely flat, not to mention epics like Hwal that came after it.