by Cain Noble-Davies
Worth: $17.50
FilmInk rates movies out of $20 — the score indicates the amount we believe a ticket to the movie to be worth
Cast:
Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake, Sandy E. Scott, Tommi Korpela (narrator)
Intro:
… a lean, mean, gutbusting machine.
When the Finnish film Sisu made it to Aussie cinemas in 2023, it was surrounded by stiff competition. Getting released in the same timeframe as John Wick: Chapter 4, Kill, and Polite Society would make just about anything seem emaciated by comparison. And yet, through a combination of old-school pulp aesthetics, a breathtaking approach to action, and a run time trimmed to within an inch of its life, it still managed to stand out.
And the sequel is even better.
Once again thrown into a position where being left the hell alone would have resulted in significantly less detached limbs and pickaxe-sized chest cavities, Jorma Tommila remains all things ‘sisu’ as Aatami the Immortal. He’s still shown with an intense connection to his land, loading piles of Finnish lumber that were once his family home into a truck and making for the Finnish border (this is set in 1946, after the USSR redrew the nation lines, because that has never gone wrong ever), but it’s not just sheer brawn that he’s bringing with him this time. Along with his continued aptitude during the fight scenes, the quieter moments he’s given can get quite beautiful at times, right up to a denouement that might just squeeze out a few unexpected tears.
Not that contemplation gets in the way of the sheer fun of things, as this is an absolute blast front-to-back. The stunt work helmed by coordinator Roman Neso Laupmaa (along with the fight choreography by Lauren Okadigbo) not only provides a consistent freshness in how Aatami dispatches of anyone in his way, but they manage to hit on various moods and tones in the process. Car chases like a rustic Mad Max, aerial combat from a Bizarro roided-up North by Northwest, an extended train sequence born from a love affair between Indiana Jones and Hitman, and what can only be described as a live-action remake of a Henry Stickmin fail. All with enough splatter and Rube Goldberg mechanics to rival Saw or Final Destination.
While that may make this sound like it’s cobbled together from disparate parts, there’s an ingenuity and heart to Sisu: Road to Revenge that is all its own. It builds on the nationalist themes of the first film, and while it doesn’t link in as much with the environmental elements that really made Aatami stand out as a character (emphasis on ‘elements’), the conflict between him and Stephen Lang’s Igor (a role that lets him break out that Don’t Breathe 2 kind of badassery) reaches for something a bit deeper than just ‘bad guy splode’.
The film as a whole is more than willing to mine the fruits of vengeance for hearty chuckles and sharp gasps, but what it ultimately says about revenge as a driving force is oddly mature for a film that reads like a gory cartoon.
Beneath all the ‘holy shit!’ moments, there’s an underlying consistency in its understanding that violence should never be a matter of pride, only necessity, and that those who actively seek it end up dooming themselves far more than whoever they see as their opponents. Violent movies that try to comment on their own main draw often get stuck looking like ‘do as I say, not as I do’ hypocrisy, but this actually manages to sell it as effectively as the spectacle of that same violence.
Sisu: Road to Revenge is a lean, mean, gutbusting machine. It’s every reason why the first film was such bloody fun made bigger and bolder, boosting not just the sheer excitement and wonder at what the next stunning set piece is going to present, but also the emotional core that gives the larger picture some welcome clarity. Koschei rides again; next stop, brilliance!
