‘Sisu: Road to Revenge’ Review
Stars: Jorma Tommila, Richard Brake, Stephen Lang | Written and Directed by Jalmari Helander
Breath-takingly violent Finnish WWII action flick Sisu became a sleeper hit in 2022, seemingly coming out of nowhere and delighting legions of genre fans in the process. Now director Jalmari Helander and stoic star Jorma Tommila are back, with an enjoyable sequel that could easily have been called Sisu 2: More Sisu.
Sisu: Road to Revenge picks up two years after the events of the first film. Grizzled gold prospector Aatami (Tommila) returns home to Finland, only to discover that his land has been annexed by the Soviet Union, so he dismantles his log cabin, beam by beam, and sets off to build himself somewhere else to live.
Meanwhile, the Russian authorities decide that Aatami killed too many Soviet soldiers for their liking, so they free vicious military commander Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang) from a Siberian prison and task him with taking out the legend he helped create in the first place, since it was Draganov who killed Aatami’s family in the first place, setting him on his path of destruction. And when Aatami realises that Draganov is on his trail, that dovetails nicely with his revenge plan, so the stage is set for bloody retribution.
Sisu: Road to Revenge is very much a more of the same sequel. If you loved the first film and you wanted more inventive dispatching of nameless goons in increasingly bloody ways, then Sisu: Road to Revenge is the movie for you. The only thing it’s missing is the delightful surprise factor that the first film had – this time round, you know exactly what you’re getting, and while that’s still fun, the shock value is gone.
That’s not to say that there’s not still plenty to enjoy. Tommila is just as brilliant (and has just as few lines) here as he was in the first film, and Lang makes a suitably hissable adversary. There’s also a sparse beauty to the stripped-down simplicity of the film – it’s pretty much non-stop action after a brief pause for a bit of backstory.
Similarly, the kills are a lot of fun and Sisu: Road to Revenge rivals the John Wick franchise when it comes to inventive use of unexpected objects as weapons – one particular highlight involves Aatami taking out a fighter plane with a plank of wood. The film is also beautifully shot, courtesy of cinematographer Mika Orasmaa.
It is perhaps fair to say that the attempts at an emotional backstory don’t really work, partly because Tommila’s perpetually unruffled performance doesn’t really allow for things like feelings, and partly because the backstory itself is so thinly sketched. However, that has an unfortunate knock-on effect, because there isn’t a strong enough sense of Aatami and Draganov being mortal enemies, so the supposed drive for revenge never really makes itself felt.
In short, Sisu: Road to Revenge lacks the impact of the first film, both in its general originality and the overall surprise factor, but it’s still a lot of fun, thanks to a stripped-down story, plenty of Soviet splattering and Tommila’s delightfully deadpan performance. Will there be a Sisu trilogy? It seems likely.
***½ 3.5/5
Sisu: Road to Revenge is in cinemas now.
