NOW SHOWING: Sisu (2023)

 

                I try to see any war movie that is theatrically released as soon as possible.  Sometimes it is months between my visits to a theater to see one.  Oddly, for the last two weekends I have made a movie trek to see a new war film.  Last weekend it was to see “The Covenant” and yesterday it was to see “Sisu”.  I was looking forward to “Sisu” because the trailer promises insane action, but I figured a Finnish war movie would not play anywhere near my home.  I was pleasantly surprised to find it at a theater about ½ hour away.  On the way to the show, I started structuring this review as a review of a prime example of combat porn.  I didn’t invent the term, but I have used it in my reviews for years.  Combat porn, as I define it, refers to violence and bloodshed that is excessive, even in a war movie.  A good example would be “One Shot”.  I recently reviewed that movie about jihadists (and mercenaries they hired) trying to silence a prisoner in a Gitmo type prison.  It was just an excuse for Navy SEALs to kill a bunch of terrorists.  Normally, I avoid movies with wanton killings, but I enjoyed “One Shot” because of the cinematography and the feeling of being in a first-person shooter.  I was anticipating “Sisu” to be a similarly entertaining guilty pleasure.  I was in for a surprise.

                “Sisu” comes from war movie friendly Finland.  Finland has given us some excellent war movies, including “The Unknown Soldier” movies and films like “Talvisota”.  Director Jalmari Helander also wrote the screenplay.  He admits to being influenced by the first “Rambo” movie and the real-life Finnish soldier Simo Hayha.  Hayha was a deadly sniper in the Winter War against the Soviet Union.  He was credited with around 500 kills.  However, “Sisu” is not a sniper movie.  The word “sisu” is loosely defined as a person who has insane courage and determination no matter the odds.  The movie was filmed in Finland’s Lapland, where the action takes place. 

                The movie begins with some background information for viewers who are not familiar with Finland in WWII.  The year is 1944 and German fortunes are fading.  The Wehrmacht is retreating from ally Finland as the Red Army pushes it westward.  Naturallly, the Nazis are conducting a scorched earth policy as they retreat.  Lapland is being burned and is being subjected to murder and rape of civilians.  Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) is a veteran of the Winter War, but he is now living life off the grid as a gold miner.  He just wants to be left alone.  It is implied that he was a ruthless soldier when he was in uniform.  Korpi’s quiet life changes when he digs up a trove of gold.  On his way to cash in, he encounters an SS unit on its way to more ravaging.  There are about 30 soldiers and a tank under the command of your stereotypical evil Nazi officer.  The Germans have a truck in which several Finnish women are being kept as sex slaves.  When the Germans discover that Korpi has saddle bags full of gold, they think it will be easy to take this treasure away from an old man on a horse.  Think again. An audience member provided the unnecessary “you messed with the wrong dude” shoutout. 

                The movie is divided into chapters:  The Gold, The Nazis, The Minefield, The Legend, Scorched Earth, and Kill ‘Em All.  “The Legend” refers to Korpi’s nickname Koschei ( “The Immortal”) because he has thought unkillable in the Winter War.  We have to take the movie’s word for that because there is no backstory showing an unscarred soldier wreaking havoc on the Russians.  However, in current time, he will live up to his nickname.  Typical of movies like this, Korpi seems to get more invulnerable as the movie goes along.  Each episode that he survives is more preposterous than the last. For example, he survives a mine explosion, a hanging, being set on fire (by himself), and a plane crash.  Meanwhile, no German survives contact with him.  But if you think his body count must be 30 because that’s how many Germans are in the unit that makes the terrible mistake of messing with him, you would be wrong because some of the kills are by the vengeance-minded women. You go, girls!

                My plan to use “Sisu” as an example of combat porn was premature.  While Korpi is a killing machine and his kills can be graphic, they don’t rise to the level of combat porn.  The body count is surprisingly low.  In anticipation of a Ramboesque number, I put x marks in my notes whenever he killed someone.  I ended up with 13.  That’s not even half the Germans.  The trailer leaves the impression of nonstop mayhem, but although it does not take time for exposition (Korpi does not say a word until the last minute), the bloodshed is limited.  And it’s not sheepishly chuckle-worthy.  While Korpi’s death-defying keeps topping the last one, his kills do not escalate the OMG factor.  I don’t enjoy killing just for the sake of killing, but at least make it gonzo, so I can forget these are human beings being slaughtered for entertainment purposes.  The movie does not reach that level.  It’s just not as fun as it should have been

                Did Simo Hayha kill more than a dozen enemies while escaping sure death many times, all in one day?  Obviously not, so if you are going to show a character based, you need to be cartoonishly entertaining for me to enjoy it.  Since “Sisu” is not outrageous in its killing, it makes his outrageous escapes from death just silly.

                I am possibly not the best reviewer to weigh in on a movie like this.  I don’t like the John Wick series because of the bloodshed.  However, I was prepared to like “Sisu” in spite of the anticipated bloodshed.  But even after turning my brain off, the movie still left me cold.  I have a feeling that combat porn fans will be disappointed with it, too.  And I hope that fans of Finnish war movies will be disappointed.  It is not near the level of films like “The Unknown Soldier”.

GRADE  =  C-