Sisu: Road to Revenge (2025)

 

                 Three years ago, I went to see a Finnish movie called “Sisu” in a local theater. I was surprised a foreign film like it was playing near me. This time I was surprised that a Finnish movie was playing at the same theater and doubly surprised that the original had a sequel. It turns out “Sisu” did unexpectedly well at the box office (if you can call $14 million as good box office with today’s inflation), so a sequel was in order. Encouraging the sequel was the positive critical response to the original. In fact, the response was astounding. The film ended up with a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes. To give you an idea how insane that is, here are some of the war movies that did not reach that level: Lawrence of Arabia (93), Spartacus (93), Last of the Mohicans (88), Zero Dark Thirty (91), Letters from Iwo Jima (91), Full Metal Jacket (90), Downfall (90), and Patton (92). If that is not mindboggling enough, I have read articles claiming it is one of the best war movies of the 21^st Century!  I have to assume whoever wrote those articles has seen very few war movies. I rewatched it last night to confirm my opinion that it was not anything special. I gave it a C-. It’s fairly entertaining in a mindless way. I did not have high hopes for the sequel.

                 “Sisu: Road to Revenge” is directed by Jalmari Helander again. Both movies were influenced by Indiana Jones, James Bond, and Buster Keaton movies. However, the most obvious link is to Rambo. Jorma Korpi plays Aatami Korpi who is a veteran of Finland’s Winter War with the Soviet Union. In the first film, he is a gold miner living a simple life after the Nazis murdered his family and after he avenged them. This movie occurs two years later, in 1946. Korpi’s home is now in Soviet territory, so he decides to rebuild in Finland. To do this he takes down the house and carts off all the lumber in a truck. The war is over, so this should not be a problem, right? Right? In order to get his sequel (instead of the wiser decision to do a prequel), Helander comes up with the idea of the Soviets wanting Korpi dead. They decide the best way to kill this unarmed old man is to release a Nazi war criminal from prison to finish the job he started when he killed Korpi’s family. Draganov (Stephen Lang adding some juice to the sequel’s cast) is sent after less than a minute of set-up. Hey audience, just roll with it. In fact, that is good advice for everything coming up.

                 The sequel follows the same template as the original. It is divided into chapters that give you an idea of what kind of mayhem is coming up. The set pieces include a motorcycle chase reminding of Mad Max, strafing fighter planes, a tank (this time driven by Korpi), and a train. In the first film, Korpi is being chased for his gold, in this one he is trying to get his lumber to its new site. Of course, it’s just an excuse to see Korpi kill bad guys in a variety of gruesome ways. And survive a variety of deaths. I made a note every time Korpi should have died. I counted 11. There were eleven times that either Korpi should have died or the bad guys should have easily killed him. This is the kind of movie where an opponent passes up the chance to simply shoot this killing machine in the back in favor of tackling him. Or Korpi escapes certain death through some amazing forethought. Don’t bring logic to this movie, if you want to enjoy it. If you liked the first one, you can expect this one to top it in ridiculousness. And graphic violence. And torture. And body count. And Korpi’s ability to hold his breath under water.

                 I predict film schools in the future will debate whether the Sisu movies are comedies. As part of a larger discussion of whether combat porn films are supposed to make you laugh. I can’t speak for Helander. He might be offended by the suggestion. However, there is a scene where Korpi walks barefooted on broken glass, then rolls on it with his bare, flogged back, and then gets his hand caught in a mouse trap. Hilarious! And Draganov suffers a death that Bart and Lisa Simpson would laugh at.

                 Is it better than the first one? It does have a 95%  on Rotten Tomatoes, so whether you think that is incredibly overrated, it is considered to be equal to the first in the minds of critics. If you want more brain rot, this one tops the first. They have equal amount of dog. The hero is even tougher to kill and even more creative in his killing. However, if you care about plotting (I know, just humor me here), chasing a man and risking grisly death for gold is more compelling than watching a guy try to get lumber across a border. The first had more and better villains. If you are into dialogue, Korpi had one line of dialogue in “Sisu” and zero in this one. Speaking of zero, there are zero women in this one. I think most would agree that the female subplot in the first movie was a nice touch. So much for giving machine guns to chicks who have more reason for revenge.

                 Should you go see it? Yes, if you liked the first one. Or if you think the critics are good judges of war movies. No, if you are more interested in movies that make sense.

GRADE  =  C