SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE Reviewed by GREG KING
Director: Jalmari Helander
Stars: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake.
This is a sequel to 2022’s Finnish produced extremely violent WWII set action drama Sisu, which made my list of the top films of that year. Writer/director Jalmari Helander returns to handle this sequel, which delivers more of the same adrenaline rush, high body count and spectacular and visceral action sequences.
This equally violent and bloody sequel is set in 1946 in the immediate aftermath of WWII. The war has ended, but Russia has annexed Karelia, part of Finland’s territory, redrawing the country’s border. Former soldier turned gold prospector Aatami Korpi (again played by Jorma Tommila, reprising his role as the virtually indestructible warrior from the original) has returned home from the war to find his abandoned house now in Russian territory. He dismantles his house piece by piece, carefully numbering all the wooden panels and loads them onto his beaten up truck. Then he heads off across Finland to head out of the Russian occupied territory and rebuild his life.
But he finds himself relentlessly pursued by an almost as indestructible Russian soldier Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang, from Avatar, etc), the man who killed his family. The KGB has released Dragunov from his brutal prison in the chilly wastelands of Siberia, offering him a pardon if he can kill Aatami. During the frantic chase across hostile territory Korpi survives all manner of close calls, from machine guns, tanks, aerial attacks and bombings.
But when he attempts to cross the border into Finland, Korpi is captured by Draganov and loaded onto a train to be tortured as he is taken to Siberia. The bloody climax of the film takes place on the train as Korpi manages to escape captivity and slaughters his way through Soviet troops to get his revenge on Draganov.
Sisu: Road To Revenge is a non-stop action film that comes across like a spiritual cousin to Mad Max: Fury Road with its vehicular mayhem. The story itself is rather slim, but Helander stages some quite intense and over the top action sequences here with a reliance on old fashioned staging of some elaborate stunts and fight scenes (wonderfully created by stunt co-ordinator Roman Nesa Laupmaa). Some of the kills here are quite imaginative and creative. With non-stop action from start to finish there is little in the way of let-up during its propulsive, efficient and lean 90-minute running time. The film is full of blood and body parts with a high body count and some unflinching violence. But the non-stop action is tempered with some touches of dark humour.
Tommila’s Korpi is a man of few words, but his face and ravaged body bear the scars of his previous encounters with Nazi soldiers towards the end of the war. Tommila gives a nicely taciturn and physical performance here, and he imbues his character with a world-weary presence as he taps into his controlled anger. Lang leans into the comic book like villainous character with scenery chewing relish.
The gritty cinematography from regular cinematographer Mika Orasmaa (Rare Exports, etc) adds to the visual style. The film was shot entirely on location in Estonia, which doubles for the rugged wastelands of Karelia, giving the material a distinctive tone. The action is accompanied by a percussive driving score from Juri Seppa and Thomas Wainoia (who also worked on the original Sisu). With a budget of around 11 million Euros, this is one of the most expensive films produced in Finland and much of that budget can be seen up there on the big screen.
★★★☆
