Sisu: Road to Revenge

If you liked the first one, you'll like this one

If you LOVED the first SISU, YOU'LL FU*%IN LOVE THIS ONE

Picking up a couple of years after the event of the first movie, SISU ROAD TO REVENGE is once again written & Directed by Jalmari Helander and starring Jorma Tommila ad our stoic, silent, Atami (AKA THE IMMORTAL)

As with the first movie, this one opens with a bit of a history lesson about the Finnish & Soviet border in the aftermath of World War 2

Many families were displaced and had to leave the homes after the border redrawing and our heron, Atami, decides to head back to his family home so he can literally, reclaim it, transport the house beam by beam and rebuild it where is.

All is well that is until big bad Stephen Lang shows up and for (reasons) that I won't go into for fear of spoilers, and, off we go.

That pretty much covers the Plot of SISU 2 Road to REVENGE.

Its is not a plot heavy movie, its not overly complicated, but that is one of its strengths.

This is tight, streamlined, no fat svely 90 mins long, just like the first one (actually its 3 mins shorter than first one

(note to studios, its OK for movies to be 90 mins if that's all the story calls for!)

Like the first one, this movie is split up into chapters, (6 or 7 of them iirc) AND as with the first one, our lead Atami is a man of few words.

Like the runtime, having our hero remain silent is one of this movies strengths

Its a great example of show don't tell. There's no inner monologue, our protagonist doesn't feel the need to explain everything he's doing as he's doing it. He just does it, and the filmmakers show us what we need to see so we can get what's happening.

WE DO NOT NEED THIS '2nd SCREEN' STYLE STORYTELLING

Looking at you NETFLIX!

Jorma Tommila is BRILLANT again. It's a very physical role, its down and dirty, I cant imagine not was an easy shoot for him, but he absolutely commands the screen for 90 mins without saying a single word. He is BRILLIANT.

Stephen Lang is great too, absolutely chewing the scenery and hamming it up with thick accent (but I mean that as a compliment as thats exactly whats needed for the villain in a movie like this)

Cinematography wise, Its got a slightly more polished look than the first, still got that golden hue but its a little more subtle this time, more organic (that kinds makes sense when you compare the motivations og Gold in the first movie, and literally, wood in this one)

That actually also makes the character motivations in this one a little more, wholesome and less capitalistic.

In the first one, he was fighting for gold. In this one, he's fighting for the building blocks of his family's home

It's maybe not a fair comparison as I saw this one the cinema, whereas I saw the forst one at home. It was a rare blind buy for me as I'd heward good things about it was a damn fine looking steelbook, so I'm glad I got it.

It might be a pulpy, ultra violent, B-Movie inspired revenge flick, but its a VERY GOOD pulpy, ultra violent, B-Movie inspired revenge flick

John Wick meets Mad Max Fury Road (with a dash of Die Hard and a sprinkling of Snowpiercer).

Its gloriously violent (I'm surprised its just a 15 here in the UK and not an 18)

As I said in the opening, If you liked, the first SISU, you'll like this one.

If you LOVED the first SISU, YOU'LL FU*%IN LOVE THIS ONE

8/10 for SISU ROAD TO REVENGE

The director is apparantly gonna be helming the next Rambo Movie which is a prequel. On the one hand, when I heard the news they were making a Rambo Prequel I was a bit like, urgh. BUT, now that I know the SISU director is calling the shots, and its made by AGBO, The Russo Brothers studio.

As Leo said, now you have my attention.

That's us folks, I'll catch you in the next one.

With a protagonist who simply cannot die, there's very little in the way of real jeopardy in Sisu: Road to Revenge; a white knuckle ride of edge-of-the-seat suspense this is not. What it is is an hour and a half of insanely violent action set-pieces full of gore and general lunacy, but very little in the way of plot. If you know this before going in, and are happy with that, then this sequel to the 2022 Finnish film Sisu should provide a bloody good time. With the emphasis on bloody.

The story goes like this: after the end of WWII, Russia takes control of Karelia, a region of Finland, displacing the population. Indestructible soldier Aatami (Jorma Tommila) drives his almost as indestructible truck across the border into the new Russian territory in order to dismantle the home he once shared with his now deceased family, with the intention of rebuilding the structure back in Finland. When the Russians realise that the man who killed over 300 of their soldiers during the war is now on Soviet turf, they send Yeagor Dragunov (Stephen Lang), the war criminal who murdered Aatami's wife and children, to deal with the situation.

Split into several chapters, Sisu: Road to Revenge doesn't concern itself with logic or obey the laws of physics: anything goes, the film resembling a live-action Looney Tunes cartoon at times. Like the roadrunner, Aatami escapes every trap laid for him by Dragunov and his men, albeit sustaining a little more damage than the cartoon bird ever did. There's plenty of shooting and explosions, a scene that feels like it has been plucked straight out of a Mad Max movie, an attack by Russian fighter planes, an extremely silly moment in which a tank does a 360 degree somersault through the air, and an ending involving a train propelled at high speed along the track by a Russian missile. Countless nameless Russian soldiers are riddled with bullets along the way.

Director Jalmari Helander handles the action well enough and keeps the film moving along at a decent pace, while star Tommila puts in a decent (dialogue-free) performance, with solid support from Lang and Richard Brake as the KGB agent who wants Aatami dead. And there's a cute dog as well. My rating is 6/10 - not as good as the first film, but still worth checking out.

Ok, we can all agree many successful journeys-to-wherever narratives ratchet up the action sequences to crescendo into bigger, better, bloodier, and Sisu 2 is no different. You'll enjoy the passing of each chapter, just so long as you don't think too much about logistics or motivations. The largely dialogue-less screenplay benefits from zero zingers and relies on the emotive countenance and eyes. Grunts, groans and growls aside of course. In short, this is a good use of your movie viewing capital as it delivers a well-paced tale of loss, struggle, and sweet, sweet - and yes, very bloody (though not overly gruesome) - revenge.

I was genuinely excited that Aatami's story continues. I loved the first film, and the moment it became clear there would be a follow-up, I was immediately interested. "Some men fear death, others walk straight to it." that's Aatami in a nutshell, once again.

Right from the start, this film feels bigger: higher budget, more scale, more impact. Bigger, better, bloodier.

What I really appreciated is that the narrative style from the first film remains intact. The chapter structure, the quiet intensity, the mythical way Aatami is framed, all of that returns. "Violence is a language and he speaks it fluently." Aatami is once again portrayed as more legend than man.

Stephen Lang as the antagonist was a real highlight for me. He's simply built to play men who feel dangerous the second they enter a frame. "They thought the legend was over. They were wrong." And that's exactly the vibe the film carries when Lang shows up.

As for the action: uncompromising, raw, and extremely entertaining. The brutality remains, the intensity rises and yes, the ending goes a bit over the top, but that fits this world and the tone completely.

"Pain is temporary, purpose isn't." That line captures the drive behind Aatami's journey.

Thematically, the film also stays consistent: "Revenge doesn't ask questions, it answers them." And the story follows that philosophy direct, brutal, and without hesitation.

If you loved the first film, this is a strong continuation. If you love 80s-inspired action films, even better. And for everyone else, this is a stylish, ruthless revenge trip that knows exactly what it wants to be.

This is a very Finnish take on the nostalgic action movie genre. Good action movies with a one-man army are absolutely silly but when they are good - like Sisu and Sisu2, they are convincing in their own reality.

Action scenes in the Soviet Union are so over the top but make sense in the context of the story. Extreme but not psychologically serious violence of this film honors the genre of action films from the 80's and 90's. And many of us grew with those films which makes this feel nostalgic; you feel safe on your seats even though everything is covered with blood unless it is exploding into million pieces.

Jorma Tommila is just fantastic as the main lead: not a single word is said by him throughout the movie but his performance is one of the best I have ever seen. I guess that I just love actors who are extremely physical and raw in a subtle and precise way. There was this Finnish cult-leader like professor in the national theater school in the 1980's named Jouko Turkka. I think he would have been very proud of his student's job as an avtion star at the age 60+.

There is a dog and a man. No words. Just one man's mission to save what he can save when everything is lost. The ending is beautiful. Tommi Korpela has a small part but he makes every word count in the catharctic moment.

I enjoyded this film a lot. My American-Australian husband loved this as well (and the first one too).