Jalmari Helander’s blood-soaked Sisu was a true hidden gem. A Finnish answer John Wick or Rambo, the title is a fitting one: it comes from a Finnish concept with no exact English translation, yet roughly means a unique kind of resilience that allows one to overcome the most extreme of situations. The film’s near mute protagonist once again finds himself in a conflict worthy of the concept in Sisu: Road to Revenge, a film that’s just as gory and arguably even more preposterous than its predecessor, yet proves just as fun to indulge in.
Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a retired Finnish commando infamously known as “the man who refuses to die” has made it through World War Two. In the years since he butchered a squadron of Nazis for trying to steal his gold (as depicted in the last film), Finland has since seceded the territory of Karelia to the Soviet Union, land that Korpi’s family home is located in. Thus, the film opens with him crossing the border and locating his old family home in Korelia.
It’s a surprisingly poignant prologue as Korpi silently wanders through his abandoned house, grieving the loss of his wife and children, all of whom were murdered during the war. Despite saying nothing, Tommila captures such a magnitude of grief in his expressions that it’s genuinely destabilising. It’s a rare, but welcome, moment of insight into this character’s psyche, as he dismantles his house plank by plank, intending to rebuild it in a new, safer place in Finland.
Unfortunately for Korpi, the Soviets get wind of his arrival in Karelia and thus decide to eliminate him. The KGB release one of their own, Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang), from prison, on the promise that he gets riches and a pardon should he kill Korpi. Dragonov is happy to do this, as he was the one who murdered Korpi’s family. Thus begins a long, gory chase to the Russian-Finnish border as Dragonov is hellbent on putting Korpi in the ground for good.
What made the first Sisu such a pleasant surprise, despite its cornucopia of carnage, was that it was willing to be both stupendously silly – this is the same film where a guy’s horse basically disintegrates under him but he walks away without a scratch – and pack a visceral thematic punch when called for. As much as the word Sisu translates to gritty resolve, the film was also a meditation on the ways war can irreparably change us, as we are forced to live with grief and trauma as much as our own courage. Sisu: Road to Revenge has inklings of that same thematic resonance, but it’s only present in short bursts, trading much of it in for an abundance of baffling but spectacular action.
Revenge is naturally one of the more overt themes explored, as Korpi merely wants to move on with his life, but is consumed by the need to kill Dragonov once he arrives on the scene. One empathises with Korpi’s drive here, but it’s rather heartachingly contrasted with the scenes of reminiscence. Even if he does succeed in avenging his family, all he’ll have left is the planks of wood that made their home. Even if he does successfully rebuild his house, the emptiness of the cabin will just remind him of how alone he now is. The film sympathises with, and even to an extent endorses, the idea of revenge, but is wise enough to show that acting on such an impulse only brings temporary respite. The prologue and epilogue are especially powerful in relation to this theme but one can’t help but wish this sentiment was more omnipresent throughout the film.
Like its predecessor, the action is intense, nail-biting and utterly shameless in its gore factor. Broken bones, deep wounds and waterfalls of blood are this film’s bread and butter as Korpi, armed with only his lorry of wooden planks and whatever means are available to him, powers through everything that Dragonov, and seemingly the whole Russian army, can throw at him, all while keeping his loyal dog safe from the devastation. Possible nods to Raiders of the Lost Ark and North By Northwest inform the numerous action scenes that follow this premise, each one as proudly silly as the last. One scene sees Korpi and his truck against two fighter planes, the outcome and specific timing being akin to a graphic cartoon. During a later sequence involving a tank and several sticks of dynamite – a moment that defies the laws of physics with such blatant indifference – I was reduced to writing in my notebook, “yeah, why not?”.
Another film may have collapsed under the weight of ridiculousness, but here the sheer audacity only elevates the entertainment factor. The suspension of disbelief you have to incorporate at times is extraordinary, yet the film remains steadfastly true to its titular concept of unrelenting determination, remaining consistently fun and exhilarating. Wide shots, careful editing and Helander’s direction proudly bask in the absurdity, and even comedy, of these scenes – one setpiece sees Korpi making his way through a train without waking up Soviet soldiers, and later using a rocket missile in a way that would’ve made Wile E. Coyote jealous. Yet intense close ups and skin-crawling sound design never obfuscate the graphicness or suspense of these action scenes. Where other pictures struggle to choose between daft or gritty, this film proudly displays both, creating a conveyor belt of squirm-worthy but wildly entertaining moments.
Tommila once again lends a hardened but undeniably human gravitas to the character. Where Korpi only said a few sentences at the end of the first film, this time he doesn’t say a single word. Yet Tommila doesn’t need them in order to convey both the monstrous grit and deep-rooted sorrow of the character, with his final moments in the film being a stellar example of body language acting. Lang, playing the main antagonist, proves to be Tommila’s equal. Although far more talkative than his protagonist counterpart, Draganov is the immovable object to Korpi’s unstoppable force; his capacity for murder and greed perhaps acting as a harrowing example of what Korpi could’ve become in another life. Both actors relish their time on screen with giddy fervour, making the characters as thoroughly enjoyable to watch as they are compelling below the surface.
Pictures like Sisu: Road to Revenge are great popcorn entertainment. They’re wickedly, even shamelessly, fun, yet harbour at least some thematic treasures if one is willing to dig a little deeper. The original film had this in spades, and while the novelty has worn off a little this time around, possibly due to a more fixed focus on action over theme, this film still delivers a graphic buffet of creative visuals, sharp direction and ravenous spectacle. Like 2025’s earlier action sequel Nobody 2 (also a lot of fun), the movie delivers exactly what it says on the tin, and sometimes that’s all one needs to have a terrific time at the pictures.
3 stars
Sisu: Road to Revenge is now in theaters.
Learn more about the film at the IMDB site for the title.
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