Sisu: Le chemin de la vengeance

Sisu: Road to Revenge is basically a live action rendition of Looney Tunes with plenty of over the top laughs and slapstick worthy kills throughout. It's a bigger, more personal and absurd sequel that knows exactly what it is and executes it efficiently from the moment it starts. Dialogue is generally kept to a minimum, allowing the story to be mostly communicated visually which continues to be extremely satisfying.

Jorma Tommila is once again a man of few words who brings an unwavering determination and steely resilience as he really gets put through hell and back. There's enough context given at the start to understand why he's doing this which keeps it emotionally investing enough. Stephen Lang is perfectly cast as a ruthless villain with no morals so his inevitable comeuppance can land the way it should.

Jalmari Helander's direction delivers another slick yet simultaneously dirty looking film that isn't afraid to get pretty brutal when it comes to its main character's suffering and his writing has an effectively simple structure. The score by Juri Seppä & Tuomas Wäinölä is suitably rousing and Mika Orasmaa's cleanly shot cinematography ensures nothing is missed in most of the action sequences.

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.

The first Sisu was a huge surprise for me. I enjoy action films, but I don't usually connect with this rougher, hyper-stylised subgenre that lives off pure excess and endless brawling. Still, the original won me over with its balance between cartoonish violence, tight pacing and that lone-wolf Western attitude that made it stand out. And the funny thing is that, until recently, I didn't even know a sequel was being made. I went in blind, just hoping for the same madness as before.

The truth is that Sisu: Road to Revenge pushes that madness even further. So far, in fact, that it sometimes slips into almost cartoon-level absurdity. There are at least three scenes that cross that line: one involving a warplane, another with a tank and one where the character literally rides a missile. All moments that made me think "sometimes, less really is more". It doesn't ruin the experience, but it does take away that sense of brutal plausibility that the first film still managed to hold onto.

For anyone who likes unfiltered action, the film gives you everything it promises and then some. It's fists, bullets, chases and explosions from start to finish, without a single pause to breathe. The narrative is as simple as expected: we follow the protagonist played again by Jorma Tommila, now hunted by Soviet soldiers, one of whom carries a particularly cruel connection to his past. And honestly, that's all the story needed. Unlike franchises like John Wick, which kept expanding their mythology to the point of unnecessary complication, Sisu stays direct and focused. That straightforwardness is probably the main reason I've become a fan of this saga.

In the end, Road to Revenge is fun, visceral and fully aware of the kind of spectacle it wants to deliver, even when it goes beyond the limits of what makes sense. It's slightly weaker than the original because it loses some of the surprise factor and the restraint that made the first one so special, but as a cinema experience it's still a glorious little festival of chaos. I left satisfied, feeling it achieved exactly what it promised: pure entertainment.

Having loved the first film I went to watch this in the cinema worried it wouldn't anywhere as good. How wrong was I?

It's every bit as good as the first one and two of the Sisu moments were so ridiculous they were simply EPIC.

Won't say much more about the actual plot and film as it's not needed just go into this with the love you had for the first one.

Roll on part 3 please.

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.