Sisu: Le chemin de la vengeance

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).

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.

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.

Lots of over the top action? Yup. Blood? Yup. Vengeance is on the menu? Yup. Story? Well, kinda. 😂. But you don't go to see a dialogue heavy storyline. You aren't getting a a deep narrative. Guns, bombs, beheadings, and bombast. And I loved it! It's better than the first film and I really loved that film. I just wished it was about 20 minutes longer. All in all, go see it. It's a visceral film.

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.