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I watched this film on Prime Video completely by mistake. I genuinely thought I was putting on La Coleccionista, the Spanish production that premiered in cinemas this past August, but it turned out to be a Portuguese sequel, presented as a continuation of the Spanish original and starring Marco D'Almeida and Victoria Guerra. The lack of information already felt suspicious. No trailer, no decent stills, nothing that remotely hinted at what this movie was supposed to be. After watching it, everything made perfect sense.

The story is split into two parts, and neither of them is good. The first is so absurd it becomes funny. It follows a group of YouTubers spending a few days in a mansion on the Portugal Spain border, where bizarre (and ridiculous) events begin after they wander into a strange little shop. The premise could have worked, but the execution and writing are so questionable that everything collapses into pure nonsense, making each moment unintentionally hilarious. The dialogue doesn't flow, the reactions feel fake, and the promised horror never arrives. It's so poorly done that this first half ends up working as accidental comedy, like a high school amateur project but with a surprisingly solid budget. Still, it's the kind of thing you can enjoy with friends just to laugh at every ridiculous beat.

The second half tries to take a more serious direction by following a couple stranded in the same house after running out of fuel. In theory, it could have been more atmospheric, more focused, but it quickly turns into a series of tensionless, uninspired scenes. There's a small twist that attempts to add life to the narrative, but it's nowhere near enough to hide how empty it all feels. If the first half entertained through sheer stupidity, this one just drags because it's simply dull, with no depth or substance.

And that's the biggest disappointment. La Coleccionista could have been a small, promising horror project, a co production between Portugal and our talented nuestros hermanos in Spain. Technically, the film is actually decent (and even slightly above average compared to other Portuguese productions), but everything else falls apart. The writing lacks logic, the pacing is terrible, the characters are paper thin, and the production feels abandoned, with zero marketing around it not even a trailer or promotional stills. The end result is something laughable, packed with cringe moments, almost like a Prime Video version of Morangos com Açúcar but with horror elements taped on at the last minute. Honestly, that's exactly what it feels like.

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.

There's something curious about my relationship with Wicked. My brother and I have never had much patience for musicals, and yet the first chapter managed to win us over with surprising ease. It wasn't supposed to work, but it did. So Wicked: For Good arrived with high expectations. And the truth is that, even though it has its charm, it never manages to reach the level of the original.

Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo remain the emotional core of this world. Their chemistry carries several scenes, and there are musical numbers that shine on their own. But this sequel constantly feels rushed, as if it needed to tick off plot points without really living in them. The clearest example is Dorothy's arc, which appears in the story almost like a shadow. She isn't a background extra, but she never becomes a real character either. She's an idea, not a presence.

That sense of hurry affects the emotional development of the story. There are quieter moments that could have deepened the connection with The Wizard of Oz, not only through references but by creating richer thematic and emotional bridges. The film gestures toward that possibility, but it never fully embraces it. It chooses shortcuts where it needed room to breathe.

The final act sums up the problem. It arrives too quickly, wraps up too abruptly and fails to deliver the emotional impact that, in the first film, emerged almost naturally. Here, everything feels built on top of a rush, and that rush takes away its weight.

Even so, Wicked: For Good is not a bad film. Far from it. It still has magic, colour, memorable melodies and performances that elevate everything around them. What hurts is knowing it could have been so much more. The first chapter was so solid, so engaging, so well crafted, that this second part deserved to come with the same ambition. Instead, it ends up as a pleasant, visually appealing continuation, but too superficial to truly stay with you.

It's a shame, because the story had everything it needed for a truly powerful ending.