One of the biggest surprises of 2022 was the historical revenge thriller “Sisu.” The word “sisu” is Finnish and has no single English translation. It is a word used by Finns to represent their national character. It conveys courage, courage, tenacity and stoicism, especially in the face of adversity. The film “Sisu” embodied all of this and presented it in a crazy, bloody genre explosion.
Just as surprisingly, we have a sequel, “Sisu: Road to Revenge”. It’s pure and proud genre entertainment, crazier, much bloodier and with a significantly bigger budget. Writer-director Jalmari Helander is back and delivers a complete meal for action fans. And Jorma Tommila returns as the film’s silent and furious protagonist, dishing out huge helpings of justice to a variety of well-deserved corrupt Nazi and Soviet bastards.
The story takes place in 1946. The Nazis have been defeated and the Soviets are taking advantage of regional instability. Finland was forced to cede a large part of its territory to Russia. The former home of Aatami Korpi (Tommila) is located in now Soviet territory. He is a former Finnish commando who still mourns the brutal murders of his wife and two sons by Nazi soldiers while he was at war. Aatami is a quiet and solitary man. But as we saw in the first film, he’s not someone you want to upset.
With her beloved Bedlington Terrier, Aatami crosses the border and returns to her old home. The cabin that remains is all that remains of his past life. So he dismantles it and loads the wooden beams onto his truck, determined to take it back to Finland and rebuild it in honor of his family. But while he works, the Soviets catch wind of Aatami’s presence. Knowing his reputation for violence, a KGB officer (Richard Brake) travels to Siberia where he approaches imprisoned Nazi war criminal Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang).
We learn that Draganov is the man who murdered Aatami’s family. He ruthlessly and proudly brags about cutting Aatami’s wife and children to pieces with a shovel in order to save bullets. The KGB offers Draganov a deal: hunt down and kill the legend he created and he can return home a rich man. As Aatami and his puppy return to the border, they are suddenly pursued by the maniacal Draganov who throws everything at them, including an APC full of troops, armored bikers, fighter jets and much more.
“Road to Revenge” opens and ends with two surprisingly moving sequences. Everything else is literally non-stop action. Helander crafts one wild setpiece after another, each one a little bigger and a little bloodier than the one that preceded it. In the end, the film reaches a point that some might call just too absurd. But it works wonderfully because Helander never takes the action too seriously. In fact, there are injections of dark humor throughout the film, ensuring that we never lose sight of the film’s essence.
It’s true, there isn’t much story and the characters are who they are from start to finish. But that’s no big deal in a film so assured of its identity. “Road to Revenge” prides itself on being a no-holds-barred action game. Helander makes no effort to let bullets spurt, blood splatter, and limbs fly. As for his key players, Lang is no stranger to playing surly villains and Blake is always fun on screen.
But it’s Tommila who sells it best and without uttering a single word. His steely intensity, the burning fury behind his eyes and his fearless physique give the action courage and meaning. His direct handling of humor makes funny scenes funnier. And the amount of raw, heartfelt emotion he brings to the story’s bookends starts and ends things on the right notes. Impressively, it manages all of this in an overtly over-the-top genre film that never pretends to be something it’s not.
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