You may have seen the trailer for Sisu recently. The basic premise is that a man finds gold, which Nazis try to take away from him and a lot of Nazis die. I’m in for it and here’s my review. The story for Sisu is simple:
“When an ex-soldier who discovers gold in the Lapland wilderness tries to take the loot into the city, Nazi soldiers led by a brutal SS officer battle him.”
I’m not going to list the cast, as there’s no one you would probably recognize, but it is written and directed by Jalmari Helander. He is known for Rare Exports. If you haven’t seen Rare Exports, you really should. If you have seen it, you can know what to expect from Sisu. There’s an opening flashcard that says:
“‘Sisu’ is a Finnish word described as stoic determination, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness.”
This is the main focus of the movie. How far would you go to get your property back?
The Story
I’m not going to go into spoilers, but I will tell you the basics. The year is 1944 and the end of WWII is near. Aatami is a lonely man, living off the land, he has left the war behind him and he just wants to prospect for gold and retire.
He strikes a huge vein of gold, which means he can finally retire and live the quiet life he’s always wanted. As he’s heading home, he is confronted by a group of Nazis on the retreat. They discover the gold and, well, all hell breaks loose. What is great about Sisu is it is very much like John Wick. It’s a story that can be said in one sentence and has kick-ass action. You can’t help but compare this to John Wick.
The Action
This movie is a modern-day exploitation movie, with blood and guts flying everywhere. It’s not over done, but it does make you put your hand over your mouth in places. Again, I won’t spoil anything, but it has some of the most brutal kills I’ve seen in a while. Towards the end, the action seems to get beyond crazy, but you don’t mind, since you’re having so much fun watching Aatami killing the Germans.
People explode, there are several stabbings, a hanging, and lots and lots of gunfire. While watching the movie, I did ask myself who would win a fight? Aatami or John Wick? I’m going to have to say this, but I think Aatami would win. He goes through a lot more than Wick does and he just won’t quit. There’s a great line about Aatami that says:
“He’s not immortal, he just refuses to die!”
This sums him up very well. The Germans keep mentioning that he is immortal, maybe he cannot be killed. I wouldn’t want to find out if I ever meet the guy, I certainly won’t try and take something of his.
Overall
Sisu is a brutal, kick-ass action movie and… I’m going to say this… the best action movie I’ve seen since the original John Wick, maybe The Raid. If there has been something this good in between, I can’t remember it. Sisu will stick with me for a while. It is 90 minutes of pure action. It does have a slow start and the movie is very simplistic, but that just makes it even better. There are no over-the-top CG shots following a bullet up someone’s bum and out of their nostrils. It’s simple, it’s effective and it just kicked ass.
I’m rating Sisu very highly because it just got the job done, perfectly. Nazis take a man’s gold and he gets it back. The end.
Sisu > John Wick, there I said it. You can rent it on some online streamer right now.
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