Sisu was one of those strange things; it was a good action movie. There was no preaching, nothing for the modern audience, it was just kick ass! If you haven’t seen it, it’s very much worth checking out.
A sequel came out this year, and it’s now on streaming. I watched it this week and, well, blow me down, it was great. I say that as a fan of the first one, basically, if you liked Sisu, you will like Road to Revenge.
Sisu: Road to Revenge stars Jorma Tommila, Richard Brake, Tommi Korpela, Kaspar Velberg, and Stephen Lang. Tommila was in the original as ‘the man who couldn’t be stopped, ’ but this time around, they added some star power with Lang.
Jalmari Helander is the writer and director who is the man behind the first movie.
The Story
You don’t have to have seen the original to enjoy the second one:
A man returns to dismantle his family’s house, where they were murdered in war, to rebuild it elsewhere. When the killer, a Red Army commander, tracks him down, a brutal cross-country pursuit begins.
Honestly, that’s all you need to know about the story, but that’s the beauty of Sisu. We meet Aatami (Tommila) as he’s crossing the Russian border to collect his house. He has a huge truck and dismantles the house to move it.
In the meantime, we me Dragunov (Lang) in jail. He’s freed so he can track down Aatami because of all the devastation he caused in the first movie. The rest of the movie is a game of cat and mouse, but with explosions, bloody, kick ass sequences and more blood.
K.I.S.S.
When thinking about this, and the original Sisu movie, you can’t help but think about K.I.S.S. – Keep It Simple Stupid. As I said, there’s no politics, well, apart from explaining about Russia’s attack on Finland. There are no women or a stupid love triangle. Road to Revenge is just about Lang trying to kill ‘the man who cannot be stopped’. #simple
It took me back to the good old days of the ‘80s action movies. We don’t need a complex plot, with twists, turns and double crosses; we just want to see stuff blowing up. That’s not to say the story isn’t there, but it strips things back to basics.
Fast & Furious
You know who the F&F movies started with: a bunch of criminals stealing VHS and CD players? Then, in one of the last movies, they had a car in space? As they have gone on, they have got more and more ludicrous. Well, Sisu: Road to Revenge is a little like that.
Without spoiling too much, there is a flying tank at one point. Was it bloody stupid? Yes. Was I thoroughly entertained? Also, yes! There are a few moments in this movie where you have to completely let go of all logic and just enjoy the ride.
There are about three scenes that are utterly stupid, but they made me grin from ear to ear. They also aren’t as bad ‘a car in space’, you can kind of believe them, but at the same time, you know it’s bloody stupid.
What I wanted from Sisu: Road to Revenge was to be entertained, and this is exactly what it does. You can follow a simple, but solid story, watch ‘the man that couldn’t be stopped’ kicking ass and being far more determined than I would have been.
Overall
As I said, if you have seen the original Sisu and liked it, you’re in for another treat here.
The movie is 90 minutes of action, adventure and blood, lots of blood. There is very little dialogue, but that’s what a good story can do: tell a story with very little script.
Sisu: Road to Revenge is just what the doctor ordered for 2025; it’s a call back to the ‘80s action movies we used to love. The only thing missing was boobs, like all ‘80s action movies had, then it would have been perfect.
However, the lack of women in this movie is a good thing; there aren’t any to preach at men, put them down and go all Mary Sue. This is a man’s movie, with kick ass men, being tough, and blowing stuff up.
I’m giving Sisu: Road to Revenge a solid 5 out of 5 stars. This is, by modern standards, it’s not 5-star gold. This movie is kick ass and awesome and simple, like me. Although I would have given up very early on in the movie.
Sisu: Road to Revenge is on VoD.
