Nazis finally get what’s coming to them in this revenge action thriller: part Spaghetti Western, part WW II bloody, yet wildly entertaining adrenaline fix.
The film, mostly in English with a few subtitles, stars Jorma Tommila as Finnish ex-commando Aatami Korpi in an exhausting role. He’s become a lone wolf gold miner since the Russians murdered his family. Korpi is already a legend known for single handedly murdering hundreds of Russians in retaliation. His exploits have earned him the moniker, “Sisu.” It’s an untranslatable Finnish word for unwavering courage for those who never giving up in the face of certain defeat. And he meets certain defeat over and over again throughout this film.
The script both written and directed by Jalmari Helander is set in his native Finland in1944 as the Nazis stage a scorched-earth retreat facing their coming defeat. Cinematographer Kjell Lagerroos imbues this bleak, cold landscape with despair through the desaturated, almost colorless vistas of barren, treeless land.
It’s in this soil that Korpi uncovers a rich vein of glittering gold. With just his horse and faithful dog he’s on his way to cash in when he encounters a German tank company led by SS Obersturmführer Bruno Heldorf (Aksel Hennie). This is the brutal guy you simply love to hate. Bruno also has a truck full of kidnapped young women for his troops’ use.
With quick exposition, Helander launches into the non-stop cycle of Korpi’s harrowing brushes with death, exacting his bloody retribution time-after-time. He keeps finding new ways to kill his tormentors, while he’s being beaten, slashed and even hung! Tommila is given few words to speak, but it’s his piercing, steel blue eyes, often in stark relief to his blackened, mud-covered face, that cuts to the heart portraying what SISU embodies. As one of the young captive women says” He’s not immortal. He just refuses to die.”
There’s nothing even remotely plausible about Korpi’s exploits, but Tommila is a committed actor who makes you believe he might be able to pull it off. Just like John Wick or any of The Avengers storylines, there is no way any of these heroes could, or should survives what they’re up against. Yet, here we are, cheering Wick and the Avengers surviving the unsurvivable.
Wait till you see what Korpi is up against at every turn. We thought he was a goner multiple times. It’s so outrageous, you’ll find yourself giggling with nervous laughter as he gets in and out of lethal situations. The fun aspect of all this death and destruction is that not one innocent soul is killed in this storyl. There’s a huge body count, but it’s entirely comprised of Nazi’s, yay!
It’s hard not to compare this to another connoisseur of bloody action, but Helander almost Out-Tarantino’s Tarantino. While the repetition of the bloody action does get a bit numbing, the rapid pace keeps it from becoming too tedious. Just like the recent penchant for horror/comedy movies, Sisu finds the path to a very entertaining hour and a half while portraying many truly ghastly scenes leaving room for ironic humor mixed with the blood and mud.
Lionsgate 1 Hour 31 Minutes R
Related posts:
Knives Out Writer/Director Rian Johnson talks about having the whole cast on the set
Ford v Ferrari Stunt Coordinator, Robert Nagle
Interview with Waves stars Kelvin Harrison, Jr., Taylor Russell and Writer/Director Trey Edward Shults talking teen angst, family and sound design.
THE CAMPERS AT THE SUNDANCE PREMIERE OF CRIP CAMP: A DISABILITY REVOLUTION TALK ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE AND THE FILM.
Raya and the Last Dragon
Eddie Redmayne and Tom Harper talk challenges making The Aeronauts
