Jorma Tommila delivers a brutal, blood-soaked odyssey in Jalmari Helander’s lean, ferocious sequel
By James Verniere/Boston Movie News
Fictional legendary Finnish army commando Aatami Korpi is back in “Sisu: Road to Revenge,” and so is the Finnish actor Jorma Tommila in the role. In the 2022 sleeper hit “Sisu,” Korpi battled Waffen-SS Nazi soldiers who stole the gold the commando-turned-prospector had mined in Lapland in 1944 and tried to kill him, not knowing what force they had unleashed by doing so (Sisu is an untranslatable Finnish word having to do with courage and perseverance). In “Sisu: Road to Revenge,” also written and directed by Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander, who helmed the cult gem “Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale” (2010), Korpi will once again show us what John Wick would be like if he were a Finn.
Creator Helander has said that he was inspired by both the Rambo origin film “First Blood” (1982) and the real-life Finnish sniper Simo Hayha, who killed over 500 Soviet soldiers during the World War II-era Winter War between Finland and the Soviet Union. Once again accompanied by his faithful bedlington terrier Buddy, Korpi crosses into Soviet-occupied, postwar, former Finnish territory, where he loads up the beams of the small house he shared with his wife and sons, who were murdered and “chopped to pieces” by Soviet soldiers. The officer who murdered his family Igor Draganov (American actor Stephen Lang of the “Avatar” series) is released from prison in Siberia and ordered to track down and kill Korpi. In his first attempt to do so, Draganov watches as Korpi, who sits behind the wheel of a large, beat-up truck loaded with the precious wood, turns an attacker into a human torch.
Let the fun begin. Composers Juri Seppa and Tuomas Wainola once again fire up Ennio Morricone-like horns to accompany Korpi’s rampage. Korpi not only triumphs over his adversaries but also over his own self-doubt. He also soaks up tremendous pain in the course of his “revenge.” These “Sisu” films take the “masochism” in the term “sadomasochism” very seriously. In one scene, Draganov tells Korpi exactly what he did to his family in horrifying detail. These “Sisu” films are a demonstration of what happens when evil decides to take on an unstoppable force, something we’d like to see more of in real life, especially now.
Tommila’s performance, which recalls both Sylvester Stallone and Buster Keaton, is stoic and so non-verbal, it’s virtually silent. As he examines the inside of his house, left undisturbed since the murder of his family, we only see his expressions and hear a few grunts and grimaces of pain as he sees evidence of a sudden, violent interruption in the family’s routine and then discovers a precious photograph. Korpi is a real-life “one-man death squad,” a symbolic Christ-like figure who endures things depicted in the Stations of the Cross and the human equivalent of the Road Runner. When Korpi gets captured by the bad guys, he is lashed mercilessly with an electrified whip while hanging from his hands tied to the ceiling. What, no crown of thorns? You’ll never guess where he hides the blade of a chopper.
The action sequences in “Sisu: Road to Revenge,” which had a budget of 11 million euros (about $14 million), an absurdly paltry sum, often recall George Miller’s “Mad Max: Fury Road” (2015), which cost an estimated $150 million to make. It’s almost impossible to understand how writer-director Helander stretched his money far enough to make this deeply resonant, entertaining, non-stop action film. Talk about getting a lot of bang for your buck. In “Sisu: Road to Revenge,” the inexpensive bangs arrive about every three minutes. The film also features chapter headings a la Tarantino.
The road turns into a railway track in the final showdown, complete with a giant rocket stored in a train car. Korpi must navigate narrow spaces filled with the outstretched arms of sleeping Soviet soldiers, recalling the hands holding candelabras in Jean Cocteau’s “La Belle et la Bête” (1946). He must also walk on broken glass. Although unstoppable, Korpi must endure great loss and suffering to reach his goal. He must also kill innocent conscripted Russian boys by the truckloads, a noteworthy invocation of the human waste of war. Have we reached the end of our “Sisu” journey? I don’t think so.
‘Sisu: Road to Revenge’
Rating: R for strong bloody violence, gore and language
Cast: Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake
Director-writer: Jalmari Helander
Running time: 1 hour, 29 minutes
Where to watch: In theaters
Grade: B+
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