Two years ago the original Sisu movie, Sisu exploded onto cinema screens in a 93 minute orgy of unrelenting uber-violence against a battalion of fleeing Nazis in the dying days of World War II.
This one, Sisu: Road to Revenge sees our death-proof one-man-killing machine, Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) the Sisu of the title, do the same thing, but this time, to the might of the Soviet Union's Red Army.
WWII is over and our hero, Aatami, a gold-miner and Finnish ex-commando sets out in his huge truck into Soviet occupied Finland to return to his home - a log cabin. There he dismantles it log-by-log and attempts to transport it back to free Finland so he can rebuild it in honour of his family who were butchered by Red Army commander, Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang). For reasons never really explained, the Soviets unleash Draganov, who's been imprisoned in a Siberian gulag to kill Aatami by any means possible.
To save time, I've used parts of my review of the first film, since the only thing that's changed is brand of enemy that Aatami faces, so just replace the other 'N' word with 'Soviet Conscript'.
This, like the first, as moments of outrageous intentional humour and some spectacular deaths but I find that I can also reuse my summing-up of the first film with just a couple of tweaks for this one.
To save time, I've used parts of my review of the first film, since the only thing that's changed is brand of enemy that Aatami faces, so just replace the other 'N' word with 'Soviet Conscript'.
"What follows is a relentless and brutal battle that doesn't let up as Aatmai takes on them all on in a no-holds barred fight to the death and seemingly beyond as, with the power of Sisu, he manages to survive death at every turn, with almost supernatural power. This is savage, brutal and unrepentant. The Nazis die in violent gouts of bloody gore, and as the death toll rises so does the inventiveness of the kills."
And that's the main problem with this film. While watching Nazi scumbags being slaughtered in ultra-violent acts of pure barbarity is always a delight, watching the same treatment ditched out to a silent army of Soviet Conscripts doesn't carry the same levity and most certainly doesn't feel justified. Watching a train's worth of young Soviet Conscripts hacked-to-death, shot-to-death, stabbed-to-death, beaten-to-death or stamped-to-death becomes an uncomfortable watch.
Stephen Lang's Igor Draganov is a very one-note character whose most used word of vocabulary is 'Fuck', or variations of. He's there to give us a showdown and the obligatory fight to the death, although his demise is one of the hi-lights of the film.
Stephen Lang's Igor Draganov is a very one-note character whose most used word of vocabulary is 'Fuck', or variations of. He's there to give us a showdown and the obligatory fight to the death, although his demise is one of the hi-lights of the film.
What makes this watchable is the fact it's not a Hollywood movie, because it is Finnish it has a quality, look and style that makes it engaging, the staging of the action is freed from shaky-cam and frenzied editing of its US counterparts and the added gore and blood gouts elevates this, last week's The Running Man has the same body count, more or less, but hides its shame behind a feeble 12A certificate. This comes with a full-blooded 15 certificate and rightly so. Violence shouldn't be glamourised or homogenised and this is fully unpasturised violence.
This, like the first, as moments of outrageous intentional humour and some spectacular deaths but I find that I can also reuse my summing-up of the first film with just a couple of tweaks for this one.
"[Not as] Funny, [but just as] brutal and savage. Not everyone's cup of tea but this is every WWII film crossed with Rambo and Friday 13th with Jason Voorhees as the hero.
8/10
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