'Sisu: Road To Revenge' review: Action thriller needs to Finnish the job

Sony Pictures

Don't forget to log off Karelia and log the film in your diary, okay? The backwoods are so back and so is one former commando in the action thriller Sisu: Road To Revenge (also known as Sisu 2 in Finland, stylised as SI2U for some odd reason), which is a sequel to 2023's 'Sisu'. We're obviously talking about Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), who we'll now exclusively refer to as Aatami Sisu, in honour of other cinematic main characters such as Cooper Trap, Norman Psycho, Alexia Titane, Brodie Plane and Esther Orphan.

World War II is officially over, and Aatami Sisu and his dog are driving to his family home in the Soviet Union side of Karelia in order to take it apart and rebuild it in Finland because these parts of Karelia have now been conceded from the latter country to the former after some brutal warfare. But Aatami Sisu's name is well-known by now and so on his way back towards the border, an unnamed KGB officer (Richard Brake) has unleashed commander Yeagor Dragunov (Stephen Lang)—the very man who killed Aatami Sisu's family— and his posse to eliminate this bloody legend as an act of revenge for all the Soviet soldiers he killed. Aatami Sisu isn't one to go down without a fight, though.

Look, this isn't exactly rocket science, at least until there's some flimsy rocket science baked into the plot. You came to see Nazi soldiers die in great numbers and in gruesome ways, and you stayed to see Red Army soldiers die in great numbers and in gruesome ways. Guys, do I have some good news for you, because much like Paramore once sang, that's what you get with "Revenge". What's different this time around is that writer-director Jalmari Helander and his army of creatives embrace fun, absurdity as well as intentional or unintentional influences more than before, which pays dividends. A bigger budget clearly didn't hurt either when it comes to action set pieces, blood and chaos. So as long as you're not a dork like me and don't notice small details that give away the fact that the film was most likely shot in Estonia, you'll be busy having a blast with this Looney-Tunes-meets-actually-satisfying-dad-cinema spectacle.

Whereas the first film struggled a bit with its choreography, geography and relationship with realism, the sequel fares much better in those aspects in addition to revising nearly everything else. Practical stunts are tighter, the fight choreography is slicker, and even the cartoonish vehicle mayhem with planes, trains and automobiles earns laughs. Mika Orasmaa's cinematography was never a problem, but it's more dynamic here. There's some aptly gnarly FX makeup (designed by Salla Yli-Luopa), and composers Juri Seppä and Tuomas Wäinölä provide the biggest upgrade in terms of craftsmanship by going from generic action thriller strikes and hits to more nuanced arrangements. Aside from some wonky VFX, as a director, Helander is constantly able to add fuel to the fire alongside his collaborators. Even Tommila gets more shades to play as an actor; there's now a little bit of poignancy complementing Aatami Sisu's tenacity.

Helander's writing, however, is quite hit-or-miss, and that might just be a result of the silent protagonist shtick, someone not working in their first language or many characters being nothing but caricatures, or per(kele)haps all of the above. Nevertheless, the characters are rather undercooked, as is the dialogue, which is a shame because there's not much of it in the first place and there was an opportunity to make it a lot more humorous or at least not so bland. But hey, let us choose to ignore these nitpicks and save them for another day. Let's just enjoy this ridiculously uproarious extravaganza for what it is because it's pretty much the cream of the crop as far as modern action movies go. Revenge rarely tastes, looks and feels this sweet.

Smileys: Stunt choreography, tone, cinematography, Jorma Tommila

Frowneys: Dialogue

Aatami is in the tank for some good ol' carnage.

4.0/5

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