I'm a Johnny-come-lately when it comes to the 2022 Sisu, having discovered the Finnish flick when stuck in an auto-repair waiting room, where I was compelled to switch channels to avert another heap of Chris Meloni's one-trick-pony baloney.
Sisu (the term more-or-less means "guts") was directed by Jalmari (Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale) Helander and details a WWII, gold-prospector and former Soviet-soldier slayer, Jorma Tommila's Commander Aatami Korpi (aka "The Man Who Refuses to Die," "The Immortal One"), who combats the intersecting Nazis when they force their scorched-earth tactics across Finland. When Korpi is confronted by the haughty, social nationalists, who wish to confiscate his gold and kill him and his dog, the bastards face the seasoned warrior's wrath, as he takes them down in a manner that would make John Rambo and Max Rockatansky goddamn proud.
For Sisu's 2025, Cold War sequel, aka SI2u and subtitled Road to Revenge, Korpi returns to the house where his family was slaughtered and decides to disassemble it, so as to haul and reconstruct it in a more suitable local. On his truck-bound trek, he faces a barrage of Commies who engage him in a harrowing, burning-at-both-ends, Fury Road chase (highlighted by heart-hammering, aerial and biker assaults, as well as a jarring, train escapade), intending to squash him for daring to fight back in their annexed terrain.
Stephen Lang (one of the best and most underrated, character actors to come down the potent pike) plays the story's upfront antagonist, Commander Igor Draganov, who just by chance is the one who murdered Korpi's wife and sons. Lang gives Draganov an Ahab quality, which in turn designates Korpi as Moby Dick: a nice, metaphoric touch for those who wish to apply it. (BTW: Richard Brake, another great, underrated, character actor, portrays a KGB honcho who presses Draganov to annihilate Korpi, adding to our hero's massive quandary.)
As with the initial, Sisu, Road to Revenge overflows with survivalist tension, explosions and well, guts galore (strengthened every notch of the way by Juri Seppa and Tuomas Wainola's Morricone-esque score and Mike Orasmaa's scenic cinematography), as we see through Korpi's tired but ever watchful eyes. Tommila's performance makes his resolute character live and breathe, wherein the actor relays an overlap of saturating pain, sorrow and courage. Sure, in real life, he wouldn't last, but he's sure convincing doing his thing on the big screen (and for the record, Korpi is based on an historic, Lapland counterpart, Simu Hayha, aka "The White Death," who's renowned for killing Russkies.)
For its uncluttered plot and taut, streamlined direction, which smacks of old-school George Miller, Ted Kotcheff and Sam Raimi, Road to Revenge ranks as one of the year's most invigorating. I also believe it would work as an ideal team-up with Nobody 2 and Predator: Badlands, as both hold comparable, vengeful punch and kick. Road to Revenge, however, might ruffle a few feathers in the dumbass days of Mamscrawny, but good! Let it! This sequel isn't a guaranteed antidote to encouraged weakness and "entitled" villainy, but its message can at least shed a revealing, grindhouse light on it.
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