Title – Sisu (2022) 

Director – Jalmari Helander (Big Game) 

Cast – Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Mimosa Willamo

Plot – Legendary ex-soldier turned gold prospector Aatami (Tommila) discovers the find of a lifetime but trying to reach civilisation at the tail-end of World War 2 in the Lapland wilds turns into a dangerous battle of survival when he runs across a group of desperate Nazi’s led by a vicious commander (Hennie). 

“Vengeance is golden” 

Review by Eddie on 11/08/2023

Spoken about and promoted as a type of aged gold hunting Finish John Wick vs rampaging Nazi’s, Sisu is certainly a B-movie with a fabulous action idea, yet while it has an abundance of inventive kills and thrills, Jalmari Helander’s film isn’t able to breakout in a major way as it plods along its way to deliver action goodness around a forgettable story. 

Named after a Finish concept that is unable to be directly translated into an English form, Sisu speaks of a stoic determination, tenacity of purpose, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness and that’s certainly what we get from Jorma Tommila’s unassuming gold prospector Aatami, a man who has forgone his days of fighting in World War 2 to seek out a quiet existence that is thrown out the window after a find of a lifetime is interrupted by Aksel Hennie’s Nazi commander and his small band of murderous soldiers who discover who Aatami is and what he is in possession of. 

A director so far associated with high concept films such as Rare Exports and the Samuel L. Jackson starring Big Game, that are only barely passable as an end product, Helander is familiar with the action space and he is able to unleash some significant carnage here in Sisu, whether it’s a whole new concept of breathing underwater or battling it out in a mine clad field of death, there are set pieces and scenarios in Sisu that are going to get action fiends up and about in a big way but that’s not enough to save the film from its battles elsewhere. 

Key to proceedings here is that we never get the insight or the reason to care for Aatami the way in which we would’ve liked. 

Unlike action kingpins that share similar DNA to this film like the aforementioned John Wick or even to a lesser extent Rama in The Raid or Tyler in Extraction, Aatami isn’t that charismatic or instantly backable and while it’s always a joy to see nefarious Nazi’s dispatched in imaginative and often painful ways, with Sisu’s inability to make us root for its protagonist in a major way, much of what transpires in Helander’s offering is decent without being noteworthy, a fact especially glaring in the films final stages that pale in comparison to earlier scenes that have long since transpired. 

At a brief 90 minute runtime you could do worse than turn to Sisu for your action fix and its setting and concept is likely to see it become a cult favourite but this idea presented an opportunity for Helander and his team to create a very special genre offering that this film sadly isn’t. 

Final Say – 

A film with memorable moments rather than a memorable whole, Sisu had greatness within its grasp and the opportunity to give us a new action hero but it stumbles as much as it runs making this a decent time passer but nothing more. 

2 1/2 battle scars out of 5