SISU (2023)

SISU (2023)

Tagline: Vengeance Is Golden

(Action, War, Tetanus) [R]

We are taken to the last days of WWII and the Nazis have adopted a scorched earth policy in order to decimate as many of their enemies on the way to oblivion as they could. As they are leaving Finland they run across Aatami who is a war-torn prospector with a legendary past. Upon discovering that Aatami has just discovered a large amount of gold, the Nazis are willing to do whatever it takes to get it. Aatami is not about to give it up easily and now they will know the meaning of SISU. 

First off, “sisu” doesn’t have a direct Finnish translation, but in the film, it’s described as stoic determination, grit, bravery, resilience, and hardiness. Just so that you have an idea of what the movie’s title means. This is a Finnish film but at least in the United States, everyone is speaking English. 

When it comes to the acting everyone in this is committed and this thing is solid as heck. The only person we can stand that has more than a sentence in the movie is Aino played by Mimosa Willamo and she does a great job here with what she was asked to do. Because Jorma Tommila who plays Aatami only has 1 line in the entire film, but physically, expression-wise, etc., Jorma does an amazing job here. I am not familiar with the rest of the cast, but those two really stood out in this thing. 

The pacing is pretty slow for an action flick to start. It’s only a 91-minute movie and it never felt slow to me, but this isn’t JOHN WICK. The reason I mention JOHN WICK is because the SISU trailer purports to be made by the same studio as JOHN WICK, but I wasn’t able to find the connection unless one of the studios involved is owned by or owns one of the studios involved in JOHN WICK. Where the movies are similar, is in that Aatami is known for his refusal to die. Aatami owns a dog and he cares enough about it to travel at least 50 or 60 miles to go find it. Then finally both men, Aatami and JOHN WICK both have legends behind them. John is known as “Baba Yaga” and Aatami is known as “The Immortal”. I just realized this might be the review where I finally mentioned a movie that the review wasn't even about more than 4 times. 

Getting back to SISU, the score is pretty solid but the landscape itself actually captured my attention in some scenes more than anything else. Cinematically I am not going to say this is going to blow minds, but it is well done and some of the shots are pretty impressive. This thing also has a few surprises I didn’t expect which is really cool, but I do advise not going in expecting non-stop action. There is a lot of pretty gory stuff in this especially if you don’t do well with seeing people stitch themselves up. It’s just gnarly and honestly I could have done without a few of these scenes, but this is essentially a war movie so it’s to be expected I guess?

There is a heavy amount of “un-realism” in this thing so just be ready for that. It is not meant to be a play-by-play of the end of WWII. It’s kind of an over-the-top revenge story. I absolutely loved the ending of this freakin thing and overall this is a pretty satisfying movie if for nothing else than just to see the depiction of a bunch of Nazis being destroyed. 

Overall if you don’t like testosterone or strong men, then stay home. This one is going to be one you will want to skip. Outside of PREDATOR, it might be the most masculine movie I have seen in a few decades.

I give this one a 5 out of 7. There is just a ton that really works in this thing and having the lead actor just not talk for most of this film I think worked to its advantage. It’s kind of like watching a FRIDAY THE 13TH flick, only in this one Jason is the protagonist. 

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