Sisu: Road to Revenge
The war is over and as part of the negotiations the territory of Karelia has been ceded to the Soviet Union, resulting in the displacement of 420,000 Finnish nationals; beyond the border is the home where Aatami Korpi lived with his family, his wife and two sons, all lost in the war, the only reminder he has of them which he will not give up, dismantling it board by board to transport it to a new location where he and his dog Ukko can live in peace.
His identity noted at the checkpoint as he enters the territory controlled by the Red Army, in prison in Siberia Yeagor Draganov is visited by a KGB officer who arranges his release with the promise of significant remuneration if Draganov can capture or eliminate Korpi, a man known as Koshchei, “the Immortal,” having acted as a one-man army who humiliated and destroyed an SS platoon two years previously.
Written and directed by Jalmari Helander and starring his brother-in-law Jorma Tommila, their fourth collaboration having first worked together on 2010’s Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale, the Finnish concept of unstoppable rage which expresses itself when all hope is lost is unleashed in Sisu: Road to Revenge as Korpi and Ukko (Simba) are pursued by VFW’s Stephen Lang and The Munsters’ Richard Brake.
The original Sisu having presented Korpi as a righteous force of nature, wild and unstoppable, a man who just wished to be left alone but was hounded by an enemy who would not capitulate, it was deliberately and consciously outrageous, the Road to Revenge opening with a man whose memories of joy were crushed out by grief who will not be allowed to move on from the past, yet fighting the Red Army never feels as timelessly satisfying as thrashing Nazis into the dirt.
Following the structure of the first film but never matching or, preferably, exceeding it, the few moments of true excess such as a backflipping tank feel out of place, more so because the capture of Korpi immediately after means the Road to Revenge would have played out the same regardless, Draganov apparently granted limitless resource yet deploying his troops piecemeal, allowing them to be picked off one by one.
The most successful chapter echoing the mayhem of Fury Road as Korpi’s truck is waylaid from all sides and above, Sisu: Road to Revenge feels tamed, his eventual transformation to blood-slicked creature of wrath too long coming and with many of those eliminated simply in his way than justifiable targets, a sequel which rides on the original rather than going beyond it but at least compact and offering a resolution which closes the story, requiring no further continuance.
Sisu: Road to Revenge is currently on general release
