Del and Mladen review ‘Sisu: Road to Revenge’

Image courtesy of Screen Gems.

“Sisu: Road to Revenge” Starring Jorma Tommila as Astami Korpi (Sisu), Stephen Lang as Igor Dragonov and Richard Brake as the evil KGB officer. Directed by Jalmari Helander. 1 hour, 29 minutes. Rated R. Theatrical release.

Spoilers: No.

Plot summary: Sisu returns to his former family home, which is now behind Soviet lines, to recover timbers for a new house in Finland. But the man who murdered Sisu’s family is given orders to finish the job, and Sisu must battle the crazed killer – and the Red Army – to make his way back home.

Del’s take

“Sisu: Road to Revenge” is a flaming train of fiery dumpsters hurtling down the track at breakneck speed, conducted by a maniacal tweaker three days into withdrawal, his drool-flecked lips twitching as his finger hovers over a trigger that will detonate 40,000 pounds of TNT, nitro and an atomic bomb, all at once, and somebody better damn well give him what he wants or the duck he’s taken hostage is gonna end up in a confit – or as confetti.

That’s pretty much the plot of “Sisu.” Equal parts violence and absurdity, “Sisu” is so ridiculous and funny it’s impossible not to love, kinda like that goofy pitbull that slobbers you with kisses but scares the bejesus out of everyone else. It’s not a grindhouse movie and it’s not serious drama. Rather, it walks somewhere between films like “Machete,” “Return of the Living Dead II” and “From Dusk till Dawn.”

The story is simple: Sisu returns to the territory occupied by the USSR during World War II to recover timbers from the family home. He wants to rebuild his house – and his life – in what remains of Finland. All hell breaks loose when the Russians unleash psychotic killer Igor Dragonov (Stephen Lang), the man who diced up Sisu’s wife and sons with a shovel, to “clean up” the mess he created and terminate Sisu.

Everything about Sisu is primordial, elemental and unyielding, from the war wagon of a truck he drives – the thing looks like it was forged in the foundries of Hell – to Sisu himself, an unkillable killing machine who, like John Wick or the Road Warrior, destroys only those who deserve to be destroyed. Even when tortured so horrifically his back resembles a Strawberry Pop Tart warmed with an arc welder, Sisu bears his misery like a monk who has taken a vow of silence.

But there’s a human side to the myth. John Wick has his dog. Frodo has his ring. And Sisu has his timbers, which he treats with divine reverence – they are symbols of his family. He salvaged them barehanded from the empty house and now they will salvage him – from Molotov cocktails, marauding IL-2 Sturmaviks, T-55 tanks and more machine gun rounds than Al Capone’s felony convictions.

Like “Toxic Avenger” it’s all done with a sly wink. The manic inventiveness of the kills and the relentlessly kinetic action propel the story so briskly you almost miss the sly humor, which I warn you, is dark. Sisu trying to sneak through a train car filled with sleeping soldiers, or crawling bare-chested through broken glass, only to stick his fingers into a rat trap – it’s wince-inducing, yes, but in the Sisu universe it’s freaking hilarious.

Stephen Lang is the only face you’ll recognize in this bunch and he does a terrific job of portraying the murderous Red Army psychopath Draganov. Never fear. Draganov will get what’s coming to him, and you’ll groan with both horror and hilarity when it happens.

“Road to Revenge” is not for the faint of heart but by movie’s end, if you can stick it out that long, you’ll be cheering for this Finnish Rambo as he deals out a lethal dose of truth, justice and the Sisu way.

 I’m giving “Sisu: Road to Revenge” an A. It’s vastly entertaining. Mad Max and John McClaine may have to make room for “the Immortal,” as the Russians call Sisu.

As they say in the land of Nokia, “Yippee-ki-yay, kusipää!”

Mladen’s take

Ever wonder what happens to a horse when it steps on an anti‑tank mine? Watch the first Sisu movie. In this one, the Nazis are the enemy.

Ever wonder what happens to a Russian soldier after he gets caught beneath the heavily studded, rear wheel of a 6 × 6 fortress truck from another dimension when the clutch is popped? Watch the second “Sisu” movie, which Del and I couldn’t stop enjoying despite its profound absurdness.

“Sisu: Road to Revenge” is bonkers whacky nuts with a swirl of outlandish and a dash of demon hot sauce.

As with any good piece of violence cinema, “Sisu” delivers at every level. This movie is a linear bundle of coherent mayhem. It depicts thoughtful violence. Creative violence. Violence by fire, bullet, and explosion. And, dare I say, subtle violence. There’s never pointless violence. Loved it all.    

Hell, Sisu doesn’t say one word the whole time, though he releases howls, screams, and murmurs. Yet, somehow, the Ferocious Finn is still charismatic and likable.

I don’t understand how “Wicked: For Good” surpassed “Sisu” at the box office on their shared opening weekend. Like “Wicked,” “Sisu” is about righting wrongs, overcoming obstacles, and enduring when all seems lost. But it was the fairies and the flying monkeys that raked in the big bucks. Gross.

Though I agree with Del that “Sisu” is an A. I disagree with his opening paragraph characterization of our hyper-hero. Sisu, who has a name in the film by the way, Aatami Korpi, is deliberate in his capacity to extract himself spontaneously from dire situations. He has no need for food or water, not to mention alcohol or drugs, because the Unfathomable Finn is driven by the pursuit of justice and longing for his murdered wife and sons. He survived World War II in the first “Sisu.” He sure as hell managed the Commies in “Sisu: Road to Revenge.” Wonder who he’ll pulverize, skewer, perforate, or detonate with endless bursts of innovative defensive aggression in the third film.

I promise. When you leave the theater after seeing “Sisu,” you’ll be confident that the evil ones among us will, painfully, encounter their culture’s equivalent of “Sisu,” a human who’s only inhumane to those who deserve inhumanity.

What does “Wicked” have to offer? The maudlin moral that all is not what it seems and even bad people can be redeemed. Sheesh.

Mladen Rudman is a former journalist and technical writer. Del Stone Jr. is a former journalist and writer.