The spate of one man killing machine movies continues with the release of Sisu a Finnish titled film almost untranslatable but probably best described as a sort of unimaginable and relentlessly unstoppable determination to get anything at any cost not seen since Meghan Markle set eyes on marrying a prince and here it is personified by Aatami (Jorma Tommila) a grizzled WWII soldier and the stuff of legend feared by those who crossed him and who inevitably never lived to tell the tale.
Set in 1944 in the dying days of WWII Aatami is alone in the freezing Finnish wastelands prospecting for gold which he discovers with a sizeable haul that will give him the financial freedom to escape the hell of war. But war won’t let him go when a band of Nazis, having laid waste to a nearby town with a tank and taken a truck load of female prisoners as their personal travelling harem, cross his path and steal his gold.
That the film is split into chapters headed The Gold, The Nazis, Minefield, Legend, Kill ‘em all and Scorched Earth gives you some idea of what to expect and what it is that you get is full on, balls to the wall, jaw dropping savagery as he lays waste to the band of Nazis. And let’s be fair 90 minutes of Nazis being despatched in a variety of often shocking ways as gleefully gruesomely done here makes this a guilty pleasure
Sisu plays like a revenge Western with Aatami wandering the Finnish countryside on horseback with a face more battered than Prince Andrew emerging from an impromptu visit to the Women’s Institute. Like an old fashioned exploitation movie with violence taken to comic book extremes with a seemingly indestructible anti hero Sisu plays like John Wick meets Nobody making this one of the most enjoyable and bloody action films of the year Sisu is a blast …….quite literally.
related feature: The making of Sisu
related feature: ‘Renfield’ director Chris McKay talks brutal horror and hidden Easter eggs
Here’s the Sisu trailer……..
