Event films are important for the industry and ensure that the smug naysayers who periodically announce that “cinema is dead” get proven wrong. Think of the bizarre phenomena that was “Barbenheimer”. But when an “event” film floods the screening schedules, it often comes at the expense of other releases that might have garnered more attention during slower weeks. That’s a slapdash way of flipping a finger at Wicked: For Good and singing the praises of Sisu: Road to Revenge, which would likely have played a few more screens if Elphaba hadn’t snatched them up in her green fingers and sung dramatically from them. Petty griping aside, Sisu: R2R is here and is a somewhat unexpected (but pleasantly anticipated) follow-up to Jalmari Helander’s bloody action thriller from 2022. If you’re familiar with Helander’s work, you’ll know that he also made the cult Christmas horror in 2010 called Rare Exports. With that in mind, and the fact that you see far, far, far, more blood in this film than you will in Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 and other PG-horrors, we make no excuse for reviewing this, even though it is technically non-genre. Helander returns to direct, with the 65-year-old Jorma Tommila also returning as the tough-as-nails war hero Aatami Korpi. As the original film was something of a sleeper hit in the US, it allowed for this sequel to be filmed in Estonia with a (slightly) bigger budget. With a whopping 96% on Rotten Tomatoes (at the time of reviewing) and a ton of positive feedback, US and UK action fans can now go to Russia with love.

 

Set in 1946, just after World War II has ended (and also the events of the first film), a chunk of Finland (Karelia) has been ceded to the Soviet Union. This has displaced a large number of Finnish citizens who had to surrender their rural homes and livelihoods. As a result, the legendary Finnish Commando Korpi (Tommila) left his family cabin behind, as it was now located behind Russian borders. But he wants it back. Legally travelling into the now Red State of his homeland with a truck (and his faithful pooch, who is still very much alive and barking), he dismantles the log cabin and takes the lumber with him to rebuild the structure in Finnish lands. This will help him to memorialise his beloved family, who were slaughtered by rampaging Russian soldiers. Meanwhile, in Siberia (a genuine caption in the film!), the disgraced Army officer Draganov (an excellent Stephen Lang) languishes in a Gulag, with a literal ball-and-chain as an atonement for his war crimes. He was directly responsible for the death of Korpi’s loved ones, which has prompted an offer of freedom and riches from a sinister KGB officer (Richard Brake), if he captures or kills the “Immortal” hero that he unwittingly helped to create. So, the scene is set for a chase-down and confrontation between the two adversaries, as well as a seemingly unlimited amount of army resources are thrown at the man who is simply too stubborn to die.  

 

Sisu: R2R is basically one of those pulp war comics that were all the rage in the 70s, brought fully to life and crammed full of ridiculous stunts and heroic derring-do. It’s all black-and-white with no moral ambiguity. The good guy is treated badly but has no reluctance in dealing out barbaric justice. Whilst the bad guys are amoral shits without an ounce of compassion. Having said that, dialogue is sparse to say the least. Korpi even says less than he did in the first film, which is pretty impressive. One meta-gag has a character silence a response from him by saying, “You don’t need to say anything”. Just as well! Tommila and Lang are (except Brake) the only “names” in the cast. In fact, they are the only characters with actual names, as everyone else is pretty much a “red shirt” and probably destined for a visit to the grave. But none of this matters, because the film is on par with the first movie and is an adrenaline rush. There are a couple of touches of calm and pathos in the first and last scenes, but everything in between is either a chase scene or a fight scene. Exposition is easily managed with a couple of sentences (other action films take note), and there are no complex metaphors or allegories. And that is refreshingly simple and entertaining.

 

There’s a knowing amount of humour and self-awareness to the film that is also endearing. Just to emphasise the pulpy nature of it, the film is separated into six “Chapters”, each one with a screen-filling title. Chapter 3: Motor Mayhem, Chapter 4: Incoming, etc. It underlines the simplicity of the story and its intention to provide no frills entertainment. In that respect, its leanness and amount of action have led it to being compared to Mad Max: Fury Road, albeit with a smaller running time and a much smaller budget. We haven’t had a movie like that for some time, and this is why it feels welcome. It doesn’t hurt that the violence and action is so bombastic and unrealistic (in a good way). Whilst it’s been proven that there’s nothing supernatural about our hero, his refusal to die is taken to the max here. He’s so tough that he shrugs off being whipped with an electrified cable and literally spits out a bullet after being shot in the face. In fact, he comes across as someone like Michael Myers or Jason Vorhees would be, if they were a WWII hero instead of a modern-day slasher villain. Watch the sequence where he bears down on an ejected fighter pilot as shots whizz harmlessly past him. Cool as hell!

 

Despite being silent, all credit to Tommila for bringing so much to the role. A hench figure, despite being in his mid-sixties, you never really question his ability to ignore fatal wounds and his expressive face brings all the feels to moments where he is overwhelmed with emotions and anger. He just about meets his match with Lang, who excels in bringing quiet menace to sociopathic characters like this. But he does get a “moment” as he brags to Korpi about his vicious deeds in an oddly chilling scene. Anyway, who would have thought that we would ever see an action movie where two OAPs (Lang is 73 BTW) get into brutal fisticuffs and make it so compelling. In a nice touch, and an example of the story’s dark comedy, Russian soldiers are so scared of Korpi that they play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who will investigate his apparently lifeless body. Another one is intimidated into loading bullets into his gun, lest he gets another pounding in the face. 65-year-old man, ladies and gentlemen. There’s a lesson here. Don’t take the piss out of “Boomers”.

 

Needless to say, there is blood. Lots of it. People don’t just get shot. They explode in a cloud of viscera or are shredded in slow motion. Brains are blown out, and heads bounce along the road. When bodies are blown up or set on fire, we’ll generally see the crispy skeletons afterwards. It’s that sort of brutal, cartoony violence that lets it get away with a “15” certificate in the UK. It has to be said that it does veer near “Naked Gun” parody at times. During one (otherwise superlative) scene where a character sneaks stealthily through a train carriage, they tread on broken glass, fall on a knife-like shard, and then place their fingers in a mousetrap! You’re one step away from expecting them to tread on a rake and get a handle to the face, or find the floor covered in squeaky toys. By the time someone is literally chased by a rocket, you’re looking for Wile E. Coyote to appear or some ACME crates to turn up! Luckily, the impetus of the action and the sheer verve of the proceedings cover over these occasional shortcomings, and a lot of this is tongue-in-cheek anyway. But if you thought surviving a plane crash was the height of escapism in the first film, wait until you get a load of what the tank does in this!

 

It must be said that Sisu: R2R looks and sounds good as well. The CG on the planes and other weapons are serviceable enough, but it’s the crisp cinematography on the Estonian vistas that plays well, as it switches from lush green, white cliffs, and blackened battlegrounds. The moody “throat-singing” is back on the soundtrack, along with some “spaghetti western” whoops and whistles, and it all works nicely with the action. For all the Looney Tunes stuff and the one-dimensional supporting cast, you can’t help but get swept away with all the nonsense and enjoy it for what it is. It may be lacking the surprise and (to some extent) shock value of the first Sisu, but it still provides plenty of innovation and spectacle with many of the set pieces. And yes, the nameless mutt from the predecessor is not forgotten about, as the Bedlington Terrier (thanks, Google) continues to be as adorable and faithful as before. You’ll be checking out the “Does the Dog Die?” site, no doubt.

 

Is Si2u a groundbreaking and important piece of art? No. Is it a supremely entertaining piece of hokum that incorporates wildly over-the-top action sequences with questionable physics and bloody violence? Oh, yes. It’s a wild mixture of a war movie, a western, a post-apocalyptic chase, and a slasher film. And a Road-Runner cartoon. And it’s all the better for it. It’s very unlikely to score big at the box office (*shakes fist at Dorothy*) or stick around long on cinema screens (where you should really see it if you get the chance), but it deserves the praise that it’s got and should have garnered more attention for what it is. It’s undecided (but not impossible) as to whether there will be a third film, but whatever happens, Sisu deserves a place with the Mad Maxes and John Wicks of the cineverse.