If we were to make a list of the top underrated action films we would absolutely find a place for the 2022 gem that is Sisu. The film about a Finnish ex-special forces turned gold miner taking back what was taken from him in a way that John Wick would call over the top was one of our favourite action films in the last few years and now in cinemas the silent protagonist is back with Sisu: Road to Revenge.
You can checkout our previous review for the first film but the cliff notes are that at the end of World War 2 our protagonist a retired special forces commando after what was described as a legendary career fighting against the Soviet Union was caught as German Tank squad were exercising scorched earth in retreat. Coming across our Protagonist they stole his newly discovered gold and left him for dead.
What occurs across the next hour and a half is a protagonist that does not know how to die taking out the Germans and retrieving his gold all while not speaking a word for the entire film. The action was brutal and escalating across the film putting it somewhere between John Wick and the Clive Owen Shoot ‘Em Up (oh he has a dog too, who is completely unharmed). By the end of the film he had retrieved his gold and got a payout preparing to head home.
In the new film, the protagonist speaks even less as it opens with him returning to his family home in now Soviet occupied territory. His family were murdered during the war which is suggested to be the reason for his kill count against the Soviets. Having nothing left he proceeds to break down his home, load it up and head back to non-Soviet occupied Finland. That is if crossing the border into Russia did not raise some flags with the Soviets.
Continuing and closing the book for the protagonist he then proceeds to leave a bloody path as he flees with his log cabin and dog in tow. And when we say continuing we mean that while the first film escalates the new film already has the Protagonist ready for a fight that is hunting him down – that means the opening acts of the film are not shy about decapitations.
If the first film started at a 1 and finished at a 10, we would say this one starts at a solid 4 and goes up from there.
Much like the first film the second and we think final chapter of this franchise is told in a series of chapters which bounce between bloody action and Wes Anderson/Edgar Wright like filmography. Our protagonist (and dog) are of less than few words with most of the exposition being told through film OR through the films main ‘villain’ who the soviets pulled out of a Siberian prison to hunt down the strong and silent type. While the runtime is just as short as the first one (an hour and a half) the action is constant telling you how much movie you can save if you don’t waste any on useless things like *checks notes* words.
So, should you go see it? Well we have two answers, if you are a fan of films like John Wick for the action then absolutely yes. You don’t need a lot of explaining to be locked in as the film moves from action set piece to action set piece all told in chapters. If you are coming from the first film and wanted more this does deliver but in a sequel kind of way which means… bigger and possibly a little more like the very end of the first film. Either way, we can see these 2 films being argued into more than a few top 10 action movie lists for the last decade.
Sise: Road to Revenge is in cinemas across Australia (in limited release) now
