Jalmari Helander knows what he's doing with genre pastiche. In the first instalment of SISU, he adopted the visual grammar of Westerns, with a stony-faced stoic in Aatami (Jorma Tommila) seeking gold in the expansive Finnish wilderness. But with Nazis. And a cute dog. Some described it as monotonous; others enjoyed its minimalism. But what was certain was that its pulpy machismo was hard to ignore.
So Aatami is back. But this time, it’s the Red Army.
SISU: Road to Revenge mines familiar ground to its predecessor. Aatami begins in occupied territory, hatching a plan to rebuild the home of his murdered family in Finland. Pursued by a sinister Red Army Officer, Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang), similar grisly numbers of dismembered limbs fly past the camera, and comparable volumes of blood and gore explode from hapless soldiers. The action scenes are delightfully legible – bodies are fed under wheels, propelled through windscreens with sickening crunches. Its commitment to practical effects makes it a rarity among modern action films, like a budget Mad Max.
But this time, it’s personal. Which is exactly what it needs – for the silent stoic to really land, the Helander obviously understood that we needed some colour, some reason for us to root for this crazed, pickaxe-swinging odyssey from Russia back to Finland. Aatami is motivated by … is it grief? Or maybe revenge? Maybe pure, unbridled Scandinavian rage?
Whatever it is, these details enrich a film that brims with an unwavering commitment to silly gore. We lurch between novel set pieces that are much grander than those of the first instalment; trucks, motorbikes, planes, the sea, a tank, and finally, a train all make for exciting and tension-inducing action. In a frenzied rage of muscle, blood and open wounds, Aatami is a gory delight at its conclusion, wielding severed torsos like puppets and throwing axes through the skulls of fleeing soldiers. It is the total untethering from the first instalment’s car-based rigidity that allows for a full descent into unhinged butchery, culminating in a conclusion that is as ridiculous as it is hilarious.
SISU: Road to Revenge delivers exactly what it promises: relentless carnage, zero pretence, and maximum fun.
In cinemas from 21st November 2025,
