This movie is one of those I had little to no information going in. The only thing I knew about it was that it was a brutal film, but I didn’t know what it meant. I did not see any trailers; I only saw a poster, and I thought it looked interesting enough, so one day when I went to the cinema to catch up on movies, I started with Sisu. And what a tone for the rest of those films it set.
If you have stumbled upon my blog in the past, you may know I love me some “raw films”. I always defined that term as a movie that gives you everything it promises on the tin and nothing more. It is, for the lack of a better word, as simple as it gets. I understand this might sound like a backhanded compliment, but I don’t think there is anything wrong with having simple films as long as they make them brilliant. Think of it in food terms; sometimes, you go to a restaurant and order a simple cheeseburger. You’ve had many cheeseburgers before, but if the bun is nice and crispy, the meat is cooked just right, and all the ingredients are high quality; therefore, you will love it and not ponder whether you should order something more complex.
Because Sisu is that cheeseburger that could have just not worked at all, but the filmmakers knew how to cook and stylized it as almost a western (the chapters, the font, you will definitely think of the spaghetti westerns of Sergio Leone) but made it ultra bloody. And also, you see all the details. That is something I appreciated about Sisu; they played this card of blood and gore, not panning away from the violence, and stuck with it throughout the film. The filmmakers also gave us a great excuse not to feel sorry about the people being slaughtered as they were Nazis. And I know this statement is weirdly political now, but Nazis definitely were the bad guys.
When I talk about simplicity, this is exactly what I mean. A man finds gold. The same man takes it and travels with it, encounters Nazis who want the gold, and that sets off everything. Despite its simplicity, I don’t want to spoil anything else because I don’t think this movie is as popular, so the less you know about it, the better your viewing experience will be. I will say that Sisu is a Finnish word that can’t be translated directly. The movie starts with this and essentially says it means a force of unstoppable determination that comes out when most necessary. And yes, this dude is hard to kill. And that would be my only criticism.
The only thing I didn’t enjoy was this man literally must have been John Wick’s dad or something because he survives… Well, pretty much everything. I could see the initial things, but the longer the movie is, the more our silent hero survives. And I can think of at least two or three instances towards the end where the filmmakers must have said: “Oh well, we are making a fantasy movie about gold and Nazis, let’s go wild!” and that is where they lost me, albeit only a tiny bit. Was the last 20/30 minutes still as cool and gory as everything before? Yes. Would I appreciate it had it been less cool and more grounded? Absolutely. But such is life. It will be fascinating if I ever rewatch this movie and how I will feel then.
One last point – can we get Jorma Tommila into one of those John Wick shows, or if they ever decided to make a fifth one, could he be in it? He’s got the physique, he’s got the chops, and most importantly, he’s got the charisma. I have touched upon this above, but the dude barely talks in this movie. He mostly grunts and communicates everything else through his expressions, grunts and body language. Now, was this the most demanding role? No. But it is still hard to pull off, and he did it, and he did it flawlessly. I would love to see him in a great Hollywood action movie.
Overall, Sisu is a great film that deserves to be seen more. It’s one of those “the less you know, the more fun you will have” movies, but at the same time, make sure you are comfortable with some gore, blood, and Nazis being slaughtered. It also showcases how you can make a simple movie if you make it stand out and put some effort into it, and you can tell Sisu had talented people behind it. From the cinematography to the editing, the movie flows well, has decent characters you can easily root for and an ending that might make you chuckle. I wonder how well it holds up on a rewatch.
That’s all for this one! Did you see it? What did you think about it? Let me know!
Until next time,
Luke