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| Images courtesy of Lionsgate |
This weekend, director Jalmari Helander releases an action and gore spectacle to theaters.
What would have typically ended up on a streaming platform is receiving a much-deserved limited theatrical run that may put fresh eyes on a blood sopped genre film that revisits the Nazi bashing themes that made the mainstream back in 2009’s Inglourious Basterds.
Without someone as well-known as Tarantino at the helm, Sisu won’t get much deserved attention, but will satisfy a thirst for when action films were allowed to be about escapism and style. That’s all beside the point. This film about the concluding moments of war doesn't feature any character development or greater message. Instead, it's a return to form for action that spends its time jumping from brutal death to next brutal death, never abandoning its dedication to flesh tearing and skull crushing brutality lined with Nazi carnage.
Sisu is 90 minute exercise in vengeance that needs to be seen to be believed. This is a cult film in the making with its mixed influences based in old school Westerns, blood spatter horror, and grimy tales of the gold rush. Helander begs, borrows and steals from dozens of films to deliver an on-point tribute that’s high on action, violence, and 1940’s weaponry.
During the final days of World War II, a Finnish miner stumbles on the mother lode during a dig. While traversing the bombed-out landscape with his fortune of gold in tow, he is faced by the ultimate evil, a group of frustrated Nazis that he quickly begins dispatching of in varying and creative ways. This is like a fictional 1940's historical action movie that’s highly inspired by the antics of the John Wick franchise with a hint of There Will Be Blood for good measure. The kills are interesting. The story is tightly wound. And the lead actor carries the entire 90 minute run time with physicality and facial expressions only, absolutely barren of dialogue. Adding to the stack of positives is a band of female prisoners that assist in creating full on anarchy in the countryside.
Unfortunately, Sisu is WAY too serious and doesn't feature any humor in the slightest. This is a quick running bash and dash that really sticks to its limited themes of death and dismemberment. Overall, it works but could have used some back story and a little bit of work on the obvious green screen work. As a genre film, Sisu delivers the goods. It's an unrelenting jaunt of cinematic brutality that never cowers or hides from interesting kills. It won't be everyone's cup of tea since it's so absolutely soaked in exploitation.
If you're looking to watch some Nazis destroyed by a one man wrecking crew, Sisu is the end of week, beginning of weekend entertainment you need in your eyeballs. See this for the action. Stay for the dismemberment. Feast on the blood of terrible men that are ravaged by the gold seeking wanderer, Aatami.
-CG