The word Sisu means in Finnish the unimaginable determination that arises in a person when suddenly faced with great adversity. And that’s exactly the name of the new action film by Finnish genre specialist Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports, Sejmi prezida). He set a harsh story about a man who simply refused to give up against the backdrop of war.
At the end of the Second World War, a solitary prospector of precious metals Aatami (Jorma Tomilla) finds a vein of gold in the Finnish wilderness 600 kilometers from the nearest bank, where he goes to cash in on his rare find. But along the way, he encounters a retreating detachment of Nazi soldiers led by SS Obersturmführer Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie), who decides to seize the gold. No need to be reminded how bad the idea was.
The film premiered to great acclaim at the Toronto Film Festival, and from the first 14 reviews, there are Rotten Tomatoes 100% positive with a great average rating of 8/10. There are comparisons to John Wick or Quentin Tarantino, especially to Infamous Pancharts, but also to the revenge piece Kill Bill inspired by the goons of the seventies.
“A blood-stained popcorn actioner that takes nothing for granted and takes contrived ideas to far-fetched and amusingly over-the-top endings,” writes in a complimentary review prestigious Variety and adds that the film hits the nail on the head in every way, including a great cast that fits right into the action archetypes without turning them into caricatures. The lower budget doesn’t matter either, because the film gets around a lot of limitations with clever editing or focusing on an elaborate detail.
“Combining the style of Sergio Leone with the first Rambo and Mad Max, with a large dose of Tarantino – but even such a description is a simplification. Sisu is visually exciting, unashamedly playful and always guaranteed to be an unpredictable blast.” praised by AU Review. RogerEbert.com sees it similarly: “Sisu does become repetitive over time and the viewer discovers that it doesn’t offer much more than entertaining brutality, but it just works within its B-level restraints. Who doesn’t want to watch nags exploding?’
Although the film is already playing in Finnish cinemas, it does not yet have a Czech distributor. If it doesn’t change even after its successful overseas campaign, then Czech fans of action films will have to wait for the streaming premiere.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes
