Sisu: Road to Revenge
review by Bobby Blakey
There are movies that come along out of left field that just punch you in the face in a variety of ways. In 2022 Rare Exports star Jorma Tommila and director Jalmari Helander reteamed for the hyper violent sleeper hit Sisu. Now they are getting the team back together for the highly anticipated sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge co-starring Stephen Lang. Could this film find a way to step up the violent fun, or will it fail to stay on the road?
Sisu: Road to Revenge follows “the man who refuses to die” who returns to the house where his family was brutally murdered during the war, dismantles it, loads it on a truck, and is determined to rebuild it somewhere safe in their honor. When the Red Army commander who killed his family comes back hellbent on finishing the job, a relentless, eye-popping cross-country chase ensues - a fight to the death, full of clever, unbelievable action set pieces.
I loved the first film so was insanely excited for another chapter to see more insane violence from the unstoppable man that refuses to die. Did we need another chapter? Of course not, but we didn’t need more John Wick, Taken, The Raid or any number of sequels, but if you can bring the action then it’s worth the time. This one did just that in not only keeping the simple formula intact but stepping up the bloody chaos to sometimes ridiculous levels and I was there for it.
The story is once again simple on the surface, but it did offer more into his background and depth to the character. Not in a way to try to over think it, but more to tell the story of his home and that of the man trying to kill him. It’s just enough to feel more about him and is world and to get him invested in yet another road trip filled with blood, bullets and dismemberment. This time
around it brought along a lot more motor mayhem and is massively over the top at times in the best way possible. It knows it too and leans into it which is why it works so great.
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Some of the more outlandish moments while fun still bring an element that kind of make you buy into it more than if they had just done things and moved on. It is still insane and silly but adds to the legend of him and his unstoppable nature. They did what they should do with a sequel and tried to step things up and went all in with the menace and violent nature that makes these films some of the best of their kind.
Tommila is fantastic once again as the silent badass with his looks telling so much story both in action and violence, but also in heartbreak and sadness. He gets more to do in the emotion department that shows a more human side to the man we just saw as a harden beast of destruction in the first film and I think it helps to want to root for him even more. It also gives the emotional nature of determination in his vengeance to kill everything in his path due to the history and for the audience to cheer along with him with every kill.
I loved this movie as much if not more than the first film and while it has a decent ending that doesn’t really need another chapter, I can already envision what they could do should they decided to. I would be lying if I said I hope we get to see more Sisu and that it just keeps getting increasingly more violent. There are plenty ways we haven’t gotten to see him kill people yet and we are owed that from this new action icon.
Join the carnage on the road with Sisu” Road to Revenge in theaters now.
