By Steve Dinneen
A big success on its premiere at last year’s Toronto Film Festival, indie war movie Sisu arrives in cinemas with a lot of hype. Set in Finnish Lapland (with dialogue in English), the film is set towards the end of World War 2.
A company of retreating Nazi soldiers cross paths with an unassuming old prospector carrying a lot of gold. When they try to take it, violence ensues, and they find themselves in a battle for survival when that old man turns out to be former commando Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a ruthless survivalist nicknamed “The Immortal”.
The film wears its influence on its sleeve proudly. The film is divided into Quentin Tarantino-like chapters (despite the film being barely ninety minutes), and there are similarities to First Blood, with the director Jalmari Helander repeatedly claiming the Rambo classic was an inspiration.
Despite all of this, it feels fresh and exciting. The simplicity of the storytelling makes for a thrilling chase that will delight fans of Sylvester Stallone’s war franchise, and films like John Wick. There’s a glee with which Helander zooms in on the injury detail, with body parts flying all over the Finnish landscape.
It’s made palatable with such simple morality: it’s not hard to root for an old man and his dog fighting literal Nazis. Despite barely opening his mouth, lead Tommila tells a whole film’s worth of backstory with his eyes. Covered in blood and scars, he’s the kind of grizzled, mythical figure that makes you believe he can survive the many assaults he endures. On the other side, Aksel Hennie is superb as the Nazi general on his tail.
A great character actor in films like Headhunters and The Martian, with a bigger platform he shines as the leader of a cartoonish group of villains, aware the war is lost and intent on taking what he can get.
The gory action and threadbare characterisation won’t be for everyone, but Sisu does what it sets out to do. This One-Man Army spectacular is sure to become a cult hit, and a sequel wouldn’t be unwelcome either.
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