There's a saying in Finnish that was once upon a time meant to be taken seriously: "Karjala takaisin!"
It means "Take Karjala back!"
Today, it's mainly used ironically as an example of a lost cause, or when drinking the Karjala branded beer. A Finnish version of "remember the Alamo."
In Sisu 2 (branded Road to Revenge abroad), that's precisely what the silent Aatami (Jorma Tommila) sets out to do. His home in Karjala now sits in the territory Finland lost to the Soviet Union after the war. He intends to dismantle it and return it, piece by piece, to Finnish soil.
His wife and sons are dead, but their spirits and memories are bound to the wood. This isn't just pride: it's everything human left of him.
There are two great scenes in Sisu 2 that bookend the film. They belong in a far better movie than this. Between them is a gulf of tedious cartoon action without any weight, stakes, or character.
The first comes when Aatami wanders through the rooms of deserted home. Once filled with life, it is now occupied by ghosts and bitter memories. It's here that Tommila shines. He's an expressive, nuanced actor, who can reveal so much with very little. Director Hjalmari Helander pushes for the broadest possible performances in Sisu 2, yet somehow Tommila manages subtletly even in the pantomime.
The second great scene is at the very end, and to reveal more would be a spoiler. Suffice to say, it is quiet and tender, and almost makes up for most of the shortcomings elsewhere.
For the other 80 minutes or so, Sisu 2 settles for less. It has already drawn comparison to Mad Max: Fury Road, which feels reductive. Yes, both are built around extended chase sequences. But where Fury Road had depth and memorable characters and dialog, Sisu 2 has none of that.
Instead, Sisu sounds like it is: an American film in Finnish clothing. A bizarre pastiche of 70s grindhouse aesthetic and Finnish iconography. Part Tarantino, part a Valio advertisement. When Aatami hauls the logs of his cabin down the river, it may as well come from a Akseli Gallen-Kallela painting.
But director Helander isn't interested in what any of this means beyond the fact that it looks cool. Sisu is a superficial romp and that's entirely allowed. It's only when it attempts to be anything more that the film stumbles and falls.
For example, does it really improve the narrative to hear how Aatami's wife and children were murdered? It's pointlessly brutal and cartoonish, intended to give us an excuse to cheer when Aatami finally delivers fierce reckoning to Stephen Lang's Russian baddie. But it's also pointless. We're already onboard with whatever Aatami does because we've bought a ticket to the sequel.
It's the power creep problem. The first film (which I didn't like) was surprisingly small in scope. It's the story of a man who wants to be left alone, and then delivers the finding out to a bunch of Nazis who decide to fuck around.
Sisu 2 talks and talks and talks, even as it says nothing. The dialog isn't fun in a cheesy kind of way. It sounds like a Finn emulating the American films they saw in their youth. It might play well for its intended audience, which I suspect isn't Finns.
If Helander wasn't such a talented director and Tommila so unrelentingly charismatic, none of this would work. It would end up like dozens of other disastrous would-be B-movies that litter the market yearly.
But there's no question that Helander knows how to stage action, even if most of his setpieces aren't his own. They're all love letters to other films, and it's still uncertain what something that's truly his own will look like. The entire last half of the film is basically an extended riff on Dial of Destiny, with references to Buster Keaton's The General and Hitchcock's The Birds thrown in.
It's fun to pick out the influences. It would be better if we were seeing the birth of new ones that can take their place as iconography of their own. At times, Helander's love for Tom & Jerry pays off. Sisu is happiest when it disregards all rules of gravity for a simple joke where something heavy falls on a bad guy, and then explodes.
I love the beginning and ending of Sisu, and I hate to be a downer about the rest. Tommila is so good, I'd want everyone to see the film just for his performance alone.
It's just that the rest of the film is built around the concept that Aatami can't die, which makes everything else feel pointless. There's no drama in a film where the violence doesn't matter to the protagonist. An unbeatable underdog is already at the top, even if they pretend otherwise.
Sisu 2 is Helander's proof of concept that he can handle a bigger Hollywood picture. His next feature will be a prequel to Rambo. One can only hope it will be far less manic and more of a character piece. If my two favorite scenes are anythign to go by, Helander has it in him to deliver something special.
