He’s an equal opportunity destroyer. He messed up Nazis in Sisu. Now he’s screwing with the Red Army. Will he get to all the WWII powers eventually? My guess is the Brits are next; how will they piss him off? Stay tuned. [Hint: He’s got a dog.]
Sisu is kinda what would happen if The Road Warrior were set in WWII Finland. Sure, it’s half-a-world away and not the same time period, but sometimes dystopia is dystopia; you accept your one-man-wrecking-crew against a host of enemies in a resource-challenged wasteland as you find them, huh?
Oh, btw, this film was nice enough to give us some insight into “Sisu,” cuz it ain’t the name of the guy. I wrote this down: Sisu is a Finnish word. It pertains to a white knuckled form of courage and determination. It occurs when hope is lost. The Finns can be a morose bunch, huh? Yeah, that’s nice, but I kinda liked it better when I thought it was a Finnish term meaning, “I’m gonna fuck you up.”
In this edition, we’ve gotten past Nazis. The war has ended and Finland has ceded some land in its Eastern border to the Soviet Union as a penalty for siding with Germans. It’s possible they got off easy. Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) -the human fire plug who fucked up the Nazis in Sisu- had a home in this territory. His family was murdered during the war, so he’s come back to dismantle the family home and rebuild it in Finnish land.
Oh, Aatami, Aatami, Aatami. When aare you gonnaa learn?
See, Aatami fought against the Russians as a Finnish soldier, and they’re sore about it. Aatami gets about as far as loading the wood into his truck before he starts having Red Army trouble. And Aatami Korpi is so loathed by the Russians that when they discover he’s in their territory, the KGB releases war criminal Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang) – the man who killed Korpi’s family- to go Finnish the job.
Well, Igor, you’re messin’ with the wrong Finn, comrade. Sisu: Road to Revenge plays a lot like The Road Warrior – one 
dude just trying to get home while armed thugs try to murder him. There’s even a North by Northwest moment where our defenseless hero is attacked on the road by aircraft: get out of that one, Finnlander.
The result is a simple if rollicking and bloody good time. I don’t remember if the film was in Finnish, tbh. It’s not like there was much need for conversation or explanation. How much exposition do you need when a guy driving a truck is hounded by a gang of murderous thugs? If you like the first, you’ll like this one; they make a good double bill.
Remember that Laplander well?
The Soviet Union recalls him just swell
The Red Army goes ape
While our Finn plots escape
Then gives up and sends each Russky to Hell
Rated R, 89 Minutes
Director: Jalmari Helander
Writer: Jalmari Helander
Genre: Mad Max
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Finns
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Russians
