The first Sisu ended up being one of my top ten films of the year it came out because it felt like a breath of fresh air. Sure, it’s a movie that borrows heavily from the John Wick style of filmmaking. One unstoppable man on a path of revenge who will do whatever it takes to make the people who wronged him pay for their crimes. It’s a formula that’s worked incredibly well for John Wick, giving us four Keanu Reeves films and a spinoff starring Ana de Armas. So it makes sense that Finland would want to keep this series going. These movies probably aren’t outrageously expensive to produce, the cast is still relatively unknown outside of Jorma Tommila, and while the sequel adds Stephen Lang, he’s not really the selling point. The real question is simple. Did you like the first movie? If you did, you’ll probably want to see the sequel. Of course, that’s not always a guarantee. Hollywood has produced plenty of sequels that never needed to exist, sequels that completely missed what made the original special, and sequels that simply fell flat.
Sisu: Road to Revenge lands somewhere in the middle of that conversation. I’ve now watched it twice because I wanted to revisit it before writing this review, and my feelings changed a little on the second viewing. The original had this sense of discovery because we were meeting this mysterious character for the first time. We knew almost nothing about him, and that mystery was part of the appeal. This time around we know his history, we know his reputation, and we even know his name, Aatami Korpi. Oddly enough, that’s actually a small negative for those of us who rely on audio description. In the first film, the narration could lean into the mystery because he was essentially an unnamed stranger. Here, the Deluxe audio description constantly refers to him as Korpi. I know that’s his actual name, but I kind of preferred when he was just “Sisu.” It’s similar to Clint Eastwood’s Man with No Name. Sometimes a little mystery makes a character larger than life. It’s also a bit like Baby Yoda. Once we learned his real name was Grogu, plenty of people kept calling him Baby Yoda anyway because that’s how they first connected with the character. I suspect I’m not the only fan who still thinks of this character as Sisu, even though technically that’s never been his name.
Thankfully, the action is still exactly what you came for. Once again, Korpi is carving his way through Nazis, and that’s a premise that’s pretty easy to cheer for. This time his primary target is Dragunov, played by Stephen Lang, while everyone else is mostly there to discover increasingly creative ways to die. Like the original, the action scenes are inventive, brutal, and frequently over the top in the best possible way. The problem is that it’s much harder to surprise us this time. The first movie already set such a high bar, and because this sequel stays in roughly the same place during the same conflict, it doesn’t have the luxury of constantly expanding its world the way the John Wick series did. Instead, it tries to find new ways to use the same playground. It mostly succeeds, but you can already see the limits of that approach. If this turns into a long running franchise, it may eventually run out of fresh ideas unless it finds a way to broaden the scope.
That’s probably why the movie didn’t hold up quite as well for me on a second viewing. I already knew the major set pieces, and I found myself less invested in the story than I was the first time around. The original Sisu remains incredibly rewatchable for me. Road to Revenge is much more of a one and done experience. That’s not a bad thing because it’s still an entertaining ninety minutes with enough inventive action to justify the ride, but I don’t think it reaches the same heights. I’m certainly not dropping it into rotten territory, and fans of the original should absolutely give it a watch. I just think the first film remains the stronger movie. Even with another excellent audio description track from Deluxe, I found myself missing the mystery of that original experience. Maybe that’s why I still think of him as Sisu instead of Korpi. Sometimes a mysterious man with no name is simply more memorable. The Finnish Man with No Name was enough for me.
And if you’re someone who needs to know certain things, let’s just say this guy is far more capable at keeping his dog alive than John Wick.
Fresh: 6.9/10
