The lethal and tenacious Aatami Korpi returns in this sequel to 2022’s Sisu. Like its predecessor, Sisu: Road to Revenge offers up nonstop, gory hyper-violence as the old soldier shoots and stabs his way through the Soviet Union’s Red Army to avenge his family’s murder. Paired with all the bloodshed is a handful of f-words and some drinking, as well.
The Winter War made Aatami Korpi a legend. The death-dealing-and-defying Finnish commando even earned an awestruck moniker from his Russian enemies: “The Immortal,” they called him.
But what good is immortality when you have lost all you have ever loved? Korpi’s family was taken from him in that same war by a sadistic Soviet officer and his men. And the bleeding would not stop with the Winter War: It simply coalesced into other conflicts covering the globe.
Years later, the world has stopped fighting, and Korpi seeks a peaceful, quiet life alone. (Well, save for his ever-faithful Bedlington Terrier.) He plans to rebuild his home, but regular building materials just won’t do. There is a special timber that Korpi wants—just across the newly expanded Russian border, an area that once belonged to Finland.
What makes that wood so special? you may ask. Important enough to venture into hostile Soviet territory?
Korpi’s home is there. His old home. The place he shared with his wife and two young sons before the Winter War. Before they were killed.
Every beam and joist of that old cabin is a reminder of those he loved. And he will not leave that behind.
So, Korpi crosses the border, determined to bring back the memory of his beloved family, piece by piece.
But the Soviets’ memories are long. They have not forgotten the Winter War, nor have they forgotten Aatami Korpi. And so, they dispatch Igor Draganov to kill the man by any means necessary.
You see, it was Draganov who kickstarted Korpi’s legend all those years ago. It was he who murdered Korpi’s family. Draganov means to deliver the same fate to his Finnish foe.
But Korpi didn’t earn the title of “the Immortal” without good reason. If Draganov intends to kill him, the tenacious and lethal Korpi will fight back.
There will be blood. A lot of it.
Korpi clearly loved his family. He cares for his dog, as well. We hear that the man’s young son valiantly tried to defend his mother and younger brother from Russian soldiers.
Though Korpi kills many, many people in this film, there are a few moments where he chooses not to take the life of his enemy. A group of people offer genuine kindness to a solitary man.
While Korpi is called “immortal” a few times in Sisu: Road to Revenge, there is no indication that this is anything more than a figurative term referencing the old soldier’s penchant for cheating death.
A graveyard contains headstones shaped like crosses. A partially burned church is seen.
Korpi is shirtless in a few scenes, though this seems to be done to showcase the man’s many scars.
Sisu: Road to Revenge continues the carnage set forth by its series predecessor. Countless soldiers who pursue Korpi are shot, stabbed, sliced, crushed, blown up and set aflame. These deaths are nearly constant and often accompanied by a shower of bright red gore.
A man is strangled with, then decapitated by, a truck’s tow cable. Another has his head impaled by a pickaxe. Bodies are chewed up by bullets in grindhouse flair, including a man who has a gruesome hole blown through his chest. Several heads explode with a spatter of blood and brains. Someone is killed in a huge detonation. People pound on each other with fists, pipes and shovels. We see charred skeletal remains.
Korpi endures an extreme amount of punishment and is, at times, soaked in blood (his own and others’). He is strung up and flogged with a burning whip, and we see the gaping wounds left by the lashes. In one scene, broken glass is pressed into his feet and back. He is beaten, shot and nearly drowned.
Someone hides a blade under their skin—the removal of which looks extremely painful. Vehicles explode in a burst of flames.
Draganov talks graphically about killing women and children. We hear about the death of Korpi’s family and Korpi’s subsequent killing of 300 Soviet soldiers in the Winter War.
Korpi is a man of few words—scratch that, he’s a man of no words. Still, harsh profanity crops up in the film’s limited dialogue from other characters, including five f-words and one use of “h—.”
A soldier takes a swig from a bottle of vodka. Soviet officers drink to excess. Sleeping men clutch bottles of alcohol.
The movie opens with a bit of narration that describes how over 400,000 Finnish people were displaced after their land was ceded to the Soviet Union following World War II.
As Bob Hoose noted in his review of the first film in this hyper-violent franchise, sisu is a Finnish that roughly translates to “a white-knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination that manifests itself when all hope is lost.” Sisu: Road to Revenge aims to gives us the embodiment of that word in its protagonist.
A legendary killer with an adorable dog mourning the loss of his family who must survive wave after wave of attackers sent to murder him?
If you didn’t know any better, you might think I was describing a new addition to the John Wick franchise. But no, Sisu is a series unto itself—and one that can challenge the Baba Yaga in terms of carnage. If possible, this Finnish film matches the gore of the Wick franchise, packing in squirm-worthy wounds and buckets of vivid blood.
Sisu draws inspiration from Simo Häyhä, a real-life Finnish sniper and war hero who is believed to have a kill count that would make even Aatami Korpi blush. But I worry that a film series like Sisu cheapens the memory of those like Häyhä, who fought (and were forced to kill) to defend their homeland.
Late in his life, Häyhä is reported to have said, “War is not a pleasant experience, but who else would protect this land unless we are willing to do it ourselves.”
Sisu: Road to Revenge holds to a different perspective. It’s not so much that people die in this film (although that is important to note), but rather the gruesome nature in which they perish—and the glee with which they’re dispatched. While lead actor Jorma Tommila (Korpi) effectively imbues his character with a weariness for bloodshed, the film couldn’t be more pleased with—and eager to show us—the gory ways in which he butchers his foes.
Pair that bloody, relentless hyper-violence with some vulgar language and Sisu: Road to Revenge is a film that might be best left out in the cold.
Bret loves a good story—be it a movie, show, or video game—and enjoys geeking out about things like plot and story structure. He has a blast reading and writing fiction and has penned several short stories and screenplays. He and his wife love to kayak the many beautiful Colorado lakes with their dog.
