This film seemingly came out nowhere. All the better for it. There have been no expectations for this perfectly-pitched 90 minute actioneer — an ultra-violent revenge tale that feels both familiar and uniquely its own.
Set in 1944, with World War II close to over, the Nazis have lost, retreating like cowards and killing anything on their path.
A platoon led by SS officer Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie) and his second-in-command, Wolf (Jack Doolan), taunt an old man passing along the road. His name is Aatami (Jorma Tommila), a miner who just dug up some gold and is headed down a long trek to cash out at the bank.
The SS quickly realizes he has golden nuggets in his sack, they must kill Aatami and take his treasure. The problem is they messed with the wrong guy. It turns out Aatami is a Finnish war hero, nicknamed “The Immortal,” who is credited in killing over 300 men on the battlefield. The Nazis try to make an example of him, but that turns out to be a terrible mistake.
“Sisu” has a very dark sense of humor but it’s also a fairly simple cinematic pleasure. A Finnish ‘John Wick’ but without the bloated runtime of the last one. Much like Wick, Aatami is a man of few words, he has a total of about a half a dozen lines the entire movie.
“Sisu” is minimalist in its approach. Aatami is indestructible – he’s blown up, shot, hanged, stabbed. He always manages to get up. It’s preposterous.
It’s a silly story that is driven by Jalmari Helander’s precise direction. His film might not have action as poetic as the last John Wick,” but, unlike that film, he knows when to stop. There’s no bloat.
The inventive kills keep things fresh. So does 63-year-old Tommila who delivers a silently macho performance as the Nazi-killing man beast who also happens to be a grandpa. What we have here is a cult classic in the making. [B/B+]
No official figure has been reported, but best guess is the budget landed somewhere in the $10M range. HBO pre-bought the streaming rights, but that was before David Ellison took over