Sisu (2023) Review

 "He just refuses to die."
-Aino



A gold prospector (Jorma Tommila) in war-torn Finland strikes the motherload and sets off to sell his gold. However, he runs into a squad of Nazis who want the gold for themselves.  Unfortunately for the Nazis, the prospector is a former commando who worked as a one-man death squad and won't give up his gold so easily.


What Works:

The bad guys in this movie are Nazis.  That's an easy way for an audience to get into the film and root for your hero.  It's great watching a group of Nazis get absolutely destroyed.  We don't get much to connect to our hero, but it's very easy to hate the villains and it's an absolute blast watching them all horribly die.

This movie is wildly over-the-top and very gory.  I appreciate that the film dials everything up to 11.  It's a ridiculous movie, but it works most of the time.  It's especially awesome watching bloody explosions of Nazis.

The 3rd act is the best part of the film.  We get a truck chase sequence that's very similar to the one in Raiders of the Lost Ark, which is one of my all-time favorite action sequences.  We get some awesome moments and spectacular kills.  It all leads to an insane showdown on a plane that's a lot of fun.

Finally, I love the performance of Mimosa Willamo as Aino.  She's a captive of the Nazis, but shows no fear when dealing with them.  She doesn't have a ton of screen time, but she gives a great monologue about the hero and has a really satisfying action beat and story arc.  


What Sucks:

The main thing I don't love about this movie is the script.  It's pretty dumb and not clever at all.  Our hero's survival depends upon being the luckiest man alive and the villains being idiots.  You could get away with that if there were at least clever moments of survival, but that never really happens.  It's a very blunt film.  I would have liked to see more of the prospector outsmarting the Nazis.  There are a few easy fixes to make the movie smarter.  Obviously, this movie is over-the-top and not supposed to be realistic, but it's a bit much.  I would have been more forgiving of the movie getting crazy if it was at least smart some of the time.


Verdict:

Sisu is a very fun movie, especially if you like watching Nazis die in hilariously bloody ways.  The action is great, especially the 3rd act, and the performances are good, especially Mimosa Willamo.  I wish the script was smarter and it didn't rely so much on the villains being dumb, but this movie has sill got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 

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