The second verse is the same as the first with the action packed Finnish sequel Sisu: Road to Revenge; a rollicking, blood soaked thrill ride that takes the best elements of the first 2022 outing, cranks them to maximum speed, and watches the gleeful carnage. The latest chapter in the exploits of nearly silent vigilante hero Aatami Korpi (played once again by Jorma Tommila), Sisu: Road to Revenge is the definition of all killer, no filler, with returning writer/director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports, Big Game) offering up a more streamlined and less encumbered film than its moderately less entertaining predecessor.
In the first film, set during the final days of World War II, widowed former Finnish Army commando turned gold prospector Korpi sought revenge on a bunch of nasty Nazis who beat, robbed, and left him for dead. In Sisu: Road to Revenge, things are even more personal. The war is officially over and portions of Finland have been annexed to Russia, including the farmland where Korpi lived with his deceased wife and daughter, who were killed by ruthless Russian military officer Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang) and his goons. Korpi, with his trusty dog by his side, wants to make a simple trip over the border to collect all the timber from his former home and bring it back to Finland proper to rebuild. But when the Russians decide that they want revenge on Korpi for killing 300 of their men in revenge, they decide to free Draganov from the Siberian gulag he’s been sent to for his war crimes and sic him upon the grieving man. It’s a bad plan that will end badly for all parties involved.
When witnessing Helander’s full on commitment to cartoonish wartime brutality, it becomes clear why he’s been tapped to resurrect the Rambo franchise. Sisu: Road to Revenge is one outlandish scene after another, almost in the same vein as a Road Runner and Coyote cartoon, even building to a climax involving an enormous rocket that might as well have ACME written on the side of it. Yes, Sisu: Road to Revenge is a righteously violent film about settling ages old scores and grievances with a lot of good-old-fashioned bloodletting, but no one could accuse anyone here of taking the material too seriously. It’s not a film that coasts by on finesse. Sisu: Road to Revenge is a blunt force object that’s like using a pile driver on a thumbtack (complementary).
Although it’s divided up into chapters, Sisu: Road to Revenge is more appropriately described as being divided up into set pieces. Korpi is chased by assorted convoys of trucks, motorcycles, planes, and tanks, each of them usually ending with Korpi walking away and Draganov sneering in disgust. (Lang’s talent for understatement makes his nasty psychopath a perfect foil for Tommila’s brand of stoicism.) The explosions are gargantuan, there’s plenty of Mad Max level driving stunts, and all sorts of grievous bodily harm is inflicted upon every character to pass through the frame. The laws of physics are blatantly disregarded at every turn, and none of this – like the first film – should be thought about too strenuously.
And while Helander’s first go around with this character was a good deal of fun, Sisu: Road to Revenge manages to best the original by doing more with a lot less. The budget is certainly bigger, but the story, dialogue, and characters have been pared down to bare bones basics without damaging the visual impact of Helander’s exquisitely executed mayhem. Do you need to see the first film to understand Sisu: Road to Revenge? Probably not, but it adds to the fun a bit. Outside of that, there’s not much more to say. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy, you will. If not, you won’t. Simple as that.
Sisu: Road to Revenge opens in theatres everywhere on Friday, November 21, 2025. It was screened as part of the 2025 Toronto After Dark Film Festival.
