While the John Wick franchise might be on hiatus after Chapter 4, there’s a film out in theaters that has the potential to follow in Mr. Wick’s footsteps — Sisu.
Sisu, in many ways, feels like the original John Wick in its humble indie action beginnings with subtle hints of bigger ambitions. Its story is small and simple as it takes audiences to Lapland, Finland at the end of World War II where gold prospector and tormented war veteran Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) has struck gold and is ready to haul his load to the bank. On the way though, he encounters a small Nazi platoon led by the vicious Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie) who sets their sights on stealing his gold and putting a bullet in his head. However, even though Korpi now finds himself on the run from danger, Bruno and his team have no idea who they’re messing with and soon realize that they’re entrenched in a new war with a one-man army.
Sisu is that simple and relatively straightforward but the plot boasts elements that make it much more interesting and unique for its WWII setting. The motivations for Helldorf and his Nazi troops being so dead set on killing Korpi and taking his gold are a perfect reflection of where they’re at in the war. Helldorf knows that, at this point, they’re just marching to their death and have now resorted to scorching earth as a bitter form of satisfaction. So, this gold could buy them a ticket to freedom from the consequences of their heinous acts and once they hear about Korpi’s legend as a soldier, they wouldn’t mind being the ones that kill him either. Sisu’s Nazi antagonists aren’t just cut and dry evil and it’s great how the film gives their vileness historical context that matters.
Even outside of the film’s Nazi villains, there are great story moments involving Korpi and the female captives of Helldorf’s crew. The legend of Korpi and his bloody history as a soldier is awesome to see unfold as it gives him a larger-than-life persona. At first, you simply think he’s just lucky in his ability to evade death, yet as the film goes on you start to buy into the idea that maybe he is straight-up unkillable. The film leans into Korpi’s immortality in really fun ways and it makes him constantly crawling from the depths of death both hilarious and satisfying.
Korpi’s backstory makes you more invested in his desires to get his gold back and even for a character that really doesn’t speak much, it’s hard not to feel the charm and ferocity that Tommila brings to the role. There’s also a nice arc for the women that the Nazis capture that takes them from being helpless in their position to total badasses that viewers will love. Also, there’s an adorable dog running around who shares Korpi’s unkillable nature and acts as a good light-hearted part of the film.
When it comes to Sisu though, the thing that audiences will be talking about most as they leave the theater is its wildly gory action that makes its John Wick DNA feel clear. By God, this film really catches viewers off-guard in how gory and brutal its action can be and delivers some incredibly fun sequences that cover the screen in blood and guts. There’s a scene that utilizes landmines in a fun way that results in one of the film’s most memorable sequences and the entire final stretch is so much fun because of how outlandish and creative it is. There are some high-flying and explosive stunts in Sisu that make it feel like a high-budget action flick and leaves viewers feeling pumped even as the credits start to roll. Sisu’s action is the hallmark trait of its subtle ambitions and what makes it an easy crowd-pleaser that’ll have audiences roar with cheer for Korpi as he takes these Nazis out one by one and without mercy.
Sisu is definitely one of the biggest hidden gems of 2023 thus far for its incredibly fun action experience that’ll shock and rock viewers to their core through its eviscerating nature and possibly even get them hooked to see more. Frankly, it would be awesome to see Sisu rise out of its indie beginnings and follow in the same footsteps as John Wick as it showcases that same sense of ambition and easy to love story beats and central action hero that would be amazing to see grow into a bigger franchise.
