Sisu: The Finnish John Wick

Sisu is a Finnish action movie that was internationally released recently. It is directed by Jalmari Helander, whose previous movie is Big Game, which is a decent Finnish adventure movie starring Samuel Jackson. I was underwhelmed after watching it years ago, believing it to be a Hollywood production. When I later came to know that it is Finnish, its ranking in my mind went up by several positions. I realised that Sisu is directed by the same guy while the end titles played. Then I also found out that the actor who played the main character of Big Game, Onni Tommila, has a role in this one, and the hero of Sisu is Joma Tommila, who is his father.

It's 1944, and the Germans are taking a beating in World War II. In Finland, Nazis are advancing and scorching every Finnish settlement on their way. Not interested in war, an old man is digging for gold in the wilderness. When he unearths a gold deposit, he collects the nuggets in a bag and leaves for the nearest town. On the way, he encounters a Nazi platoon, and when they find out about the gold, they try to confiscate it. He retaliates by taking lives in pretty ingenious ways. Germans realise that he is the legendary ex-commando Aatami Korpi, also known as the immortal, who has a reputation for refusing to die. Soon they will see a practical display of that reputation.

The pattern of Sisu is the exact same one that some of the best action movies have developed well before: a lone man getting pissed off and taking on a formidable group of adversaries. From First Blood to John Wick, there are many movies where a bunch of bullies try to pick on an innocuous person only to realise that they tried to bite off a lot more than they were able to chew. Sisu contains all the familiar action movie tropes of its predecessors and is basically a by-the-numbers action movie. It's basically a one-line plot, which is elaborated into an hour and a half-long display of machismo, something that was rampant in Hollywood movies decades ago but not that common to find these days.

Sisu employs a threadbare style of moviemaking that is very efficient and effective in telling its story. Conversations are sparse, character development is nonexistent, and the plot is very simple. But all these are compensated for by stylish action set pieces, sharp thrills, and a retro-exploitation vibe. The movie contains many scenes of graphic violence that are expertly placed for maximum impact. My favourite is a scene in which the protagonist saves himself when hanged on a noose by hooking his wound on a protruding iron bar.

The movie defines its characters very strongly through a simple act or a piece of dialogue. The Nazi villain is not just a maniac, and he needs gold to bargain for his freedom after they lose the war. This motivation, expressed in terse dialogue, makes a good impact on the plot without diluting his villainy. Similarly, a captive lady gives a sign of her strength of will when she volunteers to comb a mine field. The mysterious past of the protagonist is also conveyed by snippets of information reaching us from many sources. Thus, the movie manages to convey more with very little exposition.

Sisu is a run-of-the-mill action movie that is very minimalist but still manages to display a personality that many of the CGI-heavy, assembly-line behemoths of Hollywood lack. For an action aficionado, Sisu will definitely be a breath of fresh air by reminding them of the simple days when Bruce Willis or Stallone managed to punch their way out of situations.

XXX: Xander Cage is Back and Ridiculous

What makes a good sequel? I feel it is the upgrade that you do to the basic idea of the original like in the case of Fast and Furious franchise. Every succeeding movie covers the previous installments, brings back the good characters, increase the stakes and never compromise on the quality. XXX series already squandered the chance when they made State of the Union, a very substandard sequel in terms of everything that was XXX. I consider it an excuse rather than a sequel. Now they are back with XXX: Return of Xander Cage.

...and screws it up again.

This one is still a few steps below the first part in every element- action, stunts, pace, suspense, plot, characters. The movie looks good, Vin Diesel is OK, Deepika and Donnie Yen are awesome. I am really happy to watch Yen getting noticed in Hollywood. He is a terrific actor. Deepika Padukone makes her presence felt. A few stunts are indeed breath taking. And that about sums up the good things of Return of Xander Cage. Ok, and the entry of Neymer in the first scene.





A gadget that can control satellites is stolen by a bunch of former XXX operatives and Xander Cage, who has feigned his death, is the only person capable of fixing the situation. He goes on the mission after recruiting some new members.

We had seen how bad the idea of recruiting new members backfired in Expendables 3.  The same issue repeats. All we get is a bunch of uninteresting nitwits whom we are to suffer for the entire running time. Other minor characters are also a pain to watch.

The character introductions never reveal anything interesting and take up half the movie. By the time some action set pieces start showing, we cease to care. There was a scene that was more ridiculous than the Batman- Superman patch up that we saw last year.






Tony Jaa got a raw deal. Here is a guy who has proved that he can carry an entire martial arts movie on his knees and all he do is appear. The only relief is that his role is a tad longer than the blink-and-you'll-miss-me one that he did in that Fast and Furious movie.

The stunts come no-where near the original. While XXX was made as a fun alternative to serious spy flicks like James Bond ones, this one tries to imitate Expendables and Fast and Furious. While XXX had some great music, this one is a letdown. The plot is an excuse, no context, no suspense and totally predictable.

The only surprise twist they finally came up was to remind us of the bad aftertaste of XXX: State of Union by bringing back the guy who made it unwatchable. The better alternative to XXX: Return of Xander Cage is a rewatch of the original.