Sisu: Road to Revenge (dir. Jalmari Helander)

by Jack Martin | Nov 23, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 89 mins

UK Distributor: Sony Pictures

UK Release Date: 21 November 2025

WHO’S IN SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE?

Jorma Tommila, Stephen Lang, Richard Brake, Tommi Korpela

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Jalmari Helander (director, writer), Mike Goodridge and Petri Jokiranta (producers), Juri Seppä and Tuomas Wäinölä (composers), Mika Orasmaa (cinematographer), Juho Virolainen (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

In 1946 Finland, a former commando (Tommila) faces a dangerous enemy linked to his past…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON SISU: ROAD TO REVENGE?

Long before Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Statham and all the other action heroes whose surnames may or may not begin with “S”, there was Buster Keaton. The silent movie star may be best known for his comedic outings like The General and Sherlock Jr., but his aptitude for performing a series of death-defying stunts within numerous fast-paced environments pretty much made him the Tom Cruise of his day, arguably forming the blueprints for what an action star could be, even as they get far more violent and brutal than Keaton ever was allowed to be.

Keaton’s legacy in the world of action is something that Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander clearly takes after in his pair of Sisu movies, especially Sisu: Road to Revenge which, more than even its 2023 predecessor, emphasises the necessity for largely silent action as Keaton once did while also doubling down on excessive, cartoonish gore that is hilariously over-the-top yet kind of awesome to witness.

Taking place in 1946, when Finland was forced to secede land to the neighbouring Soviet Union after the end of the war, we follow our ruthless and word-free protagonist Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila) – a former Finnish commando who has gained a reputation for his resilience in battle and refusal to die – travelling into Soviet-occupied territory to his family home, which is now empty following the brutal murder of his wife and children. He promptly takes the whole building down plank by plank, placing each block of wood onto his truck with the intention of transporting it somewhere safe on the Finnish side of the border and rebuilding it there in their memory. But of course, the journey is far from simple as the Red Army catches wind of Korpi’s presence in their vicinity and, seeking revenge for the countless soldiers murdered in his wake, unleashes imprisoned agent Igor Draganov (Stephen Lang) to destroy Korpi just as he did his family years prior.

Aside from Keaton, there is another clear inspiration for Sisu: Road to Revenge that is a lot harder to differentiate it from, and that is Mad Max: Fury Road. Like George Miller’s action masterpiece, Helander’s sequel is primarily a chase movie as our hero of few words (or none in this case) comes up against several foes whilst driving towards his destination while a tyrannical force closes in behind; just swap the endless desert for the woodland greenery of Soviet-occupied Finland and it’s almost beat for beat, at least for the first half of the movie. It’s here where Helander’s film treads across a much rougher surface, for while it’s certainly not short on impressive stunt work or hyper-stylised violence, it can often feel repetitive as Tomilla’s Korpi dishes out brutal retribution; Lang’s Draganov looks on while calling him a “motherfucker”; wash, rinse, repeat. Unlike Fury Road, there’s no Furiosa equivalent for our silent hero to work off of either – unless one counts the scruffy dog who continues to stay by his owner’s side – leaving the viewer with what little we know about him from the previous film to tide them over in terms of character development, and as badass as this lead is, there’s only so much of his non-verbal nature one can take before we become thirsty for more information on who he is as an actual person.

Luckily, Sisu: Road to Revenge eventually reaches a point where it is concerned with little more than dishing out some absolute carnage with about as much disregard to physics and logic as a Looney Tunes cartoon, allowing it to join its predecessor on at least the same level of red-knuckle violence which makes it so gleefully demented to watch. There is a long stretch of the film that takes place entirely on a train filled with Soviet soldiers, and the commitment that both Helander and lead actor Tommila show in this sequence alone is nothing short of catnip for hardcore action movie lovers. But even as people get their heads blown off by rapid gunfire, whipped with deeper gashes than Jim Caviezel in The Passion of the Christ, and at one point walk across and lay on top of broken glass to not wake any sleeping soldiers, the director also brings out a real sense of humour amidst the grim violence, generating big laughs from the sheer Keaton-esque slapstick that Tommila puts himself through, all without uttering a single word, while Lang has a couple of moments where he has fun acting genuinely annoyed by his enemy’s persistence. It is a pretty funny film when you’re not so consumed by enough excessive gore to make Quentin Tarantino feel a bit under the weather.

Needless to say, this is an action sequel that certainly doesn’t backpedal on any of the stuff that made the first film so memorable, though despite its own flaws (most of them having to do with its uneven pacing during the first half) Sisu: Road to Revenge may actually be an all-round stronger film. It’s been since it came to cinemas that I’ve seen the original Sisu, but although I remember enjoying it overall, I do recall there being one or two things about it that felt like they were there for pure convenience rather than anything, which tended to draw out certain aspects of the story. That’s not as much of an issue here, for while there’s definitely some parts where it feels like particular objects and people just happen to be in the right place at the right time, it feels more fitting in a movie where logic and common sense takes much more of a backseat, and where its primary focus of just entertaining the crap out of its audience is arguably more prominent here than before, making for a much more engaging viewing experience.

Basically, this movie is like if Buster Keaton was an action star on the same level as Stallone and Schwarzenegger, and it’s all the more enjoyable for it. Keaton himself would be proud, not to mention devilishly thrilled.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Sisu: Road to Revenge is an action sequel that doubles down on the hyper-stylised violence and simple plotting of its predecessor, which some initial pacing issues aside makes it a more enjoyable entry that pays profound blood-soaked tribute to the silent stunt work and comedic stylings of Buster Keaton.