Sisu - Movie Review

Chris Stuckmann’s Review of Sisu

Chris Stuckmann describes Sisu as a thrilling discovery he saw at a midnight screening with his best friend. He hadn’t watched a trailer or known much about it beyond “Nazis” and “a guy who wasn’t happy with them.” He urges viewers to go in with as few expectations as possible and enjoy it with friends.

Set near the end of World War II, the film follows a taciturn Finnish prospector whose gold is stolen by retreating Nazis. They soon learn he’s surrounded by a fearsome legend: he may not be immortal, but he simply refuses to give up. Stuckmann loves how little the film explains about him; the sparse backstory makes the character’s relentless determination the movie’s driving force.

The action is gory, inventive, and deliberately outrageous. Stuckmann jokes that the protagonist’s feats of survival make John Wick 4 look tame, and describes the movie as “if the 1980s as a decade mated with RRR.” A suspenseful minefield sequence stands out as one of his favorites. The film’s chapter structure and exploitation-movie feel may bring Quentin Tarantino to mind, but Stuckmann says Sisu has a style of its own.

He acknowledges that The Raid is the better film, but says Sisu gave him the same urge to tell everyone to see it. His verdict: a wildly entertaining, unusually committed action movie that’s best experienced in a theater.

Personality Appearing in the Video

• Chris Stuckmann — reviewer and presenter.