Sisu

Set in 1944, Sisu follows Jorma Tommila’s grizzled Aatami as he embarks on a campaign of violence after a company of Nazis steal his hard-earned gold. Filmmaker Jalmari Helander, working from his own screenplay, kicks Sisu off with a dialogue-free opening stretch that effectively establishes the taciturn hero and his hermit-like existence, and it’s clear, certainly, that the movie’s promising atmosphere is heightened by its appreciatively (and impressively) brutal first confrontation between Aatami and those aforementioned Nazis. From there, however, Sisu progresses into a slow, hit-and-miss midsection that’s rarely as exciting or enthralling as one might’ve hoped – as Helander does, for the most part, seem to be straining to fill the movie’s full-length running time (ie this often feels like a short that’s been awkwardly expanded to 91 minutes). The watchable yet riddled-with-lulls atmosphere is never quite as problematic as it could’ve been, at least, as Helander has punctuated the thin narrative with several outstanding (and crowd-pleasing) episodes and interludes – including a satisfying subplot involving a group of women abducted by those mustache-twirling Nazis. By the time the agreeably over-the-top climax and satisfying conclusion roll around, Sisu has cemented its place as a decent-enough actioner that could (and should) have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****

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