Sisu

This weekend, Sisu, a movie being described as a Finnish John Wick released in theaters. Sisu follows a Finnish ex-soldier that finds gold on his farm and tries to take it into the city. On his journey, he encounters a squad of Nazi soldiers that want the gold for themselves. From the trailers and being marketed as Finnish John Wick, I was really interested in seeing how this film was going to turn out. I have also been wanting to see more smaller indie films so this was a step in that direction.

I had a lot of fun with this movie. The action in this movie was really exciting and there were a lot of surprisingly gory moments. There is just something really fun about seeing someone beat the tar out of a bunch of Nazis. It also really cool to see this many win these fights not out skill or strength but sheer determination. The action was very over the top in that he is somehow able to survive and pull off all of these scenarios but it also very practical in that it didn't rely much on CGI. Most of the action felt like something in a John Wick or Indiana Jones movie. There were also a few funny moments in the film. Nothing that was over the top laugh out loud funny but more so some subtle funny moments that make you chuckle. As a whole, I thought the movie was very simple and easy to take in. There weren't any subplots or many character details. Just a straightforward story about a man trying to get his gold to the bank. It was a very one-note film and easy to follow. Finally, I thought the third act was just so much fun to watch. While there really wasn't much to the film, the third act still manages to pay off what was set up throughout the rest of the films. There are some very Indiana Jonesesqe sequences and even the imprisoned women get their moments. In the end, while there wasn't much spectacle to this film, it was still very entertaining and well done.

It is a bit harder to place negatives on this film. Obviously, it is not going to be at the level of Mission Impossible or John Wick because it has a significantly smaller budget. With that being said, it was a bit lighter on action than I was expecting and felt a bit slow at times. The trailer implied that it is nonstop action but really the first 45 minutes are a bit slower. Also, the plane sequence at the end of the film had a few shots of CGI that looked a bit rough. It didn't have a ton of CGI shots but the ones that were there weren't great.

Overall, this was a simple movie that isn't striving to be the best action movie ever but was still a fun time that kept me entertained for 90 minutes.

Grade: B+ Score: 8/10 Recommendation: Check this one out Grade: B+