'Sisu: Road to Revenge' Review: A Gloriously Gory & Unapologetically Silly One-man-army Action Sequel
- Dan Bremner
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
By Dan Bremner - November 14, 2025
A sequel to 2022’s modest sleeper-hit Sisu, the gloriously over-the-top Finnish action flick that saw the silent, shovel-wielding Aatami Korpi Sisu slaughter Nazis across Lapland. Sisu: Road to Revenge is the kind of follow-up that most franchises only dream of having. It takes everything that worked about the first film: the simplicity, the style, the ludicrous violence, and turns the dial all the way past breaking point. The result is a lean, deliriously fun, blood-drenched action spectacle that doesn’t just defy logic, it gleefully embraces utter nonsense. I liked the first Sisu, but this one? I loved it. It’s tighter, louder, and infinitely more confident in its absurdity.
A Wild Opening: How 'Sisu: Road to Revenge' Sets Its Insane Tone
From the opening minutes, you can tell Jalmari Helander knows exactly what kind of film he’s making. There’s no pretense of realism or restraint. We begin with Korpi, the immortal Finnish killing machine returning to the ruins of his old home, only to load it piece by piece onto a truck and drive it across the war-torn countryside. It’s an instantly striking image: part myth, part madness, part Looney Tunes. Within fifteen minutes, it morphs into a full-blown vehicular chase that feels like the most insane Mad Max: Fury Road homage. Tanks flip, heads explode, planes do things I never thought I'd see, and through it all, Korpi just keeps walking, or, in this case, driving, with the grim determination of a man powered by pure spite.
What’s most impressive is how inventive the action feels. Helander’s direction is crisp, brutal, and absurdly imaginative. Every sequence escalates in a way that feels both ludicrous and thrilling, from hand-to-hand combat on a moving convoy to an aerial dogfight involving a truck ramping off a cliff. The gore, thankfully, is all there in its messy glory: splattering practical effects, lovingly rendered explosions, and dismemberments that border on slapstick. The influence of Mad Max, First Blood, and classic spaghetti westerns is undeniable, but Helander’s Finnish sensibility gives it a distinct flavour. The violence is both grotesque and funny, always teetering between grim realism and cartoon mayhem.
Jorma Tommila and Stephen Lang Deliver Ferocious, Minimalist Performances
Jorma Tommila once again proves why his near-silent performance works so perfectly. He doesn’t need dialogue, his face tells you everything. There’s a bit more emotional shading this time, too, as Korpi’s quest for vengeance takes on a reflective tone as the haunted grief of a man literally rebuilding his past gives him a weight that goes beyond his indestructible exterior. Opposite him, Stephen Lang (who’s having an absolute renaissance as grizzled villains lately) is magnetic as Igor Draganov, the Red Army commander responsible for Korpi’s family’s death. Lang plays him with cold, reptilian menace. Armed with a campy accent and ruthless intent as the two share a wordless, primal rivalry that feels biblical in its revenge tale.
What really sets Road to Revenge apart from the usual “John Wick clones” is how it balances chaos with craft. Every frame is beautifully composed, wide Finnish vistas soaked in orange dust, gunmetal blues, and ash-grey fog. Cinematographer Mika Orassma captures the desolate, elemental beauty of the landscape, making even the explosions feel painterly. The score by Juri Seppä and Tuomas Wäinölä deserves special praise too: a pounding industrial score of drums and horns that alternates between tension and catharsis. At times, the sound design is aggressively loud, letting the violence speak for itself, a trick that makes every gunshot feel seismic. You can really feel the larger budget being put to use here, and every penny feels spent onscreen.
There’s also something oddly moving beneath all the carnage. Helander builds a surprising emotional throughline around family, legacy, and the futility of vengeance. The image of Korpi carrying his dismantled house across Finland piece by piece becomes a quiet metaphor for the trauma of survival. When the film does slow down (and it rarely does), it hits with unexpected poignancy. By the time the ending rolls around, it manages to feel both fittingly ridiculous and genuinely touching, a rare balance that few action films ever achieve.
What makes Road to Revenge such a joy is how unashamed it is about what it wants to be. There’s no empty franchise pandering, no lazy setup for cinematic universes, just pure, distilled pulp. It’s funny, gruesome, heartfelt, and spectacularly stupid in the best possible way. It knows its tone and never betrays it, leaning into absurdity without ever losing sight of craftsmanship. The runtime of a tight 89 minutes is a godsend, and the pacing never once falters. It’s an absolute blast from start to finish, the kind of film that reminds you why the mid-budget action film still rules when done right.
If this is the direction the Sisu series continues to take, then count me fully onboard. There’s plenty of room left for Korpi’s adventures, perhaps a third entry that takes him even further into full-blown mythological territory. If Sisu was Finland’s answer to John Wick and Road to Revenge its Fury Road, the next logical step might just be Sisu: Judgement Day. Whatever Helander does next, it’s clear he’s carved out a rare space for himself, one where grindhouse sensibilities meet pure cinematic spectacle. And this absolutely needs a video-game adaptation.
Final Verdict: A Gloriously Gory, Absurdly Fun Action Ride
Sisu: Road to Revenge is a film that knows exactly what it is and runs with it to absurd levels. Gloriously over-the-top, gleefully gory and pushing the boundaries of how silly things can get. All while delivering a more heartfelt story, doses of slapstick comedy and continuing to cement Sisu as a refreshing entry in the “One Man Army” canon. As dumb and fun as films can possibly get. I would happily take one of these every couple of years.
'Sisu: Road to Revenge' hits cinemas on November 21.
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