Did you ever find yourself watching John Wick and thinking, "Dam I love this movie but I just wish John Wick would say fewer words!"?
Well considering in John Wick 4 our favorite assassin barely says enough words to qualify as a "quality post" here on Hive (he says exactly 384 words by the way) your definition of "fewer words" would have to be about zero.
Well if you love the action of John Wick movies but would love to just cut out all of that pesky dialogue, have I got a movie for you... Sisu: Road to Revenge!
The hero of the movie whose name is apparently Aatami Korpi, played by Jorma Tommila says exactly zero words in the entire move. In fact, I had no idea what the character's name was until I looked it up just now. My son and I , who both LOVED the first movie, simply refer to him as Sisu. Let me use it in a sentence; "Did you see what Sisu did? I can't believe Sisu just killed nine Nazis with a shovel." We know that Sisu is not his name. But we don't care. They actually make a point of explaining that the Finnish word "sisu" means "an extraordinary determination in the face of extreme adversity, and courage that is presented typically in situations where success is unlikely. It expresses itself in taking action against the odds, and displaying courage and resoluteness in the face of adversity; in other words, deciding on a course of action, and then adhering to it even if repeated failures ensue." It's just more fun to call the dude Sisu. But damn that is an awesome word! I wish there were a word that powerful in English!
Ok back to the movie. The only way I can describe this movie s to compare it to the greatest action franchise of all time: John Wick. So far we know it is like John Wick if he never spoke. Not hooked yet? Well the first Sisu is basically a movie for people who love the action of John Wick but just wish really hard John Wick was killing Nazis. That is what attracted my son and I to the first one. And damn did he kill a ton of Nazis. It is set in 1944 and follows a Finnish soldier who has become a legend for killing a ton of Nazis during the first years of WWII. We the first movie picks up, Korpi has retired and is a humble miner... until the Nazis fuck with him. They he becomes an unstoppable killing machine. He spends the movie killing tons of Nazis in delightful ways. Its incredible. Go watch it.
Well in the sequel, the war has ended. He seems to have killed every Nazi who ever lived (good for him) and he is retired again. But this time he just wants to build his house in Finland from the timber used in his old house in Finland that has now been annexed by the Soviet Union. That is the entire plot of this movie. he really just wants to get wood.
Just an unkillable guy, his car and his dog... sound familiar?
So the sequel Sisu: Raod to Revenge has become John Wick... who never speaks... who kills a ton of super evil Communist goons. Since he's already killed all of the assholes on the extreme right of the political spectrum (Nazis) it only makes sense that now he will kill all of the assholes on the extreme left of the political spectrum (Commies). And holy shit does he kill them. He kills them on roads and trains and forests and in buildings and in planes. Damn there should be a Dr. Seuss book about it.
"He met them on roads and on trains that would clatter,
In forests, in buildings, in planes—what a matter!
They ran here, they ran there, wherever they’d flee,
But Sisu kept marching— and killing Commies with glee!"
Without all of that useless dialogue to get in the way, we are left with 89 minutes of pure action. I can't believe how many cool scenes they packed into that short run time. I have seen a ton of movies so any movie that shows me something I have never seen before gets huge bonus points for me. That happened at least a half a dozen times in this movie. There are new ways to kill and new ways to survive.
If you got to this part of the post and you are thinking "Wait he didn't say what the movie was even about." That's on you because I clearly gave away the entire movie. Sisu wants to get wood. Commies try to stop him from getting wood. He kills everyone who tries to stop him from getting wood.
If you like action and hate Stalin and his attack dogs, go watch this movie immediately!
One more thing, if there is a movie God, and I hope there is, some day we will find out that Aatami Corpi is John Wick's father.