5/16/23 - Sisu (2023) - 5/10

The older Finnish Wick merc’in Nazis was a pretty apt description, which is gruesome fun but as the 90 minutes ground on and our nigh-unkillable protagonist plants more stone swastikas in the dirt, I was ready for it to culminate.

We get our unstoppable old ex-soldier, jaded by the world & the war, just taking care of himself and looking for gold. Then the straggling end-of-WWII raping, hanging and attempted canine homiciding goose steppers come along and try to steal the treasure and our tight lipped murder machine lead will stop at nothing to get it back.

There are issues, like how he is fine leaving his kinfolk to become part of the Joy Division, but that is vaguely redeemed as he helps free them and enable their revenge. There are also loads of physically impossible survival methods on display, some to a thoroughly laughable degree. But, this is a mythical adventure, with its old timey/Tarantino-esque chapter cards and balls-out over the top violence - and since it’s against gross Nazis, fiction’s favorite villain to expunge any empathy or remorse from, you go along with the outrageous murder mayhem.

It does look slick, the stunts & practical effects were dope, and it appeared that they mostly used generous squibs and proper fake blood (as opposed to digital, which can quickly dull & spoil). It’s stark, unrelenting fun and viciousness - essentially what you probably signed up for. And the dog is just fine, so there are no worries there. But there is an austere void once you scratch the vicious veneer.