If history had allowed Sergio Leone and Quentin Tarantino to create a film together, it would have surely looked a lot like the brilliant new revenge flick SISU.
Beautifully shot on landscapes that are so foreign to an American moviegoer they might as well be on Mars, this lean, bloody creative tale is a WWII era masterpiece.
Jorma Tommila is excellent as Aatami, a laconic solitary figure on a horse, crossing the Lapland in search of gold. Like Eastwood in Leone's classic 1960's westerns, Aatami silently moves through the film with his two animal sidekicks, owning the screen.
Finnish Writer/Director Jalmari Helander is a new filmmaker to me, but he's on my short list of ones to watch moving forward. After filling the screen with Aatami and only Aatami for the opening chapter, the end of World War II setting begins to encroach.
50 airplanes fly over his head en masse, crossing directly overhead (including our heads thanks to terrific Dolby Atmos sound design), but Aatami never looks up.
His focus is the road ahead. He passes several Nazi trucks and a tank, loaded with soldiers that chide him but let him pass.
One of the trucks is filled with women of all ages that the Nazis have kidnapped.
The film doesn't flinch in these scenes, building tension. The Nazis are vile and horrific, cousins of the despicable bunch in Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds" but they aren't nearly as aristocratic as QT's bunch.
Every character is covered in blood, mud and filth.
It's the second group of Nazis that Aatami encounters that drive the story. I'll say no more as the story takes turn after turn, putting Aatami in impossible situations that had me muttering to myself at least three times, "How the hell is he going to get out of this?".
The fact that I had no idea and was surprised every time is why I enjoyed this film so much. Nothing is predictable.
Helander is painting an homage to Tarantino with the same flourish and obvious respect that De Palma used in his works that tie to Hitchcock.
The film is divided into title chapters like "The Nazis", "The Scorched Earth" and "Kill Them All" in the same red & yellow font that QT uses. The violence is bloody, gory and graphic.
One scene aboard a German Air Transport is the best damn fight on an airplane scene since Bond battled outside a transport in "The Living Daylights". Speaking of Bond, see if Aatami's fight with Wolf (Jack Doolan from "The Boys") reminds you of Bond and Grant's train fight in "From Russia With Love". It's relentless, punishing and flat out brutal.
What Helander creates with just over a $6 million budget is jaw dropping. More visually arresting that many "thrillers" that cost twenty times as much, SISU offers revenge & redemption on a grand scale.
Not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach, SISU is bloody terrific and gets an A.
Helender and Tommila make a powerful duo that I'll remember and revisit.
Full gore, RED BAND Adults only trailer below. Saddle Up if you dare. (Age verification required on You Tube)
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