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Sisu (film)

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This article is about a Finnish action film. For the Finnish word, see Sisu. For other uses, see Sisu (disambiguation).
Sisu
United States theatrical release poster
Directed byJalmari Helander
Written byJalmari Helander
Produced byPetri Jokiranta
Starring
CinematographyKjell Lagerroos
Edited byJuho Virolainen
Music by
  • Juri Seppä
  • Tuomas Wäinölä
Production
companies
Distributed by
Release dates
  • 9 September 2022 (2022-09-09) (TIFF)
  • 27 January 2023 (2023-01-27) (Finland)
  • 28 April 2023 (2023-04-28) (United States)
Running time
91 minutes[1]
Countries
  • Finland
  • United States
Languages
  • English
  • Finnish
Budget€6 million[a][2]
Box office$14.3 million[3][4]

Sisu is a 2022 historical action thriller film written and directed by Jalmari Helander. A co-production between Finland and the United States, the film stars Jorma Tommila, Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo and Onni Tommila. Set in Finnish Lapland during World War II, a former legendary Finnish commando and gold prospector attempts to secure his gold and defend himself from a Nazi death squad led by a brutal SS officer.[5][6]

Originally, Helander was supposed to work on the science fiction comedy Jerry and Ms. Universe as his next project after Big Game, but the COVID-19 pandemic changed Helander's plan and he moved on to make Sisu.[7] The film was shot in 2021 near the Nuorgam village in Utsjoki, Lapland[8][9][10][11] with a budget of about €6 million ($6.5 million).[2] According to Helander, the 1982 film First Blood and the real-life Finnish military sniper Simo Häyhä, who fought against the Red Army, served as inspirations for the film.[12]

Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions acquired the film's worldwide distribution rights outside Nordic countries and then decided to team with Lionsgate to release the film in North America.[5][6][13][14][15]

Sisu debuted at the Midnight Madness section of the Toronto International Film Festival on 9 September 2022.[14][16] The film premiered in Finland on 27 January 2023 and was released in the United States on 28 April 2023, where it received positive reviews from critics.[17][18]

Plot

In late 1944, during the Lapland War, Aatami Korpi lives alone with his horse and faithful Bedlington Terrier while he prospects in the Lapland wilderness. Aatami uncovers a rich gold deposit, where he collects a hefty amount of nuggets and heads towards Rovaniemi. Along the way, Aatami encounters a large Waffen-SS platoon led by the ruthless SS Obersturmführer Bruno Helldorf. Helldorf is destroying villages during their retreat towards Norway and has taken several Finnish women captive. Helldorf takes little interest in Aatami, letting him pass. Aatami is soon accosted by a second group of soldiers who discover his saddlebags full of gold and prepare to execute him, but he swiftly kills them all. Alerted by the gunfire, Helldorf investigates and discovers the massacre and one of Aatami's gold nuggets.

Helldorf and his tank pursue Aatami to the edge of a minefield, where Aatami's horse is killed by a landmine. Gathering up his gold while Helldorf and his men watch, Aatami intentionally detonates another mine to make his escape. Several soldiers are sent after him, but are quickly blown up by mines. Helldorf orders two of the captive women ahead to ensure a clear path. After retrieving Aatami's dog tag, Helldorf's second-in-command Wolf learns over the radio of Aatami's past. After losing his family while fighting as a commando during the Winter War, the vengeful Aatami became a legendary "one-man death squad" nicknamed Koshchei ("the Immortal"). Helldorf defies his orders to continue retreating in order to hunt down Aatami and take the gold, explaining to Wolf that the war is lost for Germany, and they will need the gold to escape punishment for their war crimes.

The German soldiers dispatch dogs to follow Aatami's trail. Aatami sends his own dog away before using petrol from one of the German trucks to cover his scent. However, the soldiers soon discover him and Aatami dives into a nearby lake. Helldorf sends three soldiers onto the lake in a boat, but Aatami kills two of them by slitting their throats underwater and breathes in the escaping air from their necks. The remaining German soldier attempts to flee, where he is executed by Wolf. Aatami uses the soldier's body as a shield after reaching the riverbank and escapes. On the other side of the river, Aatami's dog is discovered by Helldorf.

Aatami discovers that Rovaniemi has been left in burning ruins and takes shelter in the remains of a petrol station. Helldorf sends Aatami's dog to find him, but with a lit Stielhandgranate attached to his collar. Aatami saves his dog but is knocked down and stunned when the grenade explodes. Helldorf, Wolf, and tank driver Schütze hang Aatami, taking the gold and leaving him for dead, but Aatami hooks his wounds onto protruding rebar, saving his life. Some time later, a pair of German pilots land in search of fuel. Aatami kills the engineer and forces the surviving pilot to fly him ahead of Helldorf's platoon.

Helldorf soon discovers the abandoned plane in their path with the pilot hanged by the same noose Wolf used on Aatami. As the convoy continues, Aatami climbs onto the truck holding the female captives, kills their guards, and arms the women. Aino, the de-facto leader of the women, commandeers one of the trucks, allowing Aatami to leap onto Helldorf's tank while the women gun down the rest of the soldiers. Aatami pulls Wolf out of the tank before leaving him at the mercy of the women. Helldorf reaches a commandeered Soviet plane and kills Schütze before taking off with the pilot. Aatami fires at the plane, mortally wounding the pilot, and uses his pickaxe to get onboard in midair. Helldorf and Aatami engage in hand-to-hand combat. After Helldorf gets the upper hand, Aatami swiftly hooks a static line to a bomb before releasing it, dropping Helldorf to his death. After finding that the pilot is dead, Aatami straps himself in as the plane crashes into a swamp.

Led by Aino, the freed women drive the commandeered German tank, with a beaten Wolf strapped to the turret, to an incredulous Finnish unit. Aatami crawls out of the swamp and reunites with his dog, before making his way to war-ravaged Helsinki. Aatami enters a bank, approaches a teller and empties his satchels of gold before speaking for the first time, asking for bills in exchange for his gold, "so the load won't be so damn heavy to carry."

Cast

Reception

Box office

Sisu grossed $7.3 million in the United States and Canada, and $7 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $14.3 million.[3][4]

In the United States and Canada, Sisu was released alongside Big George Foreman and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret., and was projected to gross around $4 million from 900 theaters in its opening weekend. It made $1.4 million on its first day, including $585,000 from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $3.3 million, finishing eighth.[19][20]

Critical response

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 94% of 181 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 7.6/10. The website's consensus reads: "Narratively lean as it is deliriously gory, Sisu is an inspired pastiche that gives bloody satisfaction to action aficionados."[21] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 70 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[22] Audiences polled by PostTrak gave the film an 80% positive score, with 60% saying they would definitely recommend it.[19]

Robert Daniels of RogerEbert.com gave the film three and half out of four stars, stating that "Sisu is outlandishly entertaining, mostly because, contrary to its deeper themes, it isn't afraid to be nonsensical."[23] Ross Bonaime of Collider gave the film grade of "B", saying that "Sisu is certainly ridiculous, but sometimes it's just fun to watch an obscene amount of Nazis get what's coming to them."[24] Tom Shone of The Times gave the film four out of five stars, saying that it "is violent in the pulpy, maximalist manner of a Tarantino film — bones snap, bodies fly apart, blood leaps across the screen — but there is nothing messy about the storytelling, which is as tight as a Sergio Leone flick."[25]

On 1 August 2023, Japanese video game designer Hideo Kojima, best known for the Metal Gear video game series, posted a message on Twitter in which he highly praised the Sisu film, saying: "This is no longer a war movie. It is a MAD grind of a battle between terribly cool men. A lot of fight ideas that surpass Rambo, the immortal old man!" At the end of message, Kojima expresses his interest in making a game about the main character of the film.[26][27][28]

Accolades

Award nominations for Sisu
Year Award Category Nominee(s) Result
2022 55th Sitges Film Festival[29] Best Film Sisu Won
Best Actor Jorma Tommila Won
Best Cinematography Kjell Lagerroos Won
Best Music Juri Seppä, Tuomas Wäinölä Won

Future

In March 2023, Helander has hinted in an interview of STT at the idea that if the film is successful at the box office in the United States, he could consider making a possible sequel for Sisu.[30] In May 2023, Helander said during an interview of GamesRadar+ that he might even have some kind of idea for continuing the story of Aatami Korpi.[31] Jorma Tommila has also told about his interest in returning to act in the sequel.[32] In December 2023, Helander confirmed that he would return as director for the sequel,[33] and the Finnish Film Foundation has initially granted a financial support of €50,000.[34]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ $6.5 million

References

  1. ^ "Sisu". British Board of Film Classification. Archived from the original on 29 March 2023. Retrieved 29 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b Typpö, Juho (27 January 2023). "Sisu on paras toimintaelokuva, mitä Suomessa on tehty" [Sisu is the best action movie made in Finland]. Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 30 January 2023. Retrieved 5 April 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Sisu (2023)". The Numbers. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on 23 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  4. ^ a b "Sisu (2023)". Box Office Mojo. Nash Information Services, LLC. Archived from the original on 10 May 2023. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  5. ^ a b Barraclough, Leo (14 June 2021). "Jalmari Helander's 'Immortal' Picked Up by Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions". Variety. Archived from the original on 21 October 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  6. ^ a b Wiseman, Andreas; Grater, Tom (21 September 2021). "Jalmari Helander's 'Immortal' Begins Shoot; Sony-EbonyLife Writer Program; Sky Germany Slate; Daniel Bruhl Zurich Jury; Genghis Khan Feature — Global Briefs". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 7 March 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  7. ^ "'Sisu' trivia and fun facts". Movie'n'co. Archived from the original on 4 May 2023. Retrieved 8 June 2023.
  8. ^ Kuivas, Eeva (22 September 2021). "Toimintaelokuva Sisun kuvaukset alkoivat Lapissa". Yle (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  9. ^ Moilanen, Emmi (25 October 2021). "Hurja välikohtaus Jalmari Helanderin uutuuselokuvan kuvauksissa – näyttelijä vertavaluvana tikattavaksi". Iltalehti (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 18 October 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  10. ^ Guttorm, Susanna (17 September 2021). "Palanut huoltoasema ja muita outoja rakennelmia ilmestyi Nuorgamin tunturimaastoon: alueella kuvataan suomalaista toimintaelokuvaa". Yle. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  11. ^ "Sisu - Helander returns to film Lapland action". Lapland.fi. 20 September 2022. Archived from the original on 11 May 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  12. ^ Topelus, Taneli (29 January 2023). "Jalmari Helander's extremely violent Nazi lynching film caused an extraordinary reaction in Hollywood". Ilta-Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 21 April 2023. Retrieved 22 April 2023.
  13. ^ Mitchell, Wendy (14 June 2021). "Sony boards Jalmari Helander's Second World War title 'Immortal'". Screendaily. Archived from the original on 28 September 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  14. ^ a b Virranniemi, Greta (4 August 2022). "Suomalaisten elokuvien maailmanvalloitus jatkuu: Jalmari Helanderin Sisu pääsee Toronton elokuvafestivaalille". Yle (in Finnish). Archived from the original on 4 August 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2022.
  15. ^ D'Alessandro, Anthony (18 October 2022). "'Sisu': TIFF Midnight Madness Pic From Stage 6 Picked Up By Lionsgate". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 19 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
  16. ^ Sisu at the Toronto International Film Festival Archived 4 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine – Finland Abroad
  17. ^ Sisu trailer: World War II action movie sends a one-man death squad after Nazis Archived 19 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine – JoBlo.com
  18. ^ Vengeance Is Golden: 'Sisu' Trailer Archived 6 March 2023 at the Wayback Machine – Comicon.com
  19. ^ a b D'Alessandro, Anthony (30 April 2023). "'Super Mario Bros' Swallowing Up 'Margaret', 'George Foreman' & More – Box Office". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  20. ^ "Domestic 2023 Weekend 17". Box Office Mojo. Archived from the original on 2 May 2023. Retrieved 2 May 2023.
  21. ^ "Sisu". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved 15 January 2024. Edit this at Wikidata
  22. ^ "Sisu". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  23. ^ Daniels, Robert (26 April 2023). "Sisu Movie Review & Film Summary (2023) | Roger Ebert". rogerebert.com. Archived from the original on 29 April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  24. ^ Bonaime, Ross (28 April 2023). "'Sisu' Review: 'Rare Exports' Director Gleefully Takes Out Nazis in Bonkers Action Film". Collider. Archived from the original on 28 April 2023. Retrieved 28 April 2023.
  25. ^ Shone, Tom (28 May 2023). "Sisu, The Little Mermaid and the best films reviewed this week". The Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2023. Retrieved 10 June 2023.
  26. ^ "@HIDEO_KOJIMA_EN". Twitter. 1 August 2023. Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  27. ^ Mannermaa, Jaakko (1 August 2023). "Japanilainen pelialan legenda innostui Sisu-elokuvasta: "Haluan niin paljon luoda pelin, jossa pelataan tällä hahmolla"" [The Japanese video gaming legend was excited about the Sisu film: "I so want to create a game with this SISU as a player!"]. Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 1 August 2023.
  28. ^ Carcasole, David (1 August 2023). "Hideo Kojima Wants To Make A Game Inspired By The Film SISU". psu.com. Retrieved 2 August 2023.
  29. ^ "La finlandesa 'Sisu' triunfa en el Festival de Sitges con cuatro galardones". rtve.es (in European Spanish). 15 October 2022. Archived from the original on 15 October 2022. Retrieved 15 October 2022.
  30. ^ ""Jos Sisu menestyy USA:ssa, voi jatko-osa tulla piankin" – Juuri nyt Jalmari Helander on kuitenkin tekemässä uutta scifi-elokuvaa" ["If Sisu is successful in the USA, the sequel can come soon"; right now, however, Jalmari Helander is making a new sci-fi film]. Muropaketti.fi (in Finnish). 13 March 2023. Archived from the original on 30 April 2023. Retrieved 30 April 2023.
  31. ^ Murray, Emily (26 May 2023). "Sisu director already has a sequel idea for his epic action film". GamesRadar+. Retrieved 30 July 2023.
  32. ^ Haavisto, Antti (4 December 2023). "Sisu-elokuvan tähti Jorma Tommila ei haikaile rooleihin ulkomaille, mutta leffan kakkososa kiinnostaisi: "En hetkeäkään miettisi"". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  33. ^ "Nyt se vahvistui: Sisu 2 on tekeillä – Jalmari Helander palaa ohjaajaksi". Muropaketti (in Finnish). 20 December 2023. Retrieved 29 December 2023.
  34. ^ Kuivasmäki, Ulla (29 December 2023). "Sisu 2 -elokuva saanut tukea Suomen elokuvasäätiöltä". Yle (in Finnish). Retrieved 29 December 2023.
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