Cinema has a long tradition of having Nazis lose in spectacular fashion on screen, be it movies like RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK where overzealous German forces have their faces melted off, or in INGLORIOUS BASTERDS where practically every Nazi introduced is killed in some over-the-top fashion. Well, the upcoming historical action flick, SISU, is about to take what other movies have done with Nazis in the past and add even more carnage in the form of a gold prospector who’s like John Wick, dog and all.
Before SISU opens in AMC Theatres locations nationwide, we thought we’d share a few things about the upcoming gore-fest, including info on its trailer, its story, the cast, and the filmmaker who made it all possible. Here’s SISU…
A Trailer Full of Violence, Action And A Cute Dog
It is hard to say just how far SISU will go with its violence and action sequences, but if the upcoming movie’s trailer is any indication, moviegoers are in for a bloody, exciting and over-the-top adventure when the film debuts. The nearly two-and-a-half minute trailer starts out simple enough, with a gold prospector finding the metal beneath Finnish soil in the penultimate year of World War II, but quickly devolves into bloody madness.
Nazis getting stabbed in the head, Nazis getting turned into bits and pieces by landmines, and a warrior who lets his actions speak for him all make SISU look and feel a whole lot like the JOHN WICK prequel we never knew we wanted. Oh, and there’s an incredibly cute dog along for the ride as well.
Lots Of Gold And Nazis
At the center of SISU is Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a prospector who lives a simple and secluded life looking for gold in the Finnish wilderness. Just when he thinks his fortunes have changed after finding a massive gold deposit, the recluse has a run-in with a platoon of Nazi forces, who attempt to steal his stash and kill him while on their path of destruction.
By the end of the day, it will be the Germans who wish they never crossed paths with the quiet yet skilled warrior, who comes at them with everything he’s got, which has to be a lot considering his age and outmatched numbers. But, it isn’t just gold that Aatami will be saving, as Germans have taken multiple hostages from nearby towns who will surely be in need of rescuing through any means necessary.
Jorma Tommila: A One Man Deathsquad
See, the thing about Jorma Tommila’s character, Aatami Korpi, is that he isn’t just some recluse living in the wilderness for no good reason. In the trailer, one of the German leaders points out that Aatami was, at one time, a Finnish commander who lost his family and home in the war, becoming a “one man deathsquad” in the process, one that you don’t want to mess with.
There’s a good chance that SISU will be the first time many of us see Tommila in action, but this doesn’t mean the Finnish actor is new to the film industry. In actuality, he is quite the accomplished thespian, with several dozen credits to his name. Throughout his career, he has appeared in movies like MAN AND A JUNIOR, PRIEST OF EVIL, BAD LUCK LOVE, RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE, BIG GAME, and THE FAKIR, the latter three of which were helmed by SISU writer and director, Jalmari Helander
Jalmari Helander Directs
Jalmari Helander has long brought a lot to the action genre with movies like 2010’s RARE EXPORTS: A CHRISTMAS TALE and the 2014 Samuel L. Jackson-led adventure film that was BIG GAME, and so it’s not all surprising that the Finnish filmmaker is bringing a fresh spin to the World War II subgenre with SISU.
When speaking with Variety at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival last September, Helander explained that a movie like SISU is something he’s always wanted to make but was never really able to make work, until now:
“I’ve always loved action films. When I saw FIRST BLOOD for the first time when I was a kid, that’s one of the biggest influences I have ever had. Of course, I live in Finland. And Finland is a place where you don’t make an action film because we have something like five million people, and it’s really difficult to get money to be able to do an action film. So that’s been a big dream of mine. And now I was in a place that I actually could do it.”
Judging by what we’ve seen so far, Aatami Korpi very much looks and feels like Sylvester Stallone’s iconic character, one that is of few words but a lot of action. A lot of bloody, bloody action.
Make sure to check out Jalmari Helander’s latest movie and watch all the intense action involving a gold prospector and a platoon of Nazis when SISU opens in AMC Theatres nationwide.
SISU opens April 28th