I have been waiting to see this since John Wick 4 came out. I'm glad I made it before my end of year wrap-up. A lone prospector (Jorma Tommila) strikes gold in the far northern reaches of Finland in the last days of WWII. On his way to deposit it, he crosses trails with a platoon of Nazi soldiers on a scorched earth campaign. The Captain (Aksel Hennie) realizes the gold could be his ticket out of a war crimes tribunal and orders his men to attack, only to lose time and again. A background check reveals that the grizzled old man is actually a Finnish war hero nicknamed after Koschei the Deathless.
At 88 minutes, this wastes no time in getting straight to the Nazi-killing. It manages to fit six whole chapters in, which is a feat of screenwriting. Yes, it is a little exposition heavy, a little over-explanatory, but it calls back to movies like First Blood. It is The Man, The Myth, The Legend. I get it. However, this is the rabbit meat of action movies: so lean it's basically malnutritious. I'm looking for wagyu. I want lore marbled in with the action so it feels sumptuous. Give me gourmet violence. Nazis need killing, obviously, but let me savor it.
Sisu is currently streaming on Starz and if you're looking for a pairing, I would suggest Dead Snow as a chaser as it also involves Nazis and gold.
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