In 2023, Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander, who directed the R-rated action thriller Sisu, said that if the film were successful, he would consider making a sequel. We are finally getting one, three years later. Helander quietly worked on the follow-up, titled Sisu: Road to Revenge, which arrives in Indian theatres on November 21.
Actor Jorma Tommila, who plays the seemingly invincible human protagonist who eliminates enemies with the same efficiency as Sylvester Stallone's John Rambo, is reprising his character, Aatami Korpi.
Helander praised Tommila for his "relentless, almost machine-like intensity and energy" he brings to the table.
“It’s always a pleasure to work with Jorma because he is uniquely capable of creating emotions, including rage and grief, with almost no dialogue. We experience what Aatami is feeling and thinking just by his face and gestures,” Helander told IANS.
Elaborating further on the character, Tommila, who also wrote the film, calls him a “family man" whose life was irrevocably altered by the war. "He’s lost everything and thus had nothing else to lose. But somehow, when we see him in this film, Aatami has found a new purpose in life and has, in some ways, overcome the horrors of war. Now, he thinks there may still be some kind of future for him.”
In the sequel, Aatami will be pursued by Stephen Lang's Red Army commander responsible for the tragedy that devastated the former, while attempting to rebuild his life after the events of the first film.
The official logline: "After returning in 1946 to Soviet-occupied Karelia, where his family was brutally murdered during World War II, Aatami Korpi, ‘the man who refuses to die’, dismantles his old family house, loads it on a truck, and is determined to rebuild it somewhere safe in their honor. When the Red Army discovers Korpi's arrival on their soil, Igor Draganov, the man who killed his family, comes back hellbent on finishing the job: kill the legendary ex-soldier by any means necessary."
Sisu: Road to Revenge is produced by Mike Goodridge and Petri Jokiranta.
Interestingly, Helander is working on a Rambo prequel set before the events of the first film. It will be headlined by The Recruit actor Noah Centineo, set to portray the younger days of John Rambo and his military career. In an interview with Dexerto, Helander said his version won't be "as dark as” the last two Rambo films.” His take will be a "little more adventurous,” with which he hopes to “inspire a new generation of 10-year-olds to go into the forest to play Rambo."