There are very few groups from history that can be as easily inserted into your story for good antagonist fodder as nazis. Merely the sight of military uniforms and sound of an exaggerated German accent triggers a satisying response in your audience’s brain. A response that says, “Something horrible is going to happen to these people and I don’t have to feel guilty about it.”

Examples of this exist across different media. Indiana Jones did it, the Wolfenstein series of video games made it their main selling point and Call of Duty upped the ante by having you kill nazis that were also zombies, removing even more of their humanity by making them literally inhuman.

This brings us nicely to Sisu, the latest offering of nazis having horrible things done to them. Set in Finland during the final years of WW2, the film follows the aged former soldier Aatami as he attempts to prospect gold in the picturesque countryside with only his horse and ludicrously fluffy dog to keep him company. Upon finding large amounts of gold, and screaming about it, he journeys back towards civilisation but is besett upon by a squad of retreating nazis, who attempt to rob him. This ends poorly for the nazis, as Aatami tears a few of them to pieces as easily as if they were cardboard cutouts with speechbubbles saying ‘Sheize!’

A popular tagline used for promoting this film was describing it as, “If John Wick fought Nazis”, and while that is not inaccurate, I feel it deserves dissecting. Not unlike the Nazis.

After his first encounter with the Germans, Aatami legs it in the general direction of far away, but the rest of the convoy swiftly catches up with him and makes further attempts to rob him of his hard-earned gold. After another scuffle involving some tactical landmine hurling on Aatami’s part, we see the Nazis take a moment to regroup to work out why this random old Finnish guy is just too angry to die. As it turns out, he is a legendary soldier kicked out of the army for being too good at murdering people, which to me sounds like being fired from a law firm for suing too many people into bankruptcy.

This is where the John Wick similarities are at their strongest. Up until this point, the plot structure is almost beat-for-beat. Lone man with a legendary past famous for killing people trying to make a new life for himself and his dog; gets interrupted and wronged by objectively horrible people related to said past; murders his way into not having to deal with that any more.

Both films also feature incredibly tight and creative action set-pieces, though Sisu swaps out Keanu Reeves’ signature Gun-Fu for a less stylish but much more brutal close quarters combat. Aatami also plays to his environment and what tools he has in front of him more than John Wick does. My favourite example of this is when he lights himself on fire (using the fuel from the car he was recently hiding under) to scare off the German dogs chasing him, jumps in a lake to put out said fire and then lurks in said lake Jaws-ing anyone that goes after him.

While John Wick’s action is designed to emphasise its lead’s skill, precision and toughness, Sisu lets itself show off Aatami’s creativity and sheer willpower. This ties into the meaning of the film’s title. According to the opening, sisu is a Finnish word without an easy English translation. It roughly means strength of will, determination, perseverance, and acting rationally in the face of adversity. My personal favourite definition they give is ‘White-knuckle courage’. The kind of bravery that can only be expressed in the most dire of circumstances.

If you type sisu into Google Translate, it will tell you it just means ‘Go’, but we’ll ignore that.

So there we have it, right? Sisu is anther film in the same vein as the John Wick series. A no-nonsense action thriller that only wants to show-off the best combat sequences possible, leaving complex theming and sympathetic characters at the door?

Well…not quite.

For one, Sisu has arguably even less focus on things outside of its action than John Wick does. You can argue that John is an examination of intense grief and how all-consuming revenge is. That series shows John’s life get considerably worse with every installment as he is unable to get away from the life he desparately wants to escape from because of his destructive compulsion to enact vengeance. It also does a considerable amount of world-building with the secret assassin underworld society, giving the series an identity beyond most Hollywood action films.

Sisu, by comparison is really straightforward. No one questions Aatami or examines his actions for a second because they’re too busy running away from or being murdered by him. He wants to build a life with his gold away from war and would rather not be killed. The frequent shots the film gives of Aatami’s shining golden wedding ring serve as a visual reminder of the normalcy he is trying to get to, contrasted with the blood, dirt and mud that covers the rest of him. The nazis themselves also have uncomplicated goals. The head officer sees Aatami’s gold as a way out of the trouble they will find themselves in at the end of this war they know they are going to lose.

So Sisu is John Wick minus some thematic weight and world-building? In simple terms, yes, but that doesn’t make it an inferior film.

It goes back to what sisu means, white-knuckle courage. The whole story is an exercise is demonstrating its lead character’s unparalelled willpower, which kept me squirming and on the edge of my seat for the entire run time. Quite frankly, isn’t that enough? Films are meant to engage us, and Sisu manages this through a mastery of a craft. That craft being tight action, good selection of antagonists and not killing the dog.

Sisu is uncomplicated but very well put together. Like the very best beans on toast you’ll ever taste in your life. Give it a watch if you like action, WW2 settings and are not squeamish.