Jalmari Helander and Stephen Lang in Sisu: Road to Revenge Sony Pictures (2) Share on Facebook Share on X Google Preferred Share to Flipboard Show additional share options Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit Share on Tumblr Share on Whats App Send an Email Print the Article Post a Comment Logo text In 2023, I attended a press screening that malfunctioned beyond repair, and the theater apologized with a popcorn and drink, as well as entry to another film that was scheduled to start within a few minutes. So I took the plunge, sight unseen, and any lingering frustration from the evening's tech problems quickly went away due to how entertaining the complimentary screening was. That film was Jalmari Helander's Sisu. The World War II action-thriller became something of a sleeper hit, prompting a sequel in short order. Sisu: Road to Revenge, which hits theaters on Nov. 21, picks up a couple years after Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a former Finnish commando, laid waste to an entire Nazi platoon that dared to mess with the wrong guy. Aatami begins the sequel with a quest to dismantle his family's log cabin in what was once Karelia, Finland. The Finns had to cede this territory to the Soviet Union as part of the Moscow Armistice toward the end of World War II. Related Stories Business Lionsgate Launching New Digital Movie Network Movies Russo Brothers' AGBO Boards 'John Rambo' to Produce The rub is that the Soviets' Red Army murdered Aatami's family five years before the events of the first film, and he first created his legend as being immortal when he eliminated over 300 Russian soldiers as payback. Well, now that he's returned to Soviet-controlled land to retrieve his lumber and rebuild elsewhere, the Soviets seize the opportunity to finish off Aatami by recruiting the imprisoned Red Army commander (Stephen Lang's Yeagor Dragunov) who killed his family. Helander's second chapter offers up even more mayhem than the first film, but ends in a very emotionally satisfying way. While the Finnish writer-director would be happy to end the story here, he admits he has a threequel in mind. "I have some ideas. I also think that [Sisu: Road to Revenge] is a pretty beautiful ending to the story, but let's see what happens," Helander tells The Hollywood Reporter. In the meantime, he's prepping his First Blood prequel, John Rambo, for a January shoot. It's a natural next step for Helander, considering First Blood was a formative film during his childhood and the Sisu films wear Rambo's influence on their sleeve. Noah Centineo will now be inhabiting the role of the traumatized Vietnam vet that Sylvester Stallone made famous across five films. Whether it's Rocky or now Rambo, Stallone has been reluctant to completely pass the torch in either of his franchises, so Helander is all the more motivated to make him proud. "Of course [I'm motivated to make Stallone proud]. It's a big deal for me to actually do a Rambo film, and there's a lot of responsibility," Helander says. "So I'm just trying to do the best I can with it, and I hope that's enough." Below, during a recent conversation with THR, Helander also discusses the mid-pandemic career crossroads that sparked Sisu, as well as directing his brother-in-law in the lead role of Aatami. *** What's the origin story behind this now franchise? There's a dark place where that came from. (Laughs.) I was trying to make a new feature film, and I wasn't happy with anything I was writing. And when I finally got one script ready, which took something like six years to do, the pandemic came and everything went to shit. I then realized that I needed to do something fucking cool, or I wouldn't do anything anymore. I then just wrote something without any expectation of selling it or making it. I wasn't thinking, "If I do this, I could easily get money." I just wrote something for myself, and I'm lucky it worked. So that's the place where Sisu came from. Director Jalmari Helander and his brother-in-law, Jorma Tommila, on the set of Sisu: Road to Revenge. Sony Pictures You cast your brother-in-law, Jorma Tommila, in the lead role of a former Finnish commando, Aatami Korpi. Has Jorma always been an intimidating figure to you? He has, actually. I was a big fan of his as a young boy, long before I knew him. And when I found out that my big sister was starting to date Jorma, I was like, "Yes! I might have a way in now." You've cast him and his son, Onni Tommila, in several films, actually, so you're quite a good brother-in-law. (Laughs.) I'm just lucky to know these guys. Does Jorma ever try to add a line of dialogue here or there? Or does he love playing a silent character? No, he definitely loves it. It's pretty hard at first to write without a lot of dialogue. But then you get used to it, and it becomes easier. And when you're actually shooting it, it's so much more satisfying to do a scene without dialogue. It forces you to think more cinematically. You have to explain things in p