Sisu: Road To Revenge (2025)

Not only was Sisu a great film, it was a great film that revolved around the idea of someone hurting and killing large numbers of Nazis. It felt so much more satisfying in light of recent events, and I was happy when they announced a sequel. Sisu: Road To Revenge is, frankly, ridiculous. It's even more ridiculous than the first film. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it does stop it from being as good as the previous Sisu adventure.

Jorma Tommila returns in the main role, Aatami Horpi, and this time he is determined to dismantle the home where his family was murdered, hoping to rebuild it elsewhere. Other people don't want that to happen. Aatami is an embarrassment to them, a real stain on their fake big book of achievements. And that's why Yeagor Dragunov (Stephen Lang) is tasked with stopping our hero, by any means necessary.

With Jalmari Helander back on writing and directiung duties, and his leading man as comfortable and capable as ever with whatever he's asked to do onscreen, Sisu: Road To Revenge is, in some ways, everything you could want from a sequel. It gets moving that bit quicker, it escalates the situation sooner, and it builds and builds to a finale that is entertainingly bonkers. As a character, Aatami is almost equal parts Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, but without the consistent failures of the latter. He's quick, ingenious, and happy to strap himself to a rocket if it means it will give him an upper hand.

If you liked the first movie then you're going to have a lot of fun with this one. It has a few moments that are glorious in their gleeful violence, one involving planes and one involving a train carriage full of bad guys, but it doesn't quite work as well. Maybe that's due to the new villains (it's a load of Russians this time, portrayed as evil and lacking any conscience, but still not as satisfying to watch be maimed as Nazis), or maybe it's just harder to keep thinking up set-pieces that will top the ones we've already seen.

Tommila is fantastic, and Lang is an excellent personification of the army that is out to kill our hero, but there aren't enough other characters to help keep viewers engaged in between the kills. Richard Brake appears onscreen just long enough for people to figure out that it's actually him, and there's a lovely dog portraying a very good boy, but that's about it. Maybe next time, and I do hope there will be a next time, give us someone else for Aatami to protect, because we know that the film isn't going to end prematurely with his death. IF the unkillable one is killed, it's going to be somewhere close to the end credits.

An easy one to recommend, but I know that I'll end up revisiting the first film many times before I choose to revisit this one. Mind you, the two together make for a hell of an entertaining evening, which is maybe the best way to experience the full journey of this unstoppable and determined whirlwind of vengeful violence. 

7/10

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Avatar: The Way Of Water (2022)

Over a decade has passed since James Cameron asked us to put on 3D glasses and join him on a romp around the planet of Pandora. As much as I loved the cinematic experience of Avatar, and I still think it holds up as a visual wonderland that is well worth watching on a big screen, it's hard to argue against people who point out that the film made no major cultural footprint, despite it spending a bit of time as the highest-grossing blockbuster movie in modern cinema. Yeah, we got some jokes and references, but then it all just . . . faded away. 

Now it's all back, and it's back in a big way. While it's unwise to ever bet against Cameron, many balked at how much this had to make to just break even. The fact that it's now on target to do more than that, and probably give Cameron yet another chance say he is the helmer of the highest-grossing movie of all time, is unbelievable. And yet . . . it's in line with how Cameron works. 

Jake (Sam Worthington) is now living happily with Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) on Pandora. They have three children of their own, two boys named Neteyam (Jamie Flatters) and Lo'ak (Britain Dalton), and one daughter named Tuk (Trinity Jo-Li Bliss), as well as an adopted daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver), and the constant company of a human boy, Spider (Jack Champion), who was left on Pandora because he was too young to be transported back to Earth when he was a child. Everything is wonderful, which means it's all about to be spoiled. Enter Quaritch (Stephen Lang), the big bad from the first movie who is, with a small team of his fellow soldiers, sent back to Pandora in Na'vi form. Jake opts to take his family away from their forest home, asking permission from another tribe (led by Tonowari, played by Cliff Curtis, and Ronal, played by Kate Winslet) to hide away and make their new home in an idyllic reef environment. But trying to stay out of a fight doesn't stop the fight landing on your doorstep.

It’s hard to think of the best way to review Avatar: The Way Of Water. It isn’t a great movie, especially with a lot of it rehashing what we got in the first film, but it is a great cinematic experience, and that is what Cameron specializes in. In an ideal world, I would list all of the VFX and art department people here, as well as the production designers, stunt crew, and all of those who won’t receive their due credit while Cameron, who is certainly no slouch when it comes to pushing film-making tech above and beyond the limits of our imagination, gets to return to his throne and proclaim himself “king of the world” again.

The cast all do what is asked of them, but part of the fun comes from not recognizing them. Worthington and Saldaña are fine, but it’s more impressive to not realise when Curtis and Winslet appear. And it’s a delight to see Sigourney Weaver magically made youthful in a way that is equally realistic and magical. Lang is a great villain, once again, and the younger cast members, those already mentioned above, plus Bailey Bass and Filip Geljo, all seem good enough under their layers of motion capture. Champion is good as definitely not a feral kid lifted from the Mad Max movies, and there are one or two enjoyable scenes featuring Brendan Cowell and Jemaine Clement, actually allowed to play their characters in standard human guise.

The 3+ hour runtime may be offputting, but this isn’t a film that drags. The majority of the runtime provides plenty of spectacle and beautiful details to pick up on, and the action beats are brilliantly done, with the last 40 minutes or so being one extended battle scene that guarantees most viewers will feel surprisingly energised as the end credits roll.

Not only does Cameron, who co-wrote the screenplay with Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, rehash the main conflict for our hero this time around, he also revisits the themes of environmental awareness, living in harmony with a precious planetary ecosystem, and showing the value in traditional ways and community spirit. Is it all also problematic blue-faced cultural appropriation? That charge has been levelled against it, but I think that Cameron and co. put such hard work into creating an entirely fictional world, influenced by the history and many cultures of our own planet, that you have to accept it as it is presented; pure sci-fi.

Maybe it’s a sign of me being won over by the advertising, or maybe I just really enjoyed the whole cinematic experience THAT much (once I told someone to turn their phone off after tolerating the bright light of their screen for half an hour - aaaaaaarrrrgggggh), but this is the kind of escape that shows how far movies can transport us. It isn’t perfect, even the technical side of things can seem a bit rough occasionally (the HFR can take some getting used to, some of the colours clash horribly, and a number of shots are framed horrible due to the difference in size between any human characters and the much taller Na’vi), but I would easily rewatch it today if I had the time. And I will be keen for whenever we next get an opportunity to revisit Pandora. 

James Cameron may not know much about subtlety or self-restraint. Fortunately, he knows how to deliver eye-popping, jaw-dropping, cinema on a huge scale.

8/10

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Don't Breathe 2 (2021)

Stephen Lang returns in the role of “The Blind Man” in what may be, despite strong competition, one of the most unnecessary and unpalatable sequels in recent years. Because the last time we saw The Blind Man, he had been up to all kinds of nastiness.

Lang’s character is now the guardian of a little girl, Phoenix (Madelyn Grace). He saved her from the burnt shell of a house some time ago, and has been raising her ever since. He has also been teaching her some survival skills. Those skills come in handy when Raylan (Brendan Sexton III) and his gang break in to kidnap Phoenix. Raylan claims to be her real father, and he is offering to correct the lies that she has been told by her blind parental figure. Does Raylan have his own agenda though?

Director Rodo Sayagues makes his debut here, moving up from his successful producer role, but keeping himself safely in the company of Fede Alvarez, who helmed/co-wrote the first film and helped co-write this one. Sayagues tries to keep things in line with the first film, but he cannot overcome the major hurdle that most people thought about when this was first announced. How do you get people rooting for such a bad guy? Okay, you make his potential enemies worse, but that’s not enough to erase the memory of just how depraved our new “anti-hero” is, or once was. 

Lang is as good as he usually is here, and his performance is on par with his performance in the first film, but he is fighting against weaker material here. Taking the character out of his own home, as it does just before the halfway point, makes it harder to just accept his apparent super-powers. The fact that it is Lang manages to just about keep it believable though, as I know he could still kick my ass without needing to have full use of his eyes. Grace is good as the plucky young girl in jeopardy, and Sexton III is a decent baddie, supported by Adam Young (in a role that may as well be named “main henchman”). There’s also a small role for Fiona O’Shaugnessy, who makes a strong impression with the limited screentime given to her sinister and cruel character.

There are a number of individual moments here that work well, most of them involving Lang delivering some serious pain to people who sorely underestimate him, but this never feels like it has enough going for it to work for an entire film. Even the visual style, although cool and fitting at times, becomes stale and repetitive before the end credits roll.

Some people still managed to enjoy this. Personally, I don’t see the appeal.

5/10

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VFW (2019)

Joe Begos has, whether you like them or not, built up an interesting body of work, working within genre boundaries to create specific examples of movies that clearly influenced him. Almost Human got him a good amount of love from the start, The Mind's Eye is referred to by many people as a Scanners sequel that you never knew you wanted, but definitely deserved, and Bliss was a wild ride into the realm of vampirism. Now we have VFW, a siege movie that uses some great genre names in a scenario that is pure exploitation gold.

Society seems quite crumbly, to say the least. Lawlessness abounds, and the streets seem more perilous than ever, thanks to the overwhelming number of criminals and addicts taking over certain areas. The latest drug that the addicts want to get their hands on is known as Hype. None of this ever really affects the veterans who run and populate a small bar in the middle of a potentially dangerous area. Stephen Lang is the bar owner, and it is his birthday, and his main friends and patrons are played by George Wendt, David Patrick Kelly, William Sadler, Martin Kove, and Fred Williamson. They're about to be affected by the situation though, caught up in the middle of things when a young woman runs into the bar with a bag full of stolen hype and some violent baddies right at her back. A merciless dealer will do whatever it takes to get his product back, and he has a multitude of addicts ready to do his bidding in exchange for some free samples.

VFW is what I would best describe as a bruising beast of a film. Begos, working from a script by Max Brallier and Matthew McArdle (their first feature), is clearly in his element, the simple premise allowing him to showcase the cast and move things along at a cracking clip to throw viewers into some scenes of gleefully-depicted violence and bloody carnage. The first act sets everything up with wit and brevity: the camaraderie between the veteran soldiers (VFW stands for Veterans of Foreign Wars, in case you didn't know . . . I didn't), their welcoming of a young returning soldier (Sean, played by Tom Williamson), and the ruthlessness of the big baddie (Boz, played by Travis Hammer). And then comes the fighting. And the death. And the many pointy and heavy things being used to squish body parts. And that just keeps on going all the way up to the last scenes.

There are some times when the low lighting and quick editing of the violence makes this a bit harder to keep track of than I would have liked, but it also helps to keep everything feeling pleasingly down 'n' dirty. I really liked Bliss, but it's hard to see beyond the sheer visceral thrills and fun of this to rank it as anything other than the best thing that Begos has done to date.

A lot of that comes from the cast, no doubt. Every single one of the older tough guys gives the kind of performance that has you immediately wanting to revisit many past gems in their filmographies. Lang seems to have cornered the market over the past decade or so on elderly badasses (despite certain '80s action stars trying to show they can still deliver the kind of thrills they gave us decades ago), Williamson has never lost his cool, Sadler gets most of the best lines, and Kove, Wendt, and Kelly are great fun. Thankfully, the younger cast members aren't left hanging. Sierra McCormick is likably plucky as "Lizard", the woman who starts the ball rolling on the small war, and Williamson earns respect from his elders as he holds his own in the heat of the battle. On the other side, Hammer is a very entertaining villain, someone who won't be negotiated with and has complete confidence in the odds of his victory, and Dora Madison (who featured in Bliss, which also had Wendt in there, as well as Graham Skipper and Josh Ethier, who both have roles in this) is enjoyably badass in the role of Gutter, a character who could have easily crossed over into this movie world from the cinematic madness of Neil Marshall's Doomsday.

If you're a genre fan who also loves a good siege movie (and we can all name many classics off the top of our heads) then I really can't imagine you disliking VFW. The premise, the pacing, the cast, the improvised weaponry, the sheer level of badassery barely contained in each scene. (Rio) Bravo to Begos, and I look forward to whatever he gives us next.

9/10

Order it here.

Tombstone (1993)

As is sometimes the way, Tombstone is a fantastic film that really seems to have defied some long odds to come together as well as it has. Kevin Jarre, who wrote the main script, was initially due to direct the film, but was fired just after he directed a number of scenes featuring Charlton Heston. George P. Cosmatos is the man who now has his name listed as director, but Kurt Russell played just an important, and maybe even more important, role in getting everyone back in the game and getting the movie finished. It's not surprising. Russell had a plum starring role in a movie chock full of great actors being allowed to do great things.

The film is all about Wyatt Earp (Russell) and his brothers (played by Sam Elliott and Bill Paxton) as they settle into life in Tombstone and try to enjoy some peace and quiet. Doc Holliday (Val Kilmer) is also in town and it seems like everyone may get to enjoy life a bit more with the days of being a lawman in Wyatt's past. But people don't always get what they plan for and Tombstone soon starts to see more and more violence in its streets, so much so that the pressure mounts for Wyatt to return to his old role. That is something that he just doesn't want to happen, but he may not have a choice in the matter if some of the more trigger-happy cowboys keep causing so much trouble.

Kevin Jarre's script was, apparently, pared down quite a bit from its initial size, but what's here is all good stuff. There are some superb lines of dialogue and characters are well sketched out. Despite how densely populated the film seems, everyone is given a decent share of the screen-time. Oh wait, that's not quite true. All of the men are given enough time and space, but most of the women in the movie are given fairly short shrift. Dana Delany fares better than most in the role of Josephine Marcus and Paula Malcomson and Joanna Pacula have one or two good moments, but Lisa Collins and Dana Wheeler-Nicholson needn't have bothered turning up, considering the little that they have to do. In fairness, the film is a look at Wyatt Earp and his friends and family and that famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral so decisions would have been made to keep the focus on the men about to get themselves involved in a historic shoot-out.

The direction, from whoever was in the big seat, is absolutely fine, but the cinematography, set design, etc. all pale in comparison to the work done by the casting department. Simply put, Tombstone has one of the best casts in a 1990s movie that you can think of. Let me just reel off the better-known names and see how long the list gets: Russell, Elliott, Paxton, Kilmer, Delany, Pacula, Powers Boothe, Michael Biehn, Charlton Heston, Jason Priestley, Stephen Lang, Thomas Haden Church, Michael Rooker, Harry Carey Jr, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Zane, Wyatt Earp (you read that right, he's a distant relative of the lead character), Terry O'Quinn and the voice of Robert Mitchum.

Feel free to re-read that list and soak up just how much quality is scattered throughout it. The fact that, despite so much competition, this film ends up being owned by Michael Biehn and Val Kilmer, in their separate scenes and also any that see them sharing the screen, just shows how good those two actors are. One moment in particular, with Biehn's Johnny Ringo showing off his gun-twirling skill before being delightfully mocked by Kilmer, is up there with the very best in the Western genre (maybe even THE best, in my opinion). Russell is very good in the main role, as you'd expect, but Wyatt Earp is the unshowy, earnest heart while Biehn and Kilmer get to be a lot more flamboyant and fiery.

While not an entirely perfect film, Tombstone somehow manages to put so many individual great moments together that it feels almost like an instant classic. It becomes more than the sum of its parts, but that's because all of those parts are so well cast.

9/10

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Tombstone-The-Directors-Cut-DVD/dp/B001QOGXPU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363068604&sr=8-1

 

Fire Down Below (1997)

First of all, let me just say that I was annoyed to find out I had missed Under Siege 2 in my exciting quest to view every Seagal movie in chronological order. That will be the next viewing and then normal service will resume. But for now ........

........

........

Yes, the child in me went into this movie secretly hoping that it was a film all about Steven Seagal suffering from cystitis but I knew that was unlikely to be the case. Instead, Seagal puts himself once again in the role of environmental warrior (as he did in On Deadly Ground).

The pony-tailed one plays EPA officer Jack Taggart, sent out to a small community that is being poisoned by a local big shot (played by Kris Kristofferson). While he’s there, Jack befriends a local man (Harry Dean Stanton), gets close to a local lady (Marg Helgenberger) and divides the rest of the populace right down the middle. As he starts causing more problems for the greedy polluters he starts putting himself in a lot more danger.

Director Felix Enriquez Alcala has a filmography chock full of TV work but he doesn’t do all that badly with his movie work. It’s a lesser Seagal movie but it’s still quite a distance removed from the worst that the man has starred in.

Jeb Stuart and Philip Morton provide a predictable and uneven script (it’s part ho-down sappiness and part gritty action flick with neither aspect really satisfying for viewers).

Thankfully, the cast has some great actors in there. Seagal isn’t one of them but he is Seagal so that’s that. Kristofferson is enjoyable if a bit too polite in the role of the big, bad polluter. Helgenberger gets by on likeability more than any great characterisation and Harry Dean Stanton is always a welcome addition to any movie but it’s Stephen Lang who steals the show as the brother of Helgenberger’s character.

 

Watch it, enjoy it and never feel the urge to seek it out again. 

5/10

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