Sisu
Lionsgate | Release Date: April 28, 2023 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
70
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 25 Critic Reviews
Positive:
18
Mixed:
7
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Stream On
Expand

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Original-CinThom ErnstApr 27, 2023
A hybrid action/war/revenge film with enough octane to blast Michael Bay out of competition. Read full review
89
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzApr 27, 2023
If watching mass-murdering maniacs get absolutely destroyed on-screen is your thing – and it very much is mine – then Sisu is a perfectly depraved night out. Read full review
89
Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerApr 25, 2023
Even as Aatami survives completely ridiculous and clearly life-ending assaults, the magic of bloody-mindedness keeps the action … if not plausible, then never less than hilarious and gruesome. Read full review
88
ReelViewsJames BerardinelliApr 27, 2023
Sisu is one of those unheralded films that comes seemingly out of nowhere to grab the adventurous movie-goer by the throat. For a perfectly-pitched 90 minutes, it glories in the excesses of gore and violence with an exuberance rarely experienced this side of Quentin Tarantino. Read full review
88
ObserverOliver JonesApr 27, 2023
Ostensibly a middling programmer meant to satiate our cinematic bloodlust during the lull between John Wick 4 and The Equalizer 3, this period neck-snapper from Finnish filmmaker Jalmari Helander may not only surpass both those films, it could end up taking the gore-splattered crown as the most satisfying, over-the-top violent action movie of the summer. Read full review
88
RogerEbert.comRobert DanielsApr 26, 2023
The film holds the kind of dumb, action beats and inventive kills, hokey yet fun dialogue that Hollywood used to be so good at producing. It remembers that villains can be wholly evil and that heroes can be bulletproof but still be engaging. Read full review
83
The PlaylistAndrew CrumpApr 28, 2023
Sisu communicates the basics without glossing over the record, and best of all without taking up time better spent liquifying bad guys. Read full review
80
The Irish TimesTara BradyMay 26, 2023
Jalmari Helander, who previously scored an international hit with his Santa-themed horror, Rare Exports, mines every gory set piece for squeals of delight and revulsion. Styled as a midnight movie, Sisu makes terrific use of limited military hardware and a forbidding Lapland landscape. Read full review
80
The TelegraphTim RobeyMay 25, 2023
Aatami is like some figure out of folk myth let loose on his persecutors, shaking off a ridiculous assortment of injuries between one set piece and the next. Read full review
80
EmpireAlex GodfreyMay 24, 2023
Serving up stone-cold multiplex mayhem, Sisu makes no bones about it — this is a film about one mad bastard killing a gazillion Nazis. It’s almost impossible not to love it. Read full review
80
Screen RantPatrice WitherspoonMay 5, 2023
It’s a simple story about the power of pure determination and will, and it’s certain to leave you fully captivated from the minute lead actor Jorma Tommila appears onscreen. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)Bilge EbiriMay 5, 2023
Sisu veers between the elemental and the ethereal. Once it’s over, it feels like you must have dreamed it. Read full review
80
IGNMatt DonatoApr 28, 2023
Sisu keeps it simple as a smaller-focus WWII epic that loves killing Nazis as much as we love watching them die in over-the-top ways. Read full review
80
Film ThreatAlan NgApr 28, 2023
In the end, Sisu is all about the violence and blood, and there are buckets of both. This is one of those action films where you can just sit back, unplug your brain, and hop on for one wild ride. Read full review
75
The Daily BeastNick SchagerMay 7, 2023
Helander’s latest tells its story with compact concision, even as it also indulges in great gooey gobs of over-the-top mayhem. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearMay 5, 2023
Should you want to spend 90 minutes watching Nazis get shot, stabbed, gutted, blown up, run over, and beaten with a variety of inanimate objects, in the most violent and gory manner possible, this war movie is the answer to your pulp-cinema prayers. Read full review
70
Arizona RepublicBill GoodykoontzApr 24, 2023
The violence is gory enough to make the audience squirm, and just cartoonish enough to give it permission to laugh. Like the “John Wick” movies, it’s really one brutal set piece after another, though the choreography is not as poetic here. Read full review
63
Movie NationRoger MooreApr 25, 2023
It’s all a bit much, but all in good, gory fun even if this genre mashup never quite transcends any genre it borrows from. Read full review
60
The GuardianCath ClarkeMay 24, 2023
It’s super fun entertainment, which mostly disguises the fact it’s not going to stick in the mind for long. Read full review
60
Time OutPhil de SemlyenApr 25, 2023
While watching a bunch of Nazis get offed in a variety of grisly ways offers some midnight movie thrills, the stakes only get lower and lower. Read full review
58
IndieWireDavid EhrlichApr 25, 2023
Jalmari Helander’s Sisu is basically what might happen if someone transplanted “Fury Road” into Finland, lost 90 percent of what made that film into an unrepeatable force of nature, and tried to make up the difference by exploding as many Nazis as possible in outrageously violent fashion. Read full review
55
PolygonPete VolkApr 28, 2023
Helander’s camera work and the fight choreography from veteran stuntman Ouli Kitti are surprisingly restrained in an action movie whose creatives were clearly delighted to find as many ways to kill people as possible. Read full review
40
Wall Street JournalKyle SmithApr 27, 2023
Villains who aren’t good at their jobs are a bit boring, and despite their menacing regalia these Nazis are effectively lambs to the slaughter. “Sisu” is simply the slaughterhouse Mr. Helander has built around them, with all of the narrative and thematic artistry that implies. Read full review
40
Los Angeles TimesMichael OrdoñaApr 27, 2023
It may have benefited from a quickened pace, or touches of humor, or heightened stakes because — at least in this film — watching Nazis get theirs is a vein of amusement that runs dry. Read full review
40
The New York TimesCalum MarshApr 27, 2023
For all its gung-ho violence, the film never feels fraught or nasty enough: It never risks true offense or tastelessness, never takes a gamble on anything that could be interpreted the wrong way or that might sidestep expectations. Somehow it makes killing Nazis feel pretty tame. Read full review
More From This Movie

70 Critic Reviews

6.4 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL