Category: Action

Sisu

2022   Lionsgate

Rated:  R

Length:  1 hr  31min

Action ~ War ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Jalmari Helander

Starring:  Jorma Tommila, alongside Aksel Hennie, Jack Doolan, Mimosa Willamo and Onni Tommila.

Vengeance is Golden

FROM THE OFFICIAL SISU MOVIE WEBSITE:

During the last desperate days of WWII, a solitary prospector (Jorma Tommila) crosses paths with Nazis on a scorched earth retreat in northern Finland. When the Nazis steal his gold, they quickly discover that they have just tangled with no ordinary miner.

While there is no direct translation for the Finnish word SISU, this legendary ex-commando will embody what SISU means: A white knuckled form of courage and unimaginable determination in the face of overwhelming odds. And no matter what the Nazis throw at him, the one man death squad will go to outrageous lengths to get his gold back – even if it means killing every last Nazi in his path.

SISU THE MOVIE:

Starts with the description:

SISU

is a Finnish word that cannot be translated.

It means a white-knuckled form of courage

and unimaginable determination.

Sisu manifests itself when all hope is lost.

1944

Then we see the lone prospector and his dog panning for gold in a stream. Then:

CHAPTER 1: THE GOLD

comes on the screen and the prospector finds a sliver of gold in the creek. He starts to dig around the stream looking for the vein of gold and indeed finds the vein of gold. He digs it up and fills his saddle bags with the gold. Then he loads up on his horse and heads out on the long road to town followed by his dog. On the way he encounters The Nazis……

CHAPTER 2: THE NAZIS

And a Minefield that the Nazis planted as they were leaving Finland……..

CHAPTER 3: MINEFIELD

And we find out who the prospector really is and why he is ………..

CHAPTER 4: THE LEGEND

Scorched Earth is the policy the Nazis had on their retreat out of Finland, it is also now the prospectors policy………..

CHAPTER 5: SCORCHED EARTH

And along with some new friends, they want to………

CHAPTER 6: KILL ‘EM ALL

THE REVIEW:

The Scenery, filmography and special effects:

The scenery of untouched Finland unravaged by Nazi hands….Beautiful. As the Nazis start to enter the frame and the land they have touched, the filmography echoes that. Colors fade into the grey of war and the evilness of the Nazi war machine. The special effects were awesome. Explosions, horrific graphic violence, lots of blood and body parts, and fog…lots of fog.

The Legend:

The prospector character was loosely based on a WWII Finnish sniper who reportedly killed over 500 Nazis. He is played by Finnish actor Jorma Tomilla, a mild mannered actor in real life. He transformed himself into a complete bad-ass in this movie. I say well done to that transformation and great job acting as The Legend. He never says a word until the very last scene in the movie and conveys so much without uttering a single word throughout the rest of the movie. Interestingly enough Jorma’s son is also an actor and played one of the Nazis in the movie.

The Dog:

The prospector’s dog is a Bedlington Terrier which looks slightly like a wild poodle. The director had his mind set on a more vicious dog breed for the movie but when he saw Jorma Tomilla’s dog he decided to use him instead. You can see the bond the two have in real life coming through in the scenes in the movie. Personally I think the Dog was the second best actor in the film, right after Jorma.

My final words(Promise):

It reminded me of INGLORIUS BASTARDS, that movie was also laid out in Chapters. And obviously because of WWII and The Nazis but also because of the over the top violence. It was almost as if parts of it were a horror/slasher movie. Make no mistake, there is lots of violence and it is horrific, but in a horror movie type of way. Even though this is a war movie I think it borders on some good old fashioned horror, kind of like Strange Darling or Ready Or Not. It reminds me of Strange Darling in how the movie is laid out in chapters also.

I loved this movie, I loved everything about it. The story, the legend, the dog, the women. I am a fan and am ready for SISU 2. Bring it on……..

Mimosa Willamo as Aino in SISU. Copyright Freezing Point Oy.
Photo Credit: Antii Rastivo
Courtesy of Lionsgate
Jorma Tommila as Aatami Korpi in SISU. Credit: Copyright Freezing Point Oy, photographer Antti Rastivo
SISU Movie Poster
Courtesy of Lionsgate

Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera

2025   Lionsgate Films

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  24min

Action ~ Suspense

Directed by:  Christian Gudegast

Starring:  Gerard Butler, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evin Ahmad, Salvatore Esposito, Meadow Williams, and Swen Temmel.

It Pays To Switch Sides.

Synopsis:

Gerard Butler and O’Shea Jackson Jr. return in the sequel to 2018’s action-heist hit Den of Thieves. In DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA, Big Nick is back on the hunt in Europe and closing in on Donnie who is embroiled in the treacherous and unpredictable world of diamond thieves and the infamous Panther mafia, as they plot a massive heist of the world’s largest diamond exchange.

Movie Backstory:

Den of Thieves 2: Pantera was inspired by the real life Antwerp Diamond Heist in Antwerp, Belgium in February of 2003. In the city of Antwerp, Belgium lies The Antwerp World Diamond Centre where 84% of the world’s Diamonds make their way. Over the weekend of February 15-16, 2003 a crew of thieves stole loose diamonds, gold, silver and jewelry valued at over 100 Million Dollars. The group had planned and orchestrated details and surveillance for 18 months before enacting their heist.

The Diamond Centre Robbery in the movie mimics the real life diamond heist right down to the details of how they did it. Just like in the movie the group had gained access into the Diamond Centre and rented an office under the guise of being in the diamond industry. Even the depiction of breaking into the safe and other details of the robbery were based on the details provided by the real life robbers themselves. The real life thieves were caught but the majority of the good stolen were never recovered.

The Review:

After thoroughly enjoying Den Of Thieves last night I was really looking forward to Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera. At the end of Den Of Thieves it completely sets itself up for the sequel involving the Diamond Centre so you knew which direction 2 was headed. But you don’t see the twists coming as the movie unfolds, just like the original. There is not quite as much gunfire and violence as in the first one, that was like a war movie in some scenes. This one is a little more laid back in that department and instead focuses more on the heist itself.

Den Of Thieves 2 really goes into detail as it shows how they set up the heist in the Diamond Centre, just like the real life Heist. It does a good job of following Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) as he picks up Donnie Wilson’s (O’Shea Jackson Jr.) trail and hunts him down. It picks up exactly where the original movie ends with Nick struggling with his personal life and his divorce. And the disappearance of Donnie and any evidence that he committed a crime. In a surprise twist Nick seems to turn his back on his Law Enforcement career as he encounters Donnie, or does he or doesn’t he?

It follows Den Of Thieves penchant for twists and turns you didn’t see coming, right up until the last scene in the movie. Which completely sets itself up for a third installment in the Trilogy. And according to Variety in an article dated Jan. 30, 2025 by Katy Stephan that is currently in development:

Lionsgate, Tucker Tooley Entertainment and G-BASE are moving a third film in the “Den of Thieves” franchise into active development. It is expected that Gerard Butler will return to star and produce through his G-BASE banner, alongside partner Alan Siegel, and Lionsgate is in talks with franchise writer-director Christian Gudegast to return to write and direct. It is also expected that O’Shea Jackson Jr. will co-star in the third installment.

Earlier this month, Jackson Jr. told Variety he was hoping for more “Den of Thieves” in the near future. “I’m not gonna sugarcoat it: I’m trying to Vin Diesel this thing. To quote Ryan Reynolds, I want to work with Gerard until he’s 90,” he said. “I have such a family feel with these guys. I know how much I want to do these other films, but we cannot cheapen this beautiful thing that we made. This one took six or seven years to get done. I hope the next one doesn’t. In our heart of hearts, we won’t make it if it’s not right and if it’s not the same thing that made audiences fall in love with the franchise in the first place.”

I’m ready! I loved the first two and am ready for the third. I wonder where Den Of Thieves 3 will take us…………

Gerard Butler as ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien and O’Shea Jackson Jr. as Donnie Wilson in Den of Thieves 2: Panthera. Photo Credit: Rico Torres.
Gerard Butler as ‘Big Nick’ O’Brien in DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA. Photo Credit: Rico Torres for Lionsgate
O’Shea Jackson Jr as Donnie Wilson in DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA. Photo Credit: Rico Torres for Lionsgate
DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA Movie Poster
Courtesy of Lionsgate Publicity/ Lionsgate Films

Den Of Thieves

Den Of Thieves

2018   STX Films

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  19min

Action ~ Crime ~ Drama ~ Thriller

Directed by:  Christian Gudegast

Starring:  Gerard Butler, Pablo Schreiber, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Max Holloway.

“Loose lips sink ships.”

Synopsis:

Nick O’Brien (Gerard Butler) is the hard-drinking leader of the Regulators, an elite unit of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. Ray Merrimen (Pablo Schreiber) is the recently paroled leader of the Outlaws, a gang of ex-military men who use their expertise and tactical skills to evade the law. O’Brien, Merrimen and their crews soon find themselves on a direct collision course as the criminals hatch an elaborate plan for a seemingly impossible heist — the city’s Federal Reserve Bank.

THE REVIEW:

The movie starts out with:

2400 TIMES A YEAR.  44 TIMES A WEEK.  9 TIMES A DAY.

EVERY 48 MINUTES. A BANK IS ROBBED HERE.

THIS IS THE BANK ROBBERY CAPITOL OF THE WORLD.     

LOS ANGELES

As a drone flying high slowly zooms down on an Armored Cash Truck driving at night on a street in downtown Los Angeles. The Truck pulls into a donut shop and two of the armed guards go inside for coffee and donuts. The Driver remains in the locked armored vehicle. Immediately after the two guards go into the doughnut shop two vehicles come flying into the parking lot in front and back of the Armored vehicle. Masked heavily armed men jump out and proceed to rob the armored vehicle. It quickly escalates and turns into an all out war as the police units start showing up. There is carnage, there are lots of bullets, there is lots of swearing, and there is tons of action. And that’s the first five minutes of Den Of Thieves.

It only gets more intense from there as we meet The Outlaws, the gang of ex-military men and convicts who use their past military skills to work as a criminal crew robbing anything that brings them a payday. And then there are The Regulators, the crew of tough corrupt policemen who operate somewhere between the Law and The Outlaws. Sometimes to catch the bad guy, you have to live like the bad guy. Both of these groups are hard core take no prisoner kind of guys. Not afraid to get down and dirty and spray the world with bullets. And each one of the groups is hell bent on achieving their goal at any cost. Heavily armed I might add.

Gerard Butler as Nick O’Brien, the hardcore hard partying streetwise cop not afraid to get his hands dirty is a complete bad-ass. As are all the men on both crews; Pablo Schreiber, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Evan Jones, Dawn Olivieri, Mo McRae, and Max Holloway. O’Shea Jackson Jr. turns out to be the sly one out of all of them, in a twist you didn’t see coming. Every step of the way as you think you know what they’re doing and how they are doing it, it turns out ya just don’t know what’s really going on. It is high caliber action and drama with a thrilling shootout and surprise twist in the end.

As my Dad would say it’s a Bang Bang Shoot ’em up! I don’t remember seeing it before but don’t know how I would have missed it. This is right up my alley, I love high action heist movies with lots of twists and this definitely delivers. I watched this last night so I could watch Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera tonight on Netflix. Watch it with me and let me know what you think, after last night I am looking forward to seeing it!

You might also like:

Den Of Thieves 2: Pantera

The Electric State

2025   Netflix

Rated:  PG-13

Length:  2 hr  8min

Action ~ Adventure ~ Sci-Fi

Directed by:  Anthony and Joe Russo

Starring:  Millie Bobby Brown, Chris Pratt, Ke Huy Quan, Jason Alexander, Woody Harrelson, Anthony Mackie, Brian Cox, Jenny Slate, Giancarlo Esposito and Stanley Tucci.

“Rage with the Machines.”

THE BOOK:

The Electric State  A Graphic Novel by Simon Stålenhag   2018

In late 1997, a runaway teenager and her small yellow toy robot travel west through a strange American landscape where the ruins of gigantic battle drones litter the countryside, along with the discarded trash of a high-tech consumerist society addicted to a virtual-reality system. As they approach the edge of the continent, the world outside the car window seems to unravel at an ever faster pace, as if somewhere beyond the horizon, the hollow core of civilization has finally caved in.

THE MOVIE (Netflix Tudum):

In the world of The Electric State, the ’90s look a little different. Sure, plaid flannel shirts and grunge black eyeliner are still in, but a catastrophic war between humans and robots has left the world scarred and divided. With robots banished to a remote wasteland, an uneasy peace has been reached — but it may not last for long.

The Electric State tells the story of Michelle ( Millie Bobby Brown), a young woman traveling with a sweet but mysterious robot. The pair reluctantly team up with eccentric drifter Keats (Chris Pratt), and set out on a cross-country road trip to find Michelle’s younger brother. Along the way, they have to navigate an electrified, retro-futuristic US landscape with eerie similarities to our own time.

The Electric State is an explosive adaptation of Simon Stålenhag’s 2018 graphic novel of the same name about a young girl and her small yellow toy robot who travel west through a high-tech wasteland. The Russos’ version takes the story concept and runs with it, expanding the world while remaining true to the emotional threads Stålenhag weaved into his work.

“I’m blown away by the movie,” Stålenhag told Netflix. “It was an amazing experience watching things that I have drawn come to life this way. What resonated most with me was the emotional core of the movie, which is the need for family. Even though the movie has changed genre from the book a bit, that main core is still the same and has been expanded on beautifully.”

The Russos and writers Markus and McFeely were in communication with Stålenhag throughout the film’s development, and he was pleased to see the creative liberties they took to make the film stand on its own. “They asked me questions about the timeline and backstory, but it’s their work,” he said. “They’re the best in the world at what they do, and to see them work on a project that comes from me, it’s beyond satisfying, surreal. I am so positively surprised by the end result.”

THE REVIEW:

I didn’t know that the movie was based upon a book until after I watched the movie. I included a lot of information about that because I think I would have had a better appreciation of the movie if I had known that going in. After the fact, looking at the illustrations of the book, the movie does a great job of bringing those illustrations and the book to life. I love Millie Bobby Brown and I think she was good in this, but I don’t think the movie would have survived with another actress. Chris Pratt was good as well but I think the stars were Millie, Cosmo and Devyn Dalton. Devyn Dalton is the Motion Capture actress that played Cosmo.

I appreciated all the robot characters, they started to grow on me. Herman (Anthony Mackie), Mr. Peanut (Woody Harrelson), Popfly (Brian Cox) and Penny Pal (Jenny Slate) were my favorites, after Cosmo of course. Yes, they started to feel like human beings to me. They drew me in to their struggle to be accepted. Robots co-existing side by side with Humans. And to quote Millie in the end, “We are going to do it right this time.” I liked it, but if you don’t like Robots and Sci-Fi, you’re gonna think it was dumb.

Again, take a look at the book the movie was based on, you’ll appreciate it more.

Kraven The Hunter

2024   Sony Pictures

Rated:  R

Length:  2 hr  7min

Action ~ Thriller

Directed by:  J. C. Chandor

Starring:  Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ariana DeBose, Fred Hechinger, Alessandro Nivola, Christopher Abbott, and Russell Crowe.

“Another Marvel Mess…..more like Kraven The Terrible!”

SYNOPSIS FROM THE OFFICIAL WEBSITE:

Kraven the Hunter is the visceral, action-packed origin story of how and why one of Marvel’s most iconic villains came to be. Aaron Taylor-Johnson plays Kraven, a man whose complex relationship with his ruthless father, Nikolai Kravinoff (Russell Crowe), starts him down a path of vengeance with brutal consequences, motivating him to become not only the greatest hunter in the world, but also one of its most feared.

FROM NETFLIX TUDUM:

Kraven the Hunter has been a mainstay of Spider-Man’s “rogues gallery” for more than six decades — but you’ve never seen him like this. In J.C. Chandor’s 2024 film Kraven the Hunter, the Russian big-game hunter of comic book fame is reinvented as a vigilante conservationist with a taste for vengeance. Played by Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kick-Ass, Tenet), this time Kraven is on the hunt, piecing together a vast global conspiracy — and you’re invited along for the ride.

The latest entry in Sony’s Spider-Man universe follows last year’s Madame Web and Venom: The Last Dance, all of which take the world of New York’s most beloved web-slinging superhero and spin it into a whole new multiverse of possibilities.

Here’s everything you need to know about Kraven the Hunter now that the film has prowled onto Netflix in the US.

When will Kraven the Hunter be on Netflix?

Stream it now.

How is Kraven the Hunter related to Marvel?

Both Kraven and his brother Dmitri (who will eventually be known as the Chameleon) were created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko during the original run of Marvel’s flagship The Amazing Spider-Man comic series. Chameleon first appeared in The Amazing Spider-Man #1 in March 1963, with Kraven joining him to take down the wall-crawler in The Amazing Spider-Man #15 in August 1964. The pair weren’t revealed to be half-brothers until J. M. DeMatteis and Mike Zeck’s iconic “Kraven’s Last Hunt” storyline in 1987.

On the cinematic side, Kraven the Hunter is set in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe of Marvel characters, which kicked off with Venom in 2018. While the films are not directly connected to Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy (set in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe), they do share the same larger multiverse, as seen in 2023’s Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (which is also streaming now). 

MY THOUGHTS:

I will confess that I am not a hardcore Marvel fan. I have watched a good number of the movies in the past, the good ones. I watched this because it is brand new to streaming and I am a huge Aaron Taylor-Johnson fan. I first saw him in Savages, then Nocturnal Animals, Outlaw King and The Fall Guy. I love him in all those movies. I feel like he did the best he could with what he was given to work with in this movie.

I have to bring up Madame Web because it feels exactly the same to me. Bad acting, bad writing and a completely disjointed storyline. The beginning origin story barely held my attention, but I was done at the halfway mark when Kraven is bouncing off tall buildings, landing on his barefeet and then running (in barefeet) as fast as the escaping van, then holding back a helicopter from taking off (in his barefeet).

But I hung there, gotta write a review. The Foreigner, the Rhino and Calypso were terrible. Really bad acting there. I love Russell Crowe, The Pope’s Exorcist is one of my recent favorites of his. But this was bad although, again, I think he did the best he could with what he was given to work with. That Russian accent started to really get on my nerves. The only saving grace was Aaron Taylor- Johnson.

Nope, this one is a dog like Madame Web.

Don’t watch it.