Writer-director Jalmari Helander (Rare Exports, Big Game) directs this action thriller about Aatami Korpi (Jorma Tommila), a quiet man who lives alone in the Lapland wilderness with his horse and faithful dog, where he prospects for gold. In the closing days of World War II, he finally strikes it big, but on his way into town to cash in, he encounters a Nazi Waffen SS platoon and its brutal commander SS Obersturmführer Bruno Helldorf (Aksel Hennie), who have kidnapped women and are burning towns as they retreat. The Nazis have other plans for Aatami’s gold, but they underestimate just how deadly this aged former soldier is.
I dig these one-man avenger tales, and this one gets pretty gory with a lot of knife work, machine-gunning, and a trip through a minefield that predictably leads to a lot of flying limbs. Turns out Aatami’s nickname by the Russians he eviscerated during the “Winter War” translates to “immortal” because he apparently can’t be killed. He certainly lives up to it here.
For action fans, this will be a sleeper hit. I wish I could have seen it on the big screen. The cinematography by Kjell Lagerroos is amazing. (104 min.)
—Glen Starkey
This article appears in Jul 20-30, 2023.