Sisu: Road to Revenge: This Finnish action, thriller is a sequel to the original Sisu back in 2022. It is on Netflix. Both films reflect the determination of one man Aatami, played by Jorma Tommila, in challenging circumstances, to say the least, with sworn enemies to the Finnish people. In the original movie, it was the Nazis. This movie then post WWII speaks about the Soviets, and how at the end of the war, Finland and its people gave up territory, and their homes permanently to the Soviets. Aatami in this movie shows how his family was slaughtered. The principal Soviet bad guy is played by Avatar baddie Stephen Lang, minus the skull scar but adding in a cheesey Russian accent. Sisu is not the main actors name, no it is a Finnish word to reflect a concept of a person being in a virtually impossible situation but continuing to carry on with stoic determination.

Aatami is a man of very few words. His actions speak for themselves. He also has an inhuman capacity for pain through increasing degrees of severity. To say that the circumstances that Aatami finds himself in result in unbelievable outcomes, in a Mission Impossible level, would be an understatement. For example, in Sisu there is a scene where Aatami was crucified and he finds a creative way to extricate himself. Scene after scene is the same. The final act is over-the-top intense with an unreal but predictable conclusion. This movie with its minimalistic discourse and maximum violent action, including some some gross body effects, delivers with what is expected given the original. I am not sure if we have added any further knowledge about Aatami from the first movie, but there were some laughs for me as there were some truly unexpected results. Aatami certainly shows all the characteristics of sisu in this movie. In summary, if you liked the first in this series, then you would likely enjoy this sequel.

The Bombing of Pan Am 103: This is a BBC series that has been recently uploaded on Netflix. I will further note that Netflix has also uploaded in August 2026 a new documentary about Boeing entitled Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing but more on that later. The Pan Am bombing is a series with actors to show the tragic event itself in small Scottish town of Lockerbie, as well as the criminal investigation and finally the dealing with the families of the deceased. So there are plenty of moving pieces. Episode 1 starts with Lockerbie on the evening of December 21, 1988, so right around Christmas time with the fire debris of a 747 jumbo jet raining on the town as it crashes down. The debris field is hundreds of kilometres around with bodies, seats, luggage and bits of aircraft. The police and firemen in Lockerbie are first on site to respond to calls (people talking about bodies and debris in their fields) and looking for any survivors. There were none. In total 270 people were killed as a result of this act of terrorism. As the episodes move on, we are introduced to more police and investigators from US (CIA and FBI) as well as Scottish and other European nations.

Soon, there is the question about what brought this plane down and sift through all the evidence. Cataloging all of the evidence is a monumental task which the police in Scotland do an excellent job. At the forefront is an officer named Ed McClusker, a married cop who happened to be on duty that fateful night. Added to this is Dick Marquise of the FBI (played by Canadian Suits actor Patrick J Adams) who is addressing the idea that this could be a focused attack. Things happen and it is made clear that it was a bomb that felled the immense jet, which had been to Frankfurt and then onto London Heathrow and New York City before departing ultimately for Detroit.

Future episodes the issues in more detail. I won’t address them specifically. In short, there were plenty of challenges as the multinational effort takes place with the Scotttish authorities looking for open, transparent data sharing among all those involved, and this is easier said than done. The CIA doesn’t want to share with the FBI as well as foreign countries, with their sources and more sensitive information. One of the surprises was the length of time it takes to get to tracking down those responsible. So much evidence gathering needed to take place before ever getting to that stage. I do get the impression that the bombers had expected the plane to be over the ocean and very little would ever have been found. From that standpoint, it was fortuitous to be able to piece together what actually occured. Those involved did an incredible job. Switching gears, the people of Lockerbie showed themselves to be incredible hosts, empathetic and supportive for all of those who were involved locally in the search for lives and investigation, and those who lost family members. They open their hearts, their wallets and do all that is necessary to assist in the effort. This includes the effort to find the personal effects for the victims, and pass this along to their families. They even add a personal element from what has shown in the series. I think that this was very well put together with quality performances. It is a compelling story, and the efforts made by all involved, recognizing that some of these people shown were amalgamations of many people over many years, were amazing and worthy of recognition. The acting performances were solid, despite some challenging accents and hairstyles, but fully believable. Certainly Dick Marquise and agent McClusker as shown were based upon real people, and they had input into the production of the show. The production design with respect to the crash, and the downed 747 was first rate. I did enjoy seeing Toronto playing a US city once more time as Marquise was walking along the Toronto waterfront. This is worth your time.

Freefall: A Reckoning for Boeing: This documentary about the US-based aircraft manufacturing giant was insightful and showed some of the background for recent challenges with this company. Certainly part of it was the amalgamation with McDonnell Douglas and the Boeing company having many senior management executives leave or be phased out has long term implications. There was a significant change at the top where a cost-cutting MBA executive was replacing an engineer who was committed to building a quality product. There is a real corporate lesson to be learned here about culture, and how a culture can be changed over time. When good people, quality contributors feel that their concerns, their observations are being swept under the rug in order to allow managers to get their bonuses. When the employees are asked about whether they would want to fly in a 787 or a 737 MAX and they say that they wouldn’t, that’s a big deal! As part of the travelling public, it is scary to think about the safety of the plane that we are flying in. Things like pictured below should not happen.

This is most impactful for me because at a very young age on my first flight on an Eastern Airlines 727 I want to fly and I loved the experience. It never occurred to me to have more than a fleeting thought about the aircraft I was in. I have always believed that the drive to the airport was always more dangerous than the time in the air. Air disasters are so few and far between. Recently it appears that more and more incidents, the 737 software issue and then the door blowing out mid-flight were more inevitable given the shoddy workers and workmanship involved. As to the Boeing executives, even when they are brought before Congress that there is always someone else to blame. That can be third party outsourcers, IT and software issues and there is never any accountability. It was sad to see what happened to some of the whistleblowers. In the end, when I hear about an issue with an airplane I am at the point where I hope that it isn’t a Boeing plane involved. At the same time I wonder why any purchasing agent would score a Boeing plane above an Airbus, who remarkably seems to have so few issues. Why is that? What do they do better? Embraer also puts a quality plane in the skies. In the end, I am hopeful that Boeing would get back to the commitment to quality that they did have for years. Engineers should be back in charge, and the MBA bean counters can be behind the scenes. Internal bonusing throughout the organization should be revamped to ensure that there is a corporate-wide focus on getting back to basics. This was a worthwhile watch, and provided some more insight into what went on behind the scenes. Check it out.