Rendel, also known as Rendel: Dark Vengeance is a 2017 Finnish superhero film written, produced and directed by Jesse Haaja. The film is based on Haaja’s self-created character, Rendel. Lead roles are played by Kris Gummerus, Matti Onnismaa, Rami Rusinen and Renne Korppila. The rest of the cast includes Alina Tomnikov, Tero Salenius, Aake Kalliala, Anu Palevaara and Kristina Karjalainen. The film won the Best Action Movie award at the Feratum Film Festival in Mexico.
In the city of Mikkeli, Finland, a company called VALA has developed a successful vaccine without proper testing. However, the organization is a front for a criminal organization, led by Pekka Erola, whose son Jarno aka “Rotikka”, is one of the biggest thugs in the group. However, a mysterious figure decked out in black has been wreaking havoc against VALA and their men. When the mysterious man brutalizes six men, Rotikka notices each man is hung with the name “Rendel” etched in their bodies. Through flashbacks, we learn about Ramo, a financial director of a company who is a family man with his wife and daughter. They give him a biker jacket for a Father’s Day gift. However, when he doesn’t accept to invest to a Vala worker named Kurrikka, the latter calls his boss and tells him what happened. Then, Kurrikkas boss calls Ramo’s boss and forces him to fire Ramo. Ramo then has trouble finding a job and struggles financially.
Ramo, through the advice of the man who got him fired, Kurrikka, gets a job at VALA filing paperwork but Ramo finds himself looking through it one day. He learns the vaccine, made up of a tar that sticks to skin permanent if bonded, has not been properly tested and has in fact, resulted in numerous deaths. Ramo finds himself at crossroads. However, Erola fears Ramo may be a whistleblower. He sends Rotikka and Lahtaaja to kill Ramo and his family. While Ramo’s wife and daughter are killed, Ramo is hit with a baseball bat with barbed wire attached and left to die. However, he survives and keeping a canister of the tar in his cellar, Ramo covers his face with the tar and creates a mask. Using the biker jacket given to him by his family and gloves, Ramo becomes the dark avenger Rendel, named after the Hungarian word for “order”. A mysterious woman named Marla arrives to help Rendel when needed.