“Troll!!!!!!”
Swift shot: Part “Blair Witch Project”, part “Monsters” – – – ALL TROLL!
I wasn’t too thrilled by the film opening with that “recovered footage” concept, but it can be overlooked as just a means to pragmatically set the film in an authentic light. Few people, even Norwegians, believe in trolls, but after watching this film, I would wager a few more believers come out of the darkness.
If you have ever visited, or lived in, Norway you know there are vast landscapes seemingly both uninhabited or more to the point, uninhabitable. I used to drive around Norway and see these little villages high up in the mountains with a few power lines running way up top, maybe about twenty small houses in the whole village and I would wonder how they got there, or why even. Making a grocery run from there must be hell. So, what if one of those folks candidly told you, “Sure, we have trolls.” How likely would you be to believe them? “Troll Hunter” takes it a step farther as a group of, mostly annoying, college kids set out to make a film about a mysterious string of bear attacks.
Hailing from Volda College, Thomas (the talent), Kalle (the cameraman) and Johanna (the boom girl) begin interviewing some government sanctioned bear hunters. Without exception, the hunters keep mentioning a guy in an SUV who is a nuisance and probably a poacher, but he isn’t too likely to take interviews. Intrigued, the students set out to find this character. As they investigate him, they unravel a deeper national secret!
Like most college students, they think they know everything and again, like most college students, they don’t know much! Eventually cornering the elusive Hans, they rapidly discover just how little they know about their country. Not only that, their faith is tested in probably THE MOST novel way I have ever seen in film. I won’t give it away here, but suffice it to say, their religious beliefs play a key part in the story. Quickly they discover trolls are real! They are determined to chronicle as much about them as possible.
While I found the film fun and adventurous, the students really annoyed me, if that was by design, kudos to the director, if not I think some better dialog may have aided the film. At one point I was like, Thomas, if you smirk into the camera one more time . . . Sure, the script did a good job of making the footage as authentic as possible, with seemingly mundane lines that “real people” might share, but I never really got to know any of the characters. Granted, that is difficult to pull off in a mockumentary horror film – but for me, if I don’t care about the characters, I won’t feel anything if/when they get turned into troll jerky. Most people have large egos, and even more so when they are on film, so I think there were some blown opportunities to flesh out the characters more with dialog that exposes their nature. Hans was one exception; we found out the most about him – which is ironic, because he was the elusive one.
The special effects in this movie were incredibly well done, and the use of different lenses, angles, even odors (whilst only imagined) gave a very tactile and credible aspect to the trolls that US Psy-Ops teams should heed. If the trolls came across as CGI cartoons or Godzilla like puppets, the film would have sucked. Thankfully, the trolls were handled with a professionalism some big-time Hollywood producers should emulate – yea, Green Lantern, I am looking at you . . . again. When it comes to special effects, there needs to be at least a modicum of veracity. “Troll Hunter” delivered as advertised; the film-makers deserve high praise for doing a good job of building persuasive (even scientific) evidence that trolls could be very real.
Now, let’s assume, for fun, that trolls are real, because with all the unpopulated earth, much like space and the sea, there are probably still some creatures we have yet to discover. Does anyone remember a little film in the 80’s, “The Abyss”? If nothing else, this film sheds light on a monster that hasn’t seen much play in Hollywood lately, with all these sparkling vampires, shirtless werewolves, and walking dead folks – I was relieved to see a “new” monster on film. And, unlike “Troll 2”, in “Troll Hunter” there will be trolls! This one is definitely worth a watch, and film students should take note of the superb editing as well.
