TL;DR – A fantastic monster film that crashes through the Norwegian countryside, leaving very little in its wake.    

Post-Credit Scene – There is a mid-credit scene

Disclosure – I paid for the Netflix service that viewed this film

Troll Review –

I have wanted to explore more of world cinema for a while, and one area where I have been trying to expand my knowledge is Scandinavia. I have not visited a film from this region in a time, and never one from Norway. With reports of a new Kaiju film out of that region all about a troll on a rampage, I knew that this was the perfect time to jump back in.

 So to set the scene, at Trolltindene, Romsdalen, in Norway, Nora (Ameli Olving Sælevik) and her father Tobias (Gard B. Eidsvold) climb up a cliff face. Once they reach the top, they see The Troll Peaks, and Nora relates the fairy tale of a big troll wedding where 13 trolls got too drunk, and when the sun rose, they were turned to stone. Twenty years later, on the Atlantic coast of Norway, Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann), now a palaeontologist, is rejoicing because they finally found a fossil. But in the village of Hjerkinn, in the Dovrefjell mountain range, a rail tunnel is being controversially cut through the mountain. But the last explosive charge does not just blow up some rock. It wakes a creature from its slumber, an angry beast.

The first thing that Troll gets right is the perfect vibe as the scenario unfolds. From the moment the construction site is attacked, we as an audience know what happened, so watching everyone else fumble around while the threat is incoming is the build we need. Then there is the first video that implies something that shouldn’t exist while the scientific and military authorities bemoan what their own eyes see. A house gets destroyed, a roar is heard, the music ramps up, and it builds like footprints in the Norwegian countryside. This is supported by a strong cast that knows what sort of film they are in and the roles they are playing and pivot to make every moment count. It also helps that the Norwegian countryside is stunning, so you don’t have to do much to make your backdrop pop in nearly every scene.  

Troll also understands that a holistic approach to creature design must be developed for it to work. The visual design is somewhere between an angry old man, a couple of different animals, and the mountain itself. It is both nothing like I thought it would look like and also entirely perfect. Not only does the troll need to look intimidating. You need to feel that intimidation in every part of your body. You need every step to have an impact. The hairs stand up on the back of your neck when it roars. Feel its wake in the environment as he crashes through. It also helps if the musical score blares out in brass every time you see it. But you do still need to have a touch of sympathy for it. The film constantly references dinosaurs which is a good choice because they do this just set-up just as well as Jurassic Park did back in the day.

We also get some solid action scenes, with the troll cutting a swathe of destruction through the countryside while the military spectacularly fails to contain the alleged threat. There are car chases, bridges exploding, houses being crunched, grand speeches, all the things you expect from a film like this. Then there is the moral ambiguity of what they are all doing, thanks in no small part to the beautiful, expressive way they created the troll. [SPOILERS] I was surprised that it took a turn for the macabre in the end and that they just handwave away the fact that Norway has a secret and successful nuclear weapons program.     

In the end, do we recommend Troll? Yes, yes, we do. It was a solid Kaiju movie with a Scandinavian twist. It was also a great character piece that left you contemplative at the end. If you liked Troll, we would also recommend to you Kong: Skull Island.     

By Brian MacNamara: You can follow Brian on Twitter Here, when he’s not chatting about Movies and TV, he’ll be talking about International Relations, or the Solar System.

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Credits – All images were created by the cast, crew, and production companies of Troll
Directed by – Roar Uthaug
Written by – Espen Aukan
Music by – Johannes Ringen
Cinematography by – Jallo Faber
Edited by – Christoffer Heie
Production/Distribution Companies – Motion Blur & Netflix
Starring – Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim Falck, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen, Gard B. Eidsvold, Anneke von der Lippe, Fridtjov Såheim, Dennis Storhøi, Karoline Viktoria Sletteng Garvang, Yusuf Toosh Ibra, Ameli Olving Sælevik, Bjarne Hjelde, Billy Campbell, Jon Ketil Johnsen, Duc Paul Mai-The, Ingrid Vollan, Trond Magnum, Pål Richard Lunderby, Eric Vorenholt & Hugo Mikal Skår
Rating – Australia: M; Canada: PG; Germany: 12; New Zealand: M; United Kingdom: 12A; United States: PG-13