Oh look, it’s another found footage movie! But wait……there are no ghosts, possessed ladies or even aliens. This time, there are Trolls.
The second found-footage movie of the month, Troll Hunter is a Norwegian film that hit festivals, made a splash and is now being remade for Hollywood. But what’s the original – on general release – like? Not bad at all.
The plot is slim – a bunch of wannabe documentary makers end up following a ‘Troll Hunter’ across troll territory in Norway – but they get plenty of mileage out of it. Playing on actual Norwegian myth that trolls are real and live in the woods/fjord areas/mountains, the movie takes in some pretty spectacular scenery as they hunt their beasts, all shown through the now-familiar shaky found video camera (although considerably fancier than any common Handycam).
Pacing-wise, the film does go on for too long in certain scenes. Whilst there’s no denying that Norway looks fantastic, there’s no need for the sheer abundance of ‘driving in the rain’ footage that we see, which only really serves to distract from the action and storyline. The Troll Hunter himself (Otto Jespersen) is a great character – curmudgeonly, world-worn and tough as nails, but the other characters are pretty disposable. In fact, the only conversation they ever seem to have appears to be purely expositional, making them less believable than the hunter himself.
For a movie that cost only three million, the troll effects are fantastic. We’re often predisposed to expect blurred half-shots of creatures/horrors in these found-footage movies, but in Troll Hunter you get a great look at all the monsters in detail. They’re all brilliant designs, and very believable. One brilliant scene sees the team trapped in a cave full of trolls, and whilst they looked comical in some ways, the tension was palpable.
We see a great variety of trolls and scenery throughout the movie, but that aside, not much happens. That’s not a huge problem in that the spectacle is very enjoyable, but it does plod along at times with you just wishing they’d hurry up and get to the troll goodness. With the aforementioned lack of characterisation ever present, you never want to spend too much time with the crew and so the movie does take a dive during these scenes. Luckily though, when it’s good, it’s great. There’s very little winking to the audience, and the idea that trolls (and the footage) are real is very well executed, with the reason for their secrecy both sad and a bit sinister. They aren’t beastly monsters, more they are big, disruptive creatures getting in the way of the land. The few hints we get that the trolls are not pure monsters do add some weight to the story too – it’s not like, say, Cloverfield where the threat is so dangerous you’re just waiting for them to destroy it.
Overall, Troll Hunter is a very enjoyable movie. It’s too long by a good bit, but the waiting is rewarded with some great action and fantastic effects. It’s unknown what elements of the movie will be left intact for the American remake, but the bar has been set pretty high.
