This is the stuff we watch films for, isn’t it? An ancient and humongous creature, looking and sounding exactly as you have always imagined it from stories and drawings in children’s books, exploding – literally – out of a picturesque mountain landscape and promptly pursuing its way to the capital of Oslo (Godzilla-style) and destroying everything on its path! Awoken due to mankind’s inability to leave Mother Nature intact and at peace. Artillery cannot harm it. Tanks cannot slow it down. Army helicopters are plucked out of the sky as if they were toys. And, still, the only paleontologist who comes with effective alternative solutions to save the nation gets overruled by obnoxious politicians. Again, … do you think I’m biased?
Of course, I’m not blind to the script’s many faults. The supporting cast largely consists of cardboard stereotypes, like the comic-relief prime minister’s advisor, the rebellious hacker-secretary, and the GI Joe army hero. The subplot covering the estranged father-daughter relationship is also quite dire, and I deeply regret the fact that writer/director Roar Uthaug didn’t have the courage to show more violence and bloodshed. Presumably to safeguard the PG rating, the Troll even has a conscience and refuses to squish little kids.
But seriously, it doesn’t matter all that much because everything revolves around the massive troll. It looks astonishing! It’s a truly magnificent sight how the creature merges with the landscape, how it shrieks in melancholy, or how it rapidly and menacingly approaches from the horizon. Awesome, awesome, awesome!
Another detail that would have made “Troll” even more fantastic would have been a soundtrack by the genius folk-metal band Finntroll. Granted, they are Finnish instead of Norwegian, but their lyrics and melodic tunes fit this film perfectly.
