Troll Hunter

Hm.  Mothra, Werewolves, Vampires, and now trolls…  I really have been a monster kick lately haven’t I?  Anyway what can I say about “Troll Hunter”?  At the most simple you can describe it as a Norwegian and much less nauseating version of “Cloverfield”.   Don’t get me wrong, I liked the idea behind “Cloverfield”, but good god!  There’s shaky cam and then there’s, well “Cloverfield”.  But really the similarities are only superficial in that it’s a found footage movie about people seeing giant monsters.

The main plot focuses on a group of film students (meaning that there is little to no excessive shaking of the camera.) that find a man named Hans while they are filming a documentary on bear pouching.  It turns out that Hans is actually a government sanctioned hunter of the trolls spoken of in ancient Norse mythology, which the government has been denying the existence of for years.  That’s really the movie’s big hook, that the rules of troll mythology are actually real rules and the movie goes in depth about several aspects of it in a scientific way.  For example, they explain why it is, that trolls will turn to tonen if expose to sun light and the titular hunter’s main weapon is a giant UV lamp that he carries.  Also, Hans stresses that it’s very important that everyone involved not be Christian as the trolls apparently can smell the blood of a Christian man.  Touches like this make “Troll Hunter” as intriguing to watch as it is entertaining.

I’m not going to beat around the bush on this folks, “Troll Hunter” is a really REALLY good movie.  The cast is all believable, as far as I can tell since I don’t speak Norwegian.  In particular Otto Jespersen as Hans, who plays the man as world weary and cold, jaded to the years upon years he has been working in this job and Jespersen really makes it apparent the toll it’s taken on him emotionally.  In addition director André Øvredal really works hard behind the camera, building up each of the troll sequences so that they are never redundant or boring, but also making the in between dialogue scene stand out as well, this guy is a real talent and I hope this movie leads to great things for him.  The effects used to render the trolls may not look that impressive as this movie was made on a tight budget, but they are well executed effects and I think that the execution, not the actual detail on the things face is what makes a good effect, and the ones from the climax of the film are just out of this world impressive in terms of set pieces and effects.

This review really isn’t going to be that long because there’s A LOT to this movie and I don’t want to spoil it because I really encourage everyone to go out and rent it.  It’s one of my favorite movies released in the states this year.  It’s well thought out, brilliantly directed and just a power house monster flick that frankly we are very lucky to still get anymore.  Seriously, give this movie a watch!

5 Trolls out of 5

Next review:  Darkman