Troll (2022)

Troll (2022 ) is a monster (fantasy) movie from Norwegian director Roar Uthaug that was released on Netflix on 1 December 2022.

Ah, what a shame! It’s just a good film. But it’s long-winded, and the further we get into it, the more it’s far too over-the-top. Still, there are the kind of scenes I’d dream of seeing. But it’s by no means perfect. I suppose the budget was right.

A film like this is pretty expensive. It looks like an American film! It’s obviously reminiscent of everything King Kong, Godzilla, and Jurassic Park (so inevitably Jurassic World ), but not too much of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1993), I assure you! I also thought of episode 8 (the penultimate, in this case) of the very old series The Storyteller (Monsters & Wonders), created by puppet genius Jim Henson. That was the Heartless Giant episode, and there was a certain sadness there that we find here. But this film is above all a great spectacle, and seeing it in the cinema must be a real treat!

Right, then. But it seems to me that Troll Hunter (2010) will come to mind when you watch this film. You don’t wait until the end of the film to see a troll, which is rare. I think. And the effects are pretty good. This isn’t found footage, but there’s still the famous hatred between Christians and trolls! Yet another film that doesn’t really do Nordic cinema justice. Sad, because it really had potential. Can we really hide the existence of such giants? I’d like to say no, of course not. Those who loved this film will find it frightening, a gratification of Norway, its legends, its cinema… but, personally, I don’t think so. The monster is really cool, the actors are very decent, and so is the direction.

The music is typical of this kind of film and quite well placed. But some of the scenes are ridiculous: the giant who sees the skull of a child troll and feels sad and angry, the fact that he sees his reflection in a window and wonders what he looks like, the fact that high-ranking officials question the existence of a mythological or supernatural creature, even though they’ve seen it with their own eyes…

That’s the kind of detail that’s unforgiving. You can’t put these things on screen as if nothing had happened, as if the viewer were an idiot who wouldn’t necessarily understand the logical errors. I thought it would be a whole team of ten or so adventurers, with different characters and specialties, who would come up against the creature. I didn’t think that the Prime Minister, a member of the government, an army captain, and a paleontologist would be so important or be the main characters.

The Encyclopedia of International Cinema writes: ‘The film feeds familiar monster movie models with Nordic mythology and follows in their footsteps in a fairly conservative way. Visually meticulous and original in its character designs, it is nonetheless solidly entertaining. Yes, the film passes the time or has a good time… but I came away rather disappointed because I always have the impression that the endings are botched, due to a lack of ideas or budget – is this Netflix’s fault again?