Troll Movie Review

Nora Tiedemann (Ine Marie Wilman) has been listening to Father Tobias’s (Gard B. Eidsvold) fascinating stories about the mythological creatures of Norway since childhood. Years later, the girl chose the path of science, became a paleontologist and moved away from the closest person who never stopped believing that trolls are not inventions of people at all. When the government instructs Nora to study giant footprints in the mountains, the heroine is forced to ask Tobias for help and figure out together with him what kind of monster poses a threat to humanity.

King Kong, Godzilla, sandworms in Dune… oversized characters are nothing new in movies. The appearance of giants in films from year to year made a splash and gathered huge halls. Now, in the age of streaming services, Netflix also boasts its own “monster” on the small screen – a troll from the vast and cold expanses of Norway. To a greater extent, the hero follows the same trodden path as his predecessors: the inhabitants are afraid of the giant and are trying to destroy him, and meanwhile he is the most lonely creature on the planet. The characters in the film cause an acute attack of deja vu: there is always a mad scientist in whose words no one believes, he is opposed by a violent man from the government, and, of course, a brave man of science, who, as usual, will have to fight chaos underestimate.

Using familiar formulas, “Troll” emerges into a predictable story with picturesque scenery. The motto of the scriptwriters, it seems, was the phrase “in every fairy tale there is some truth” – it is in magical stories that you can find weapons from the enemy, and the characters every five minutes will not believe in the reality of what is happening, even when a stone man is standing in front of them as tall as a high-rise building. The main advantage of the film is the mythological background, which is quite pleasant to dive into. Without adding anything new to the genre, the authors at least lift the veil of Scandinavian legends, traditions and folklore. Agree, walking along the paths of fairy tales in Norway is not the worst pastime.

By portraying a group of people clashing with a troll, the scriptwriters obviously oppose a person to nature (surprise!). The motive that permeated the galaxy of films could already pretty tire the audience. Nevertheless, the conflict of civilization with the wild world looks quite organic here. The picture reflects the collective fear that the general greed and thirst for conquest may eventually destroy the reality in which we used to live. It is unlikely that the topic of ecology can outlive itself and become obsolete in 2022. The only question is how original directors approach the task. “Troll”, on the other hand, inheriting past film experiences, serves rather as a duplication of forgotten and learned lessons. As the saying goes, repetition is the mother of learning. There is nothing spectacular, and nothing particularly bad about it.