Troll

Troll is a Norwegian fantasy movie for eight-year-old boys. We see more of the soldiers, tanks and helicopters than we do of the titular troll, all in a Hollywood formula with the typical clichés. And that predictability and the attempt to create cool moments are irritating. However, the troll looks good and the Norwegian landscape is beautiful and atmospheric. It’s still possible to enjoy that. The film falls apart in the second half, when some of the characters want to bomb the troll and others simply don’t know what they want, but they have some sort of affinity for it. A worthless derivative of the King Kong theme. (03.12.2022)

Roar Uthaug is a skilled routinist who makes entertaining films and has action in pumping through his veins, and here he proves it again. Troll is a likeable epic that's delivered more earnestly than say, the American Godzilla, but it also follows the tried and true template typical of Monster Movies, and I can't really imagine how it could have been done any other way or better. An ancient Troll wakes up in the mountains and at first no one wants to believe it until it is on camera, so the atmosphere and fear of the unknown works well here (the camera shots, the chaos and panic of people running away while boulders fall on them looks realistic and uncomfortable at the same time), I could even imagine the whole thing in a horror guise. A fossil expert is called into a government meeting to help solve the problem. I liked how everyone sees this as an international problem that needs to be addressed urgently and not to be taken lightly, I just love that in movies even though no one has come close to the Chernobyl meeting yet. It's nice to see the Norwegians' fondness for nature, natural disasters and Scandinavian mythology and we get a fair amount of that here. I liked that they looked for the troll’s weaknesses through fairy tales and legends. The troll has perfect CGI, no one can complain about that here, it looks realistic and very acceptable. The action is spectacular, the characters are likeable, the atmosphere is solid and the emotions worked, so I had a very good time indeed. Uthaug did the job again. It’s sad there’s people that expected another introspective drama and ambitious attack on the Oscars, but not this time bi*ches. 75%. (01.12.2022)

A Norwegian woman tries to stop a troll that was awakened by railway workers digging a new tunnel. This take on Emmerich's Godzilla-style American disaster romp knows how to poke fun at itself, but it also goes a little more serious at times, which creates a strange contradiction that some viewers may not be able to stomach. Uthaug is a skilled director, not entirely distinctive, but he knows his craft. The effects are decent, the action is good, almost unexpected for the Norwegians, and the jokes are often lethal. (10.12.2022)

I loved the Emmerich-like grasp of kaiju-inspired disaster concepts, but Troll was a big disappointment except for the promising first half. While in the beginning I was quite entertained by the clichés connected to Norwegian fairytale mythology, the story gradually diluted into blatantly ripped off and unfortunately boring lines and sequences that my brain almost froze. The production design is decent and Troll has charisma, but Uthaug lost his creative charisma somewhere between a trivial blockbuster homage and a harmless allegory about bad people and two good people. Next time, I’d rather watch something from Roland. 50 % (08.12.2022)

While Øvredal's Troll Hunter dealt with similar mythology in an inventive, imaginative and humorous way, here the filmmakers just followed the beaten path of typical clichés of films about giant monsters à la King Kong, half-heartedly and without the necessary "wow effect" that would at least somehow cover all the predictability and unoriginality. (30.12.2022)

A long time ago, I saw Trollhunter, and I was impressed by the visuals and the idea, so I was looking forward to another Norwegian troll adventure. There is a pervasive inspiration of kaiju films in Troll, but at the same time the film, at least in the first half, retains that mythological, folkloric feel. It's a pity that (as other have mentioned) they didn't leave Troll in a mountain setting, and that they had to drag it to Oslo, thus making the film closer to Hollywood blockbusters and neglecting the natural beauty of Norway. The portrayal of the characters was unsurprisingly flat and clichéd within the genre, and by the end it was a bit of a pain in the ass. A weaker three stars! (04.12.2022)