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How entertaining? ★★★★☆
Thought provoking? ★☆☆☆☆ August 2011
This a movie review of TROLL HUNTER. |
“No, you're wrong about that. There's nothing heroic about what I do. It's dirty work,” Hans
This is akin to CLOVERFIELD, but on a way smaller budget; and instead of a malevolent, indestructible monster, we have something more unusual – fairytale creatures but shorn of malice. TROLL HUNTER is a REC.-style faux documentary. Three students (Thomas, Johanna and Kalle) are making a film about the illegal killing of bears in the Norwegian countryside, and they trail the suspect Hans as he goes about his mysterious business. Through their tenacity they manage to convince him to let them tag along with whatever he’s up to. They are pretty flippant, and the film is humorous in a Tremors sort of way (not as good as that modern classic though!). They and we are inducted into the world of trolls.
This is akin to CLOVERFIELD, but on a way smaller budget; and instead of a malevolent, indestructible monster, we have something more unusual – fairytale creatures but shorn of malice. TROLL HUNTER is a REC.-style faux documentary. Three students (Thomas, Johanna and Kalle) are making a film about the illegal killing of bears in the Norwegian countryside, and they trail the suspect Hans as he goes about his mysterious business. Through their tenacity they manage to convince him to let them tag along with whatever he’s up to. They are pretty flippant, and the film is humorous in a Tremors sort of way (not as good as that modern classic though!). They and we are inducted into the world of trolls.
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The film is cleverly constructed. It feels like a long time before we meet one, and it is not disappointing. The special effects are Monsters good; seamless and believable. Also, like Gareth Edwards’ film we are introduced to this world with titbit after titbit of information, like an old dot-matrix printer slowly revealing the whole picture. The lore of TROLL HUNTER is built with a real eye for detail. What makes the movie stand out is that it isn’t humans versus trolls, or humans needing to survive (à la JURASSIC PARK), it is something I guess more complicated – like they are an endangered species.
The budget doesn’t stretch to enough trolls for my tastes, but the resources seemed to have been marshalled well. The focus is on credible characters interacting in engaging ways. This is not really a spoiler (as hopefully it’ll add to your anticipation during your viewing); I enjoyed the fact when one of the students falls prey, camaraderie seems forgotten and they are just replaced, with the film carrying on - reflecting a wicked sense of humour and what the audience is really interested in.
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