If you can remember way back to the last day of September you may recall me posting a trailer for a little film called Trolljegeren, aka The Troll Hunter, and how I declared my love to the glorious trailer. Well, after much patience, I have finally had the opportunity to see this Official Selection of the 2011 Sundance Film Festival, and I’m so happy I did. This film was one exhilarating ride that managed to surpass my already high expectations. Hit more for details on what may end up being one of my favorite movies of 2011.
The premise for The Troll Hunter is simple: A trio of Norwegian students discover that something weird has been going on in the country, a lot of bear attacks have been taking place. After stalking a man who they believe is a bear poacher, they soon discover that he is far from that. After following the “heroic” troll hunter into the forest, they find out the hard way, that trolls, do in fact, exist. After a bit of persuasion, they convince the grizzly troll hunter to let them film his adventures who then explains that the government has been covering up the existence of trolls for years. The film documents the missions of the Troll Hunter as he tries to figure out why the trolls have been acting up.
Writer/director André Øvredal manages to captures the true essence of Norwegian folklore in the most creative way possible. I have to praise this highly successful commercial director for his outstanding transition to the feature film realm—this is his first feature. What Øvredal manages to do so well is create distinct characters that didn’t feel fake, which seems to be the most common pitfall of any fake documentary.
This leads me into the acting of the film. While at times it has the B movie lure, the actors all manage to portray their characters well. The Troll Hunter, played by famous Norwegian comedian Otto Jespersen, comes off as this regular guy just doing his every day, or rather nighttime, job which results in some clever humor because of how average he seems. As for the three unknown students, Thomas (Glenn Erland) is your typical news reporter and has to get everything on film. Kalle (Thomas Alf Larsen) is the camera guy and is a sarcastic, scared man who hides an important secret. Then there is Johanna (Johanna Mørck), the glue of the group, she manages to keep everyone on track and inline. Collectively, their acting worked rather well. They were awkward, funny, frightened, likeable and just people that you could relate. The best part about this film is that all the actor were pretty much improvising the entire time, that’s why it never felt like it was scripted. Just a little fun fact for you.
What separates this mockumentary apart from all others is that it has legitimate action in it, your adrenaline will pump whereas in all other mocks, they just want to make you laugh. The best way I can describe the film is in the following statement: If you took the simplicity of Gareth Edwards’ Monsters, combined it with the excitement and wit of Jurassic Park, and the first person feeling of the show Storm Chasers, you would get The Troll Hunter. It’s a fun film that, even in its slower moments, establishes a hero, manages to create chase scenes that resemble the T-Rex chase in Jurassic Park, generates consistent laughs and makes a story about trolls believable.
Lastly, I have to give props to Øvredal for his well thought out script. Even if the actors were improvising they got their ideas from the script and that’s where the little details come into play. For example, the Troll hunter used tires to determine if a troll had left its territory because if it did leave, the tire would have been eaten. Troll love old car tires, didn’t you know?
I love Norse mythology which is one of the reasons I’m instinctively attracted to this film but luckily I don’t need to rely on that love to enjoy this movie. The Troll Hunter is one of those rare gems that must be shared with the world which means there is literally no excuse for not checking it out! It may be early for me to say this, but this may be one of my favorite movies of the year.
The Troll Hunter will be trucking into theaters on June 10th thanks to God’s gift to US genre audiences, Magnet Releasing.
Rating: An exciting, witty docu-style film that is bound to surprise you in more ways than one. 8.5/10
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