Troll Hunter (André Øvredal) is a Norwegian film which follows on from success’s such as The Blair Witch Project (Eduardo Sánchez & Daniel Myrick), Cloverfield (J.J. Abrams) and [REC] (Jaume Balagueró & Paco Plaza). Whilst it uses many of the same conventions, Troll Hunter comes in with an irony charged freshness, with moments of homage to Jurassic Park (Steven Spielberg).
The film follows a group of young film makers who want to make a documentary about Hans (Otto Jespersen) a man they believe is an illegal bear poacher, but the truth is that he hunts trolls, the crew then follow Hans and witness his work, and the political struggle behind it.
When Troll Hunter first starts you would be forgiven for thinking this is just another in the line of ‘mockumentaries’, opening with lines like ‘the footage was found abandoned’ and ‘scientists have verified that it is authentic’ etc. However the film follows a different path by poking fun at the film style. Troll Hunter is a film that combines subtle post-modern humour with more overt fart jokes, this works to its credit as the humour lulls you into a false sense of security, which makes the heart racing finale that much more tense. Some of the best humour comes at the expense of religion, specifically Christianity, “Trolls can smell the blood of a Christian man”, one of the characters, Kalle (Tomas Alf Larsen) is so ashamed by his religious beliefs that he hides this fact, despite it being a big risk to his life. Hans makes some excellent quips about religious orientation, the film is unabashed in its abandonment of political correctness and this gives it an edginess which is to be applauded. For all the films humour and dry wit it has moments of real tension and suspense, in which you truly do not know what the outcome will be, the harsh switches between night vision and the darkness of unlit natural shots creates an uneasiness which further heightens tension. This is not say the film doesn’t have it’s weaknesses, their are times when the pacing feels off, and for much of the excellent comic timing, their are also moments when the timing is off and the joke spoils a moment of tension.
The films style means their is no score, as with all films of it’s ilk, this heightens the sense of reality, as does the camera movement, all of which sucks you into the world being created. Whilst the films story is well constructed, and its ironic take on superstition, and its surprising faithfulness to troll lore (a scene with a bridge and three goats stands out) is something for any troll fan-boys to enjoy. Despite all this, the film will be hit and miss, much like its predecessors it will be something of a ‘Marmite’ film, those who like the style will laud its fresh approach to an increasingly generic and predictable film style, those who do not like this style will immediately dislike the film, which is unfortunate as they will miss out on what is a very enjoyable experience.
Troll Hunter will be released September 9th 2011.
