Troll Hunter
play trailerIt’s way too easy to dismiss this movie. Its called “Troll Hunter” for fuck’s sake. I’ve always wanted to see it but, i’ll confess, I assumed I was going to be in for some B-grade time sink. It’s totally the opposite; the entire movie is well done and a total blast to watch.
It all starts off with 3 college kids who are making a student film. They’re out on the scene interviewing hunters, documenting local bear attacks and associated accusations of a poacher being on the loose. Hans, the loner in the Land Rover, is the accused poacher.
After a couple unsuccessful attempts at interviewing Hans the crew decides to start following him around. Finally they trail his jeep, way deep in the woods, and are ready get some footage of him poaching some bears. Instead, they bump into a panicked Hans running full stream towards his truck yelling TROLL!
And so it begins. Yup, Trolls exist and a secretive branch of the government, the TSS (Troll Security Services), employs Hans to kill them. After the surprise encounter in the woods & years worth of job grievances Hans figures he’d let the crew tag along & document his hunts… But there’s 2 conditions:
- they do exactly as he says
- none of them can be a Christian
That’s really all I want to say about the movie because it’s a must see… I don’t want to give anything away.
The found footage angle is probably the only week link in the movie. There’s plot lines that can explain it but it doesn’t 100% work for me. The pace of things just doesn’t lend itself well to “oh look, here’s some POV footage we found.”
But that’s OK. Everything else in the flick makes up for that in spades. I particularly like the scenery. It’s easy to take for granted; The movie takes place in Norway so their journey from one section of troll territory to another shows off some awesome landscapes. This does a damn good job at making the travel sections enjoyable to watch as well.
They even toss in a moment where you ask “Hey, does Hans have a thing for that chick?”. It’s a quick shot but a simple, extended hug adds just enough to make you think. It’s a subtle touch & some nice attention to detail: they’re not just relying on the troll, B-movie, angle you can tell they’re trying to make an all ’round, good movie.
Long story short, you should check out this flick. It’s actually not very scary at all but its definitely a lot of fun!
