I don't think I have ever watched a movie from Norway before, so this was a first for me. Trollhunter is a low-cost movie that's filmed using the same style as in the Blair Witch movie. In Trollhunter, we have a group of students planning to make a documentary with a grumpy bear hunter who doesn't want to participate in an interview.
These students are very insistent and they even decide to follow him to the woods at night without even informing the hunter about it. This can be very risky because accidents can happen if a hunter is surprised at night and thinks he is at risk. They follow him, and while they are in the woods strange lights begin to flash, like thunders but without any sound. Seconds after this, we see the hunter running back with a pale face and screaming a word that would make most people faint if this happened in real-life, "troll!".
It turns out that as the movie's title implies, this supposed bear hunter doesn't hunt bears but trolls! They use bears as a coverup so people don't discover the existence of trolls. The reasons behind this coverup aren't explained in the film but they take this topic very seriously like if it was top-secret state knowledge.
Even though trolls are incredibly dangerous and can easily kill people the students decide to continue filming the hunter's job and what's even crazier is that the hunter himself agrees which doesn't make much sense because this information is supposed to remain a secret.
This is how all the troll footage is captured. We will see different types of trolls, some of them aren't much bigger than humans but the last one was as big as a very tall building. Some scenes also contain information about the trolls and explanations about their weak points.
The hunter has a lot of tools and it is always fun to see how he manages to kill a troll. He isn't the warrior type but rather a very talented strategist. The trolls also have different ways in which they die, some of them explode, others collapse and others are petrified and turned into stone.
Since this is a mockumentary everything is presented as if this was all real, and there is even a scene with the Norwegian Prime Minister where he says "Norway has troll". Not everything about the trolls is explained but that's fine and the only thing I criticize is that it doesn't make sense for the hunter to allow these students to accompany him. Not only because the trolls are dangerous, but there are state actors who don't want anyone filming the trolls, as the movie's ending implies, these people can be even more dangerous than the trolls themselves.
Trollhunter is a fine action movie with a clear fantasy touch. It is not scary like other found-footage films, but they are scenes at night that might be too intense for younger audiences. It is a well-accomplished film and a good option in the found-footage category. The low budget is noticeable but that doesn't prevent this film from being highly enjoyable and very original. It is worth watching.
The best
- It was a cool and original found-footage film.
The worst
- The high-risk decisions they take aren't the ones normal people would take. The students are supposed to be regular people.
More information: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1740707/ Review: AAA In numbers: 7/10
