The Troll Hunter is a Norwegian movie playing in cinemas now. It follows “The Blair Witch Project” format where the story is told by footage allegedly taken from the camera of the person that had taken the footage. 

The Troll Hunter starts with a disclaimar  that the movie was taken from a hard disk posted to the producer from an unknown sender. The story is about a group of 3 university students making an assignment where they are investigating the mysterious death of campers, animals and livestock that don’t really fit the description of  a bear attack, which is the official story of the authorities. One thing leads to another and they meet a hunter which they thought is hunting the bear. They decide to follow him and find out what is he really up to. They follow him into the forrest where they get their first experience with a troll.

Hans, this hunter, turns out to be a troll hunter working for the government to exterminate trolls that stray from thier designated territory From there on, the students follow him through his hunting mission

The Troll

According to Norwegian folklore, a troll is a non-intelligent creature (depicted in the poster above) that is both ugly and troublesome. They are said to turn to stone when in contact with sunlight and, in this movie, have a nose for Christian blood. The movie attempts to put the trolls into a scientific perspective where the trolls are said not having the ability to change vitamin D from the sunlight into calcium and the old ones turn into limestone while the young ones just explode! But I don’t quite understand why they have a nose for Christian blood, meaning if there is a Christian nearby, they can smell him. I guess that explains why Norway and other Scandinavian countries pride themselves for not having any religion. However, they didn’t seem to have the chance to test whether the effects are the same for the Muslim camera woman towards the end of the movie.

Unexpected awesomeness

The movie is a slow paced movie but it keeps viewers constantly at the edge of their seats by creating awesome scenes out of thin air. Hans, the troll hunter has this bad ass UV light gun that burst UV light, blasting any small trolls into pieces and he has a Land Rover with huge UV lights on top to kill big trolls….not to mention the secret weapon to kill the mountain sized troll at the end of the movie. I guess this is what is called a “Scandinavian action movie”. Slow to start, but has awesomeness in unexpected places. If you are not the patient type, you might be frustrated by the discussions  in between scenes.

Believability

Usually these “Blair Witch Project” type of movies are supposed to give the impression that it is a true story. Blair Witch Project was pretty good in terms of believability, although the storyline was bad. The movie Cloverfield, sucked in this department. It was clearly a staged movie. Paranormal Activity was good, but for me it was too superstitious to be realistic.

However for this movie, the acting and the plot was pretty realistic. They even went as far as to cut down trees to make it appear as if trolls have passed by. But what gave it away, however, was the CGI trolls. Don’t get me wrong, the CGI was very good, but in the end you know when you see CGI. Another problem is in the movie the authorities had many chances to confiscate the camera but didn’t, unlike the MIB that even erase memories. That part doesn’t seem realistic.

Pros

• Good acting,
• Good storyline
• Good scenery of Norway. You’ll fell like going there yourself:)

Cons

• CGI gives it away.
• The government officials seem to be a bit too lenient on the camera crew (unlike the MIB)
• Norwegian language really sounds funny. Like a German drowning.

Bottomline

The Troll Hunter is a good movie and a must watch for those who like the “Blair  Witch Projet” type of movies. Its a movie for those who like to explore folklore from a sci-fi perspective.  However if you are a fan of Transformer movies, you will be disappointed. I give it 7 out of 10 stars. Worth your money, after you watched all the other movies that is…