Troll review: We see them trollin’

Giant creatures stomping through cities, triggering millions in insurance claims and putting humans in their inconsequential place. We’ve seen this scenario on the big screen for almost a century (arguably starting with King Kong in 1933), but it’s a special niche genre dominated by two countries: the United States and Japan. Now streaming on Netflix, Troll gives Norway a slice of the monster movie pie – and viewers something fun, if not as fresh as it could have been.

As in Godzilla, self-centred human progress and disregard for the natural world once again triggers disaster in Troll, which is set in modern-day Scandanavia, and features English subtitles. While drilling and blasting through the mountains of Dovre to build a new train line, the workers unleash something unfathomable: a giant of stone and earth. Thinking that it’s a prehistoric beast, the Norwegian prime minister and her advisory council recruit palaeontologist Nora Tidemann (Ine Marie Wilmann). Far more helpful, though, is Nora’s estranged father Tobias (Gard B. Eidsvold), a disgraced professor specialising in folklore, who knows exactly what the creature is: a troll. Except the reassuring, traditional tales haven’t told the full story about these beings.

Troll has a lot in its favour. The film features production values that rival any American blockbuster, combining convincing CGI special effects with on-location filming in the strikingly rugged Norwegian countryside. The film looks great, and director Roar Uthaug (who gained international attention for disaster film The Wave, and 2018’s Tomb Raider) keeps tight control of the pacing and enjoyably coherent action scenes.

Troll also has an unusually strong sense of humour. There’s no wink-wink self-awareness or parody, but its pop culture savviness comes through in the dialogue. Godzilla, King Kong, Greta Thunberg and Call of Duty are all name dropped, reminding audiences that the film is set in our world. And in our world, facing lumbering stone men with a tail is kind of silly.

It’s a different kind of energy to that of monster films normally, and the difference filters through in other aspects of the movie as well. I’m unfamiliar with the social dynamics of Norwegian society, so I can’t comment on whether the film reflects reality, but Troll is free of posturing machismo, ego and sexism. Men and women are equal in the film, there’s no forced romance, and even the “get the job done” soldiers have a physically affectionate camaraderie. This kind of warmth and matter of factness is refreshing to see onscreen.

When clashes of authority appears in in Troll they’re age, not gender, based. While the prime minister and her senior advisors (all silver haired) seek old-fashioned destructive solutions, it falls to the film’s collective of dorky young heroes – including handsome Captain Kris (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen), geeky prime minister assistant Andreas (Kim Falck), and peak Star Trek nerd Sigrid (Karoline Viktoria Sletteng Garvang), a skilled government hacker – to save the day by thinking outside the box.

They’re such a likeable bunch, that you’re willing to stick with them even as Troll becomes more conventional, rushed, and short in brain cells during its final act. People insist on unleashing small arms fire at the troll despite its known invulnerability to artillery shells; soldiers do things that would get them instantly court marshalled; and a number of interesting topics go unexplored, like how exactly humans of yesteryear were able to massacre trolls if they’re so impossibly tough.

It stumbles at the end, but Troll is still a satisfying popcorn flick with some new flavours sprinkled on top to disguise the three-day old kernels we’ve been served. If you’re not being too fussy, and even if you’re fatigued with the Kongs and Godzillas of the world, you’ll find one of the better films of this nature.

Released on 1 December, you can watch Troll now on Netflix.