Title: Troll (12)
Year: 2022
Running Time: 101 minutes
Director: Roar Uthaug
Cast: Ine Marie Wilmann (Professor Tidemann), Kim Falck (Andreas Isaksen), Mads Sjogard Pettersen (Captain Kristoffer holm)
Notes: In Norwegian, dubbed in English
Rating: 5
Thoughts: Tunnel excavations see rocks rain down on the workers and some protesters, leading to a government investigation.
We start with some scene setting, as a younger version of the scientist we'll see later is rock climbing with her father and thinking of trolls. Then the earth is exploding in the modern day, worrying the government.
A team is brought together and the scientist decides to bring in her estranged eccentric father to help discover what is going on. She is then sceptical, asking me why she went to see him if she wasn't going to believe him.
Fortunately, they don't waste time and very soon the small group disturbs a giant troll that was hiding as a pile of rocks. They feed back footage and it's all hands to the pumps. Then there is another odd moment when his daughter insists her father doesn't use the word troll - they've all just seen footage of the creature that is hundreds of feet tall.
It just doesn't make sense why the daughter is so against calling it a troll. Frankly, if you have a massive creature wandering around throwing rocks I'm not sure it matters what it is called. It feels like they are just trying to create conflict between the characters and it's unnecessary.
There are some odd interchanges (such as the government minister trying on the Captain's night vision helmet), the obvious reconciliation between scientist and farmer, and some poorly thought-out escalating attacks on the troll. It quickly starts to feel like any other generic big monster film. There is then a succession of odd decisions and plotlines, the scientist and the minister are constantly way too close to the action, and suddenly we discover Norway has gone nuclear.
The troll looks great. The rest, not so much.