Troll (2022)

I have a soft spot for monster movies, especially when they are well made films that don't feel just like mayhem without any plot. They make us think about what's truly important when the shit hits the fan, they explore our relationships with myth and legend, and they can be extremely fun watches. Troll is all those things. The director of 2015's The Wave (one of the better disaster movies of the last decade) has delivered again with a smart and fun monster movie that ends up being a great watch. 

Troll sticks to the typical formula so it may not be the most original film but does it well creating tension and mystery before delivering the action that we come for. The effects are good and the script doesn't condescend (a typical fault of these sorts of films) making all of this just work. Yes it has the dramatic scenes of government officials debating what to do. Yes there are a lot people standing around in uniforms. Yes it has the expert who no one listens to until it's too late. Yes she is followed around by a comic relief character. Yes the film turns the tables by making the "monster" sympathetic. So while Troll doesn't reinvent the genre or do anything we don't expect, it does it all with grace and style and deliver a fun time. 

And it has a little bit to say. The film's story takes us down some high level and not to deep critiques of colonialism, specifically western Christian colonialism. This is a theme that could have been explored further but I like that it took it on. 

It also delivers the final end moments suggesting more is coming... will we get a while series of Troll movies? I'd be down for that. 

Troll

Starring: Ine Marie, Kim Falck, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen, Billy Campbell

Director: Roar Uthaug

Writers: Espen Aukan, Roar Uthang