Troll (2022)

I love that the production value of this Norwegian film is shockingly high, and directed by Roar Uthaug, known for The Wave and especially Tomb Raider. If this had been an American production, the exact same film with the same visuals could certainly have cost $150M, as Hollywood blockbusters do.

Before Tobias is killed, he waves his hands while standing directly in front of the creature, attempting to calm it down and befriend it despite everyone else terrified. Similarly, Nora does this exact same thing at the end of the film.

The film repeatedly manages to use true folklore, tales and history to craft the story of the trolls.

After not having visited him in a long time, Nora contacts Tobias to consult him about the 100-foot tall creature which she has video evidence of. Despite this, Nora repeatedly shuts down, for a sizable duration of the film's runtime, Tobias' theory that it is a troll.

From the beginning, Nora does also want to stop Troll from interfering with humans, but she strives to use methods of little harm. She dislikes the armed forces' weapons and later proposes using the sound of church bells rather than an airstrike. Despite this, her final solution is to stop Troll by shining light directly onto him, exactly because she knows that kills Trolls. Despite this being the opposite of her intentions throughout the film, she stops this only at the end when she sees Troll suffering from the direct light. It is not that she ever wanted to harm the Troll. I do not see any malice in her when she concocts her final plan. So why did she not realise it or think differently earlier? The only excuse I can't think of is that perhaps she hoped that the direct light would kill Troll painlessly without Troll having to suffer.

My solution for this problem could make Nora a more compelling character. My proposed change in Nora's character would be caused by Tobias' death, which I feel is a big missed opportunity. After Troll unintentionally kills Tobias, Nora does not appear to have any anger. She even convinces the authorities after this to not carry out their planned air strike but to use church bells instead. My proposal is to have Nora want vengeance against Troll for killing her father Tobias, then stop herself when she sees Troll suffer at the end. Between these two points, I would still have her rebel against authorities like she does in the film, but instead of wanting to protect Troll, she also wants to harm him, just that she knows the authorities' way won't harm him, especially since we see that Troll is bulletproof when armed forces first attack him.

Apart from Nora seemingly only now realising that she was killing Troll, I genuinely do not mind the ending when Nora shuts down the lights and yells at Troll to flee. However, I did hear a comment that since Troll does end up dying from the subsequent sunrise (probably so as to eliminate concerns of safety), it can be seen as that the filmmakers tried to make Nora seem pure while still getting their way and killing Troll. Again, I genuinely do not mind, and anyway the only bad thing Nora does apart from not visiting her father Tobias is planning to kill Troll with direct light, although never seeming intending to hurt him.

The film ends with Andreas casually saying to Nora to imagine if there are other trolls out there. After that, there is a mid-credits scene of something moving under rubble, presumably another troll. Andreas' line is already sufficient to indicate that the filmmakers were interested in a sequel, so the mid-credits scene feels forced and redundant.

It seems that the cause of Nora's and Tobias' estranged relationship is Tobias' persistent conspiracy theories, but Tobias does once say, "When we lost your mother, we lost us." This is a very beautiful line but I was under the impression that Nora's mother/Tobias' wife had already passed away by the time of the first scene in the film, which is of young Nora and Tobias happily climbing a mountain together, since Nora's mother/Tobias' wife is not seen. If her death had indeed already happened, how could it be the cause of their estranged relationship when they are happily together at the start? If she is meant to still be alive, why does the first scene depict only Nora and Tobias instead of including her as well?

1) In Godzilla (2014), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (son) and Bryan Cranston (father) are estranged after Juliette Binoche (mother and wife respectively)'s death. After not having seen each other in years, they reunite in an incident leading to Godzilla. Aaron Taylor-Johnson still despises Bryan Cranston for his past and ongoing conspiracy theories. Another creature then kills Bryan Cranston and Aaron Taylor-Johnson has to survive through the rest of the film without him.

In Troll, Nora and Tobias are estranged after Nora's mother and Tobias' wife died. After not having seen each other in years, they reunite in an incident caused by Troll. Nora still despises Tobias for his past and ongoing conspiracy theories. Troll then kills Tobias and Nora has to survive through the rest of the film without him.

2) After Tobias manages to calm Troll down, armed forces attack Troll, causing Troll to attack them. One case in which this has been seen before is in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, where after Owen manages to calm Blue down, Wheatley shoots Blue with a tranquilizer without Owen's prior knowledge.

3) Authorities want to kill Troll in fear, while Nora tries to protect. A beauty and the beast scenario often seen in witch stories.

4) I personally feel that the final action sequence visually looks very similar to that of Godzilla vs. Kong, and there's a shot of coffee rippling in a cup while Troll stomps, certainly a reference to Jurassic Park.

Despite some problems, I very much love this film, especially actor Gard B. Eidsvold's absorbing performance, the cinematography, film editing, sound, and original score. This is genuinely one of my top 30 films of 2022, just that I tend to write out the moments that bug me, more than the moments I love.

Trivia:

• The beginning has Nora discovering a fossil, then cuts to armed forces demolishing a tunnel. I thought this was a result of Nora's discovery, but it then cuts to armed forces arriving at Nora's destination asking for help. Both locations and cinematography in the two scenes look alike, although they are actually separate. So I wonder whether these two scenes were meant to subvert our expectations, to mislead then surprise us, like in The Batman, where we presume that Alfred opening the package, and the phone call that rings in Wayne Manor, were happening simultaneously due to the crosscut, then turns out Alfred had already opened it and the bomb had gone off, and the phone call alert was too late.

• The music that plays during the main on end credits is 'In the Hall of the Mountain King' by Edvard Grieg. This music was created in 1875 for the 1867 play 'Peer Gynt', which involves trolls. Side note: I feel that it sounds very much like 'Eine Kleine Nachtmusik' by Mozart.