Troll

With one foot firmly planted in 19th century Nordic mythology, Norway's very own answer to Godzilla clambers and stomps its way into popular culture's finest. The troll has awoken and although there are clear parallels with the now decade-old Trolljegeren, Roar Uthaug's new production has a more obvious kinship with contemporary monster movies and perhaps most notably Warner and Legendary Pictures' Monsterverse. Spectacle is prioritised over storytelling and characters function mostly as props. Paper-thin caricatures whose existence only serves to frame the film's oversized protagonist.

During a brief prologue, we are introduced to Nora, who is out rock climbing with her father. Together they gaze out over the snow-capped peaks and it is explained to us how the mighty formations of rock and ice are actually ancient creatures from a bygone age. Twenty years later, our main character has come of age and with it his loss of faith in supernaturalism and magic. Her ties with Nora's father have long since been severed and she is now working on excavations along the Norwegian coast as a palaeontologist. A far cry from old folk tales, legends and supernaturalism.

But when an inexplicable elemental force comes to life during a tunnel excavation and slowly begins to creep towards the nation's capital Nora is forced to confront her past once again, and her forest-loving, eccentric father. The safety of Norway's kingdom is at stake, and the question is what or who can now stop the creature of stone and gravel that threatens to devastate the country. Different interests are in stark conflict, for while the government and the war-mongering generals want to blow it to smithereens, Nora and her friends are looking for increasingly unconventional solutions, and what is it that the vengeful creature really wants?

It's not without asking yourself the question, "what if this had been real", "what if these creatures of ancient times had risen from the mountains and the ground". The idea is nagging and full of possibilities, something Roar Uthaug's film also explores to some extent and lays the groundwork for. Troll certainly doesn't try to reinvent the wheel and the inspiration from the East Asian model is impossible to ignore. But at the same time, it's also impossible to ignore how effective the real connection to Nordic history is here. In everything from the way classical motifs and images are woven in to the use of Edvard Grieg's "In the Hall of the Mountain King".

Troll is also gratefully freed from the rubber suits and miniature cities that graced monster movies of days gone by. Roar Uthaug's production is sleek and gaudy with just the right amount of stage time for the titular beast. The human drama is cleverly almost entirely relegated to the side and the Troll with all his rich background and mythology is allowed full focus without any real other distractions. It's simple but very well done with an open-minded approach to what is really an almost impossible concept to take very seriously on any level.

There's a visual flare and rare empathy for the beast at the centre that more than compensates for the script's shortcomings. Because just as it should be, the clinging beast is also the film's greatest asset by far, even in those scenes where the ogre isn't onscreen. There are layers and nuances here which, as they are withdrawn and revealed, give Roar Uthaug's film an increasingly melancholic tone and allude to the way in which the modernisation of society is eroding traditions and cultures. Which also makes the film's ending so incredibly effective and surprisingly moving