TrollHunter
Jun. 25th, 2012 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
cloudy_oneSaw this movie last night with Sam. It sounded vaguely interesting so we thought we'd give it a shot. For the first couple of minutes or so (okay, maybe few minutes) I was scared it was going to suck. It looked a bit Blair Witch-y in that it's shot as a documentary (it's not an actual documentary of course). As the movie went on though it picked up momentum and actually became VERY entertaining and interesting. It's slow goings for the first few minutes as they establish the sort of back story as to why these kids filming are filming, but it picks up steam and doesn't let up until the movie's over.
Anyway, as you might expect from the title, the movie is about a troll hunter. The overall idea of the movie is that the Norwegian government is covering up the existence of trolls. They've hired one guy to keep them within their territories and not harm people or livestock. The way the movie is set up is that the kids (from a local college) are filming a documentary about animal poaching and come across this hunter who lets them film his work because he's not happy with his pay and benefits.
The creature effects are AMAZING! The trolls don't look ridiculous, in fact they look very accurate to historical accounts in art and folktales. They're not over-the-top and in fact blend in very well with the environment (gorgeous Norwegian scenery).
What I found most interesting were all the little tidbits of information they dropped throughout the film. I'm very interested in mythology and I loved all the detail they put into making the movie. More than that they purposefully omitted certain details from folklore, explaining that "fairytales are for kids" in an effort to make it more believable. There are really trolls out there, they're just not exactly like the stories say. I'm really glad that this movie came out of Norway because I feel like no other nationality could have done a movie about their mythology better (though I understand there are rumbles of a US remake *shudder*). Besides that it lends more credence to the film. Folklore passed on to us by the people who grew up with it. That's one of the things that made this such a great movie for me personally.
Besides that it's also pretty funny. Though I've never heard of them, many actors in the film are comedians in Norway. They don't come off as goofy or over-the-top in the film, but you can feel the humor. All the jokes are delivered dead-pan and generally play into the overall storyline which is believably absurd. I guess what I mean by that is that it's just realistic enough to be believable ("this COULD happen, but probably doesn't...") and that that adds to the humor. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone. There are subtitles, but it's well worth it. Not that subtitles usually turn me off anyway, but if it's not something most folks care to expose themselves to (reading, with a movie!?) make an exception for this one. Don't wait until they make an English version, it won't be able to compare.
Anyway, as you might expect from the title, the movie is about a troll hunter. The overall idea of the movie is that the Norwegian government is covering up the existence of trolls. They've hired one guy to keep them within their territories and not harm people or livestock. The way the movie is set up is that the kids (from a local college) are filming a documentary about animal poaching and come across this hunter who lets them film his work because he's not happy with his pay and benefits.
The creature effects are AMAZING! The trolls don't look ridiculous, in fact they look very accurate to historical accounts in art and folktales. They're not over-the-top and in fact blend in very well with the environment (gorgeous Norwegian scenery).
What I found most interesting were all the little tidbits of information they dropped throughout the film. I'm very interested in mythology and I loved all the detail they put into making the movie. More than that they purposefully omitted certain details from folklore, explaining that "fairytales are for kids" in an effort to make it more believable. There are really trolls out there, they're just not exactly like the stories say. I'm really glad that this movie came out of Norway because I feel like no other nationality could have done a movie about their mythology better (though I understand there are rumbles of a US remake *shudder*). Besides that it lends more credence to the film. Folklore passed on to us by the people who grew up with it. That's one of the things that made this such a great movie for me personally.
Besides that it's also pretty funny. Though I've never heard of them, many actors in the film are comedians in Norway. They don't come off as goofy or over-the-top in the film, but you can feel the humor. All the jokes are delivered dead-pan and generally play into the overall storyline which is believably absurd. I guess what I mean by that is that it's just realistic enough to be believable ("this COULD happen, but probably doesn't...") and that that adds to the humor. I would highly recommend this movie to anyone. There are subtitles, but it's well worth it. Not that subtitles usually turn me off anyway, but if it's not something most folks care to expose themselves to (reading, with a movie!?) make an exception for this one. Don't wait until they make an English version, it won't be able to compare.
