TrollHunter Review

Last night I watched TrollHunter. Here is my review -- it was really good!

This is my kind of movie. The only minus I would have would be the Blair Witch POV cam thing. This movie tracks the story of some college kids making a student film. Their topic of choice is some mysterious bear killings. They follow a man who they think is a poacher only to find he is not. They discover the truth.

This movie is filled with all kinds of things you want from a monster movie. It has government conspiracies. It has sparse footage of the actual monsters, so tension is built. It has moments of laugh out loud funny moments, so tension is built. It has a slight amount of silly science©. The characters are likable, so you do not find yourself rooting for the monsters. This is what Cloverfield could have been.

The TrollHunter himself is played by Otto Jespersen. Mr. Jespersen plays the part to perfection. He is part crotchety old man and part capable troll hunter. He is the Grizzly Adams of the troll hunting sect.

The college reporter Thomas was played by Glenn Erland Tosterud. He does a good job of just getting out of the way.  He pushes the story along and fills in the plot lines.  Mostly, him and his team follow this mysterious man around.  That is all that is needed.  We are put where the action is.

There are other enjoyable characters who just add a little color and tension to the story. Johanna Mørck plays the lovable sound person -- Johanna. She is there to give Thomas someone to bounce things off of. The camera guy is mostly unseen -- which is how it should be.

The antagonist Finn played by Hans Morten Hansen is also well done.  He's the guy from Natural Resources Management -- nudge nudge wink wink.  The Norwegians have that Scandinavian Stoicism down pat!  So, there is very little to complain about there.

 We know the Japanese know how to make monster movies.  The Host by the South Koreans was excellent.  Now we know the Norwegians can make good monster movies.  When will the Americans learn?