- Kinda reminds me of Shadow of the Colossus.
Hey y’all!
I don’t have time for a really meticulous, in-depth review today, but I wanted to get these thoughts down while I had time.
Last night, we saw The Troll Hunter at the Florida Film Festival. It’s a Norwegian film, in the style of faux-documentary (it’s NOT a mockumentary, because a mockumentary contains elements of parody, and this is NOT a parody). Sort of like a Blair Witch situation, where there’s a bunch of material and investigators are trying to figure out what happened, etc.
A group of students from Volda College are following a man suspected by hunters of being a bear poacher. The hunters are annoyed because the state carefully maintains the bear population, and so they are angry that someone’s gone rogue and is poaching all the good bears.
The students follow the man, named Hans, into the woods one night after being repeatedly rebuffed by him. When they see what he’s up to, they beg him to allow them to document his work. He’s an agent with the Norwegian Troll Security Service, which is part wildlife conservation effort and part nuisance response. Basically, trolls have always been around, and the government has made concerted efforts to cover them up while keeping them alive.
The premise is pretty simple, and most of what you’d expect to see in this kind of documentary happens; we get a viewpoint of a very complex person who does a dangerous job, there is danger and excitement, and some pretty goddamn boss special effects.
It’s definitely a thrilling ride, but upon reflection, now that I’ve had my troll-heated blood cooled, I can see where some critics gave it a medium-to-positive review. I won’t go into spoilers, but there are definitely some weak spots that you just dont’ notice while all the action is unfolding.
I think The Troll Hunter could be this year’s ‘Let the Right One In.’ It’s creative, the effects are great, and it’s got that foreign feel while still being accessible enough to the average filmgoer. If it had more English segments it would be this year’s District 9, but alas, many people still hate readin’ at the movin’ pitchur show.
I hope it does really well though, I found it thoroughly entertaining and interesting.
Good points