Silver Screen Resolution, Take Two: Trollhunter

For my 2018 Resolution Project, I decided to take a page out of Lane’s book and do my own Silver Screen Resolution (hence the Take Two part of the title). There are a lot of movies out there I haven’t seen but feel like I should have, or movies that I’ve simply wanted to see and have yet to get around to it. With a deadline of some kind, now I’ll have to finally make a point to find them, get them, and watch them. My rules for the resolution are slightly different in that:

1. They must be spec-fic (this has not changed).
2. The movie will not be one that is in theaters or that would be part of a Sound Off!
3. They don’t have to be popular – or even something folks have heard about.

But I’ve decided to take my resolution to the next level as well, since I had more than 12 movies on my list that I wanted to see. And since we’re in “Take Two” mode, I might as well up the ante: I will instead be seeing two spec fic movies per month rather than just one. The leaves are falling and it’s getting chilly, so we might as well take a trip up north into Norway for a bit of troll hunting, yes?

No spoilers!

I have no idea how I first heard of Trollhunter, I only know that I kept hearing about it every now and again. It sounded interesting and it had high marks wherever I looked online, so I made sure to put it on my list. And it is essentially what its title says. A group of three university students — Thomas, Johanna, and Kalle — initially think they’re going to try and interview a bear poacher. Instead they realize Hans isn’t hunting bears at all. He’s hunting trolls.

The first thing that surprised me was that this was a found-footage styled movie. I’m always on the fence about those because on one hand, it makes them interesting and semi-realistic. On the other hand, when someone is running you get a lot of shots of the ground or the camera is focused on something that isn’t the action because the character is too busy freaking out. Understandable, given the style and context, but still frustrating. Especially when you see a lot of real-life camera operators doing some damned impressive work of keeping their focus on what’s happening even if it’s dangerous. That’s what they do; they’re there to document, and by God, they mean to do it. It’s impressive, so I feel like Kalle could use some work (although I guess in the end it doesn’t matter), as well as the later camera operator, Malica, whose ability looked just like Kalle’s despite it sounding as though she’s had much more experience. Especially at the end, we should have been treated to a long, continuous shot. There wouldn’t have been any reason for cuts to happen as no one in their right mind would ever stop or pause in recording what the group was witnessing. Still, the final shots are pretty amazing and I’d love to show them, but I feel you ought to see them for yourselves.

And again, with the context, one takes what one can get with a found footage film, and it’s still pretty good. For those with issues with the whole moving camera thing, if you couldn’t handle Cloverfield, then you probably won’t be able to handle this movie.

While you never really get to know the characters, I’m okay with that since it makes it feel more realistic in terms of “here’s some video we pieced together for you.” You’re given what you need to know; these students are out to document, not talk about themselves. You just happen to be along for the ride. Half the time I didn’t know their names because they weren’t used a lot, but when everyone was panicking and yelling for each other, it fell into line. Besides, I was more interested in Hans and his work of troll hunting than the lives of the students. I did like how they also jumped right on board when Hans decided to let them film him work. It made sense; anyone looking to be in news or film would likely act the same.

Hans was interesting himself since he’s always as cool as a cucumber when working around the trolls. He knows when he’s in trouble and knows what he needs to do in various situations. Clearly the man has been doing this job for a long time. Some might see his calm demeanor as unrealistic around such gigantic and dangerous creatures, but given Hans’s experience, it really isn’t any different than someone who has worked with, let’s say a cobra, for example. Other people might run screaming while he’s there holding it quietly. Sure, he knows its dangerous, but he’s familiar with them so he’s not too terribly concerned.

Hans’s vehicle has seen things, man.

The bulk of the movie is pretty enjoyable, though its the end that kind of annoyed me. I’m never impressed with a plot that includes governments or organizations that try to keep supernatural/fantastical/alien stuff quiet. Been there, done that. And it’s very clear that early on one of these exists — the question after that simply became, “When are they going to get involved?” I really hoped they wouldn’t, but alas, I was disappointed. Ah well.

I did really enjoy seeing much of Norway’s countryside. It’s very beautiful, even the open stretches of snowy tundra. It was fun seeing the movie adapt to the things they found. I suppose they could have made these elements — such as stripped bark off a tree or rented a shipping container that had a dent already in it. But it seemed more like they found these places/things and figured out interesting ways to integrate them into the film. Likewise, the information Hans provides about various trolls is neat to listen to. The explanations given on how and why trolls can’t handle sunlight. While the reasoning given for turning to stone doesn’t exactly work for me, I’m cool with letting it all slide because I don’t know that anyone’s ever tried to give that an explanation before so it was fun seeing science try to squeak its way into what was once thought to be fantastical.

You’re very pretty, Norway.

It’s a nifty film, a nice change of pace from typical Hollywood fare, and something certainly worth looking into if you’re feeling like sampling something different.

Oh, and extra points on the sound design for this movie. Those troll sounds sounded like…well…trolls. (As opposed to the overused angry bull that you can hear even in big-budget movies like Lord of the Rings.)