On the surface, “Troll” is a predictable Kaiju film all the way from Norway about a “monster” from the mountains that is awakened by humans digging where they shouldn’t, only to wreak havoc and destroy the world. The country’s best chance to defend itself is to gather top scientific minds in a room with politicians and the military to work out a plan to save humanity and… not bite each other’s heads off? Troll also touches upon the tired old family trope of an estranged father-daughter relationship to build some emotion in an otherwise subpar action-fantasy plot for today. While in 2022, giant monster movies are not the trend in the horror-fantasy genre (filled with serial killers and redundant sequels), Troll only attempts to take advantage of this fact but, due to its mediocre drama and unfinished characters, it is rather lackluster even with the ‘freshness’ of a larger-than-life monster. Maybe the giant rock and earth monster isn’t the only Troll here; we apologize for the harsh words, but overall, this movie is entertaining and has some very nice action sequences, cinematography, and special effects. Let’s “dig deep” into some of these aspects! Leave your minds behind and dive in.
Spoilers Ahead
‘Troll’ Plot Synopsis: What Happens In The Film?
The story begins with a young woman, Nora Tidemann, as we follow her as she explores the beautiful mountains with her father, with fantastical music playing in the background. The peaks they are exploring are Trolltinden, aka Troll Peaks. At the top of the mountain, they discuss the “fairytale” of the troll wedding, one where thirteen drunken trolls forgot they had to run back home, Cinderella-style, so as to avoid getting hit by sunlight and turning into, well, mountains. The father proceeds to convince Nora to “believe” in order to be able to see the real thing, after which she can see the many trolls frozen in the mountains. “Don’t look from the eyes, but from your heart.” (Ah! Never heard that one before.) Cut to twenty years later, and Nora is now an adventurous paleontologist, just as her father would’ve hoped, digging up some fossils. At the same time, we see a protest by climate-positive teens who are asking excavators to stop digging so far in the mountains and leave nature alone. When they don’t listen and plunge on ahead, something buried deep in the Dover Mountains is awakened. A monster of gigantic proportions, never seen before, is here to destroy humanity (or just Norway). The fate of Norway is in the hands of three outcasts and one captain. Will they be able to discover what the monster is? Is it truly a monster they’re hunting?
What Is The Lore Behind The Earth And Rock Monster? Why Do Nora And The Crew Use Fairytales As Their Weapon Of Choice?
In typical Kaiju fashion, the Troll is a representation of climate change and the Christianization of Norway. While we see climate-positive teens protesting and an homage to environmental activist Greta Thunberg early on in the movie, there isn’t much else the story does to establish this message. The film spends most of its time using elaborate action sequences and destruction of property to show the Troll in a bad light (scenes that capture maximum space in the slightly too long one hour and forty minutes run time), leaving less room for an emotional connection to the creature that is lost and alone, here to find its place in unfamiliarity, with its only intention being to head home. “Humans are bad; trolls are good.” Troll plays out a lot like the original Godzilla or even King Kong and is littered with sci-fi fan favorites, with mentions of Star Trek, King Kong, and Han Solo (this one is just us guessing, the dog’s name being Solo can’t be a coincidence now), and even T-Rex (Jurassic Park), to create a self-aware and nostalgic atmosphere. It uses Jurassic Park-like scenes to establish the arrival of the monster and delivers a spectacular Troll design, which makes for a great viewing experience, but in saying that, the story plays out quite predictably. Our protagonists find out the truth behind the “monster’s” arrival, only for it to be destroyed at the end due to humanity’s flaws. Empathize with the alien creature because humans are power-hungry and the true problem in this world. We have seen this many times, but what Troll does differently is that it uses Nordic mythology to conjure this unique and imaginative creature that not many across the world will know about. The shame is how little of the plot is actually dedicated to this. So, let’s attempt to find out what the lore is and how much of it is seen in the movie.
Throughout the movie, we see the Troll attempting to maneuver through Norway to reach its ancestral home, the mountain king’s palace, which is now buried under Rikard Sinding’s palace. It is said that many years ago, during the Christianization of Norway, Olaf the Holy (not THAT Olaf) massacred the entire troll family, along with all other trolls inhabiting the lands, because they didn’t agree with the faith, sparing only one of the troll king’s children, abandoned in the mountains to die, our main characters redemption arc. According to Tobias, the reason the trolls were forgotten or why people find it so unbelievable that they are real creatures is because of modern fairy tales that were written to make them just “tales” and hide the truth.
Trolls (perhaps the most notable creature of Nordic folklore) are scattered across Norse mythology as unfriendly, dimwitted, sometimes ugly, and dangerous beings who live in isolation on rocks and mountains. In Norway, there is a mountain range that the trolls are considered to have lived under. There is also an orchestral piece known as “In the Hall of the Mountain King,” which was part of Henrik Ibsen’s 1867 play Peer Gynt, a version of which has been used in the credits of this film. Trolls are said to live far away from humans due to their aversion to Christianity, and it is said that the sound of bells can ward off trolls; this is adapted in the film as Nora attempts to distract the Troll and get it away from civilization with giant bells on helicopters. The most effective-known way to defeat a troll, however, is to trick them into staying out till dawn, as it is said that they turn to rock when hit by sunlight. There are many rocks in present-day Norway that are believed to be trolls. Nora uses this exact piece of mythology as her plan to save Oslo from the monster, only to then realize that it is harmless and doesn’t deserve to die. How can mankind ruin everything?
‘Troll’ Ending Explained – Does The Troll Survive? What Does Nora Do To Save Norway? Will There Be A Sequel?
Troll sets out to be a man vs. humanity story where we must choose between nature and technology. As Nora discovers the Troll is in pain when it is hit by artificial UV rays, she realizes her dead father was right all along. Trolls are a force of nature and do not deserve to be hunted. She then proceeds to turn off all the artificial UV light and attempts to converse with the Troll, just as her father did before finding his peace. She begs the Troll to go away from the city, far, far away, so no one can bother it, or vice versa, with dozens of onlookers from the military who, just a few minutes ago, were rejoicing in the torment of this giant creature. While she does so, the sun finally rises, and the Troll begins to burn and disintegrate to form a giant boulder in the middle of Oslo.
Throughout the film, we see Nora struggling with her life (okay, we don’t actually see it, but we know it, so just bear with us) as she has faced loss and pain, with her mother passing away at a young age and her father “going crazy” and getting locked away due to his theories. Because of this, she sympathizes with the Troll and understands its loneliness, unlike most humans, who only see it as a weapon of mass destruction. The Prime Minister even agrees to use nuclear weapons to destroy this “natural” creature without realizing the massive consequences of the matter. Shoot first; ask questions later. This minor rapport between the Troll and Nora is a sweet touch to this action movie. Nora, Tobias, Andreas, and Kris all show positive sides of humanity across the movie as they work with each other, “listen to their hearts,” and believe in what they’re doing. Nora and Tobias’ relationship is quickly skimmed over through the first forty minutes of the movie, so the “crazy father,” who was right all along, can die mid-movie to give us “pine allergies” (credit to Tobias for this one). Reconciliation is a very important part of human social behavior, but it’s such a tired trope in this movie genre that it really doesn’t twist the right buttons, and the death of Tobias is almost forgotten until the end of the movie, where Nora suggests the Troll Rock could be named after him. Rikard Sinding is a very interesting character to meet, and a deeper understanding of why he locked up Tobias with some bantering between the two characters would’ve been a fresh change of pace in this movie, which is otherwise all over the place, to begin with. The movie uses fantastical soundtracks and slow-motion action sequences to their maximum potential to make it an adrenaline-filled Jurassic Park-like cat-and-mouse chase movie, which would definitely make a huge impact on a massive screen, but on our mini home screens; it may not be as exciting.
To answer the real question in all of our minds, though, what exactly was that mid-credit scene? Is there another troll? And if so, how is it possible that only one was supposed to have survived? Well, Olaf, the Holy may have felt less violent on one of his days and spared an entire family or two of the trolls. We still need to explore Rikard’s life and know what Nora will do next; oh, and does anybody else want to see Andreas’ book plot as a movie? We’d love to see that monk, for sure! But in all honesty, our best guess is that Netflix believed this Kaiju film had worldwide potential and decided to keep its options open for a sequel that may never see the light of day. All we’d like to conclude is, “People, let the mountains live”—quite literally.
