Troll review: If Godzilla were made of stone and bones of ice, this would be it; but it's not half as exciting

2/5

Story: Tunnel excavation in the mountains of Dovre awakens something from deep within the rocks. The mystery ‘big foot’ creature is a threat that the government and army must contain or eliminate. But how do you do that when you do not know what you are dealing with?

Review: Remember the 1998 Godzilla movie with Mathew Broderick, in which the giant mutant lizard was wreaking havoc on New York City? Take the same story and move it to Norway, replace the nuclear research scientist with a palaeontologist and the lizard with a monster made of rock and you have Troll, which released on Netflix today.

While Godzilla was looking for a place to nest, here, the big mass of stone is the last of his kind, the Mountain King, who had been locked away deep inside the mountains of Dovre, and is now making his way back home. Problem is that said home is now in the heart of Oslo – the Royal Palace built upon the ruins of another King’s home (The Mountain King) - and with the Troll leaving a path of destruction in its wake, the government must do everything in its power to stop it.

The problem with Troll is that from start-to-finish it has a been-there-done-that feel to it. Once the Troll is awakened there are only two ways this story can go – either it dies, or it finds a way back to the mountains and stays hidden there. Director Roar Uthaug’s film is not only low on the destructive mayhem, but on the body count too. It would have greatly benefitted if the narrative also focused on the mythology about Trolls. In the beginning, a character talks about a group of 13 drunk Trolls that lost track of time and turned to stone when the sun rose. Later, we are also shown a mass grave full of Troll skeletons, all of who’d been killed in an ambush during the Christianisation of Norway, when Olav the Holy rid the land of everything incompatible with the new faith. Perhaps, a more detailed flashback would have made the narrative a whole lot more interesting.

Verdict: The question now is, would Troll make it as recommended viewing? Well, the film’s target audience appears to be fans of monster movies, but it doesn’t provide enough thrills. A repeat viewing of Godzilla may just be more fun.