First, let me say that I did NOT watch the film with subtitles, but dubbed.
The film gets a few stars for showing pretty nicely designed trolls that are - from what I've read - pretty accurate to old Norwegian folklore. This is actually a pretty nice idea, but unfortunately the film doesn't make much of it because it is one giant plot hole in itself. The entire film doesn't make the least bit of sense, they just found some stupid reasons to show off trolls and that's it.
So let's get started... . A group of students wants to do a documentary about some guy named Hans, who is supposed to be a bear poacher (what an excellent excuse for another mockumentary. And, as it seems, students have a very hard time holding the camera straight for more than two seconds, even when doing interviews). So anyway, they find Hans and stalk him for a whole day until, at night, they follow him to the woods where they see some flickering light and then Hans comes running at them screaming "Troll!". Freeze frame here for a second: This was the first time I really had to laugh at how stupid the movie was, because Hans runs until he is about half a feet in front of the children, then stands still, screams "TROLL!" and runs off in some camouflage suit. This could have been a slapstick scene actually. The acting of all main characters was pretty bad until that point, but that scene carried it a little too far and actually made me cry in tears from laughter. Anyway, let's carry on. They flee, one of the students (Thomas) gets bitten (guess that's going to be a problem, huh?) but they get away. Hans admits that he is a troll hunter and agrees for the students to go with him. The next day they go troll hunting, find a troll, make him into stone with a giant ultraviolet lamp and crush him. I have to say, the trolls actually were pretty nice. They were well designed and animated and I liked them a lot. This was destroyed though by Hans telling the kids that the trolls can smell a Christian's blood and that, if any of them believed in Jesus, they couldn't come. Let's remind ourselves that this is a mockumentary that starts with the words "A team of experts examined the tapes for a whole year and came to the conclusion that they must be true". Seriously? And you give me "they smell a Christian's blood"? Wow. So, after they kill the troll, Hans reveals that he is actually working for a super secret government agency that makes sure nobody finds out that there actually are trolls. No one of them ever asks WHY they want to keep that a secret. I mean, there is no agency to keep elephants a secret, is there? So why trolls? Hans then continues to say that he wants the students to film his troll hunting, because he gets payed badly and wants the world to know that trolls exist in order to change something. But... if everyone knew about the trolls, there would be no more need for his super secret government agency which pays him badly and doesn't even give him - and I quote here - extra pay for night work, would it? Well, he probably could still protect humans from trolls, so he might not lose his job. Who knows. Anyway, this one guy decides to blow the entire super secret agency and give it all away. Best part is when another guy from the agency arrives ("the bureaucrat") and lays out some fake bear traces to cover up the troll (genius! too bad he switched the left and right fake bear foot which later confuses some hunting experts who examine the bear tracks). He tells the students that he would not let them film their super secret work and then JUST DRIVES OFF and leaves the student with the camera and the tape. What? Wait a second ... what if they make a copy of the tape? Or simply just go away and publish it? Well, I'm having the feeling I'm starting to rant here, so I'll make the rest of the review quick. I guess you got an impression why I said this film is a giant plot hole. The rest of the film is about them hunting trolls with Hans and finding out something about a troll disease which makes them leave their territories, but this really is of no interest to the viewer because by then you don't believe a single thing happening there and are not sucked into the movie at all, because this all is so badly written and acted. I'm not giving away the ending here, but it's pretty lame (subjective opinion!) and weird and makes no sense (objective opinion!).
In the end, I had a few good laughs and was not completely bored, but the film really suffered from it's badly executed mockumentary style. Doing a mockumentary means doing something half believable. Plot holes and bad acting (this film has both!) are even worse in a mockumentary because it makes the whole thing unbelievable and detaches you from the movie. This might have been more decent if it wasn't done as a mockumentary, I can't say for sure. But the way it is done now is definitely the wrong way.
The film gets a few stars for showing pretty nicely designed trolls that are - from what I've read - pretty accurate to old Norwegian folklore. This is actually a pretty nice idea, but unfortunately the film doesn't make much of it because it is one giant plot hole in itself. The entire film doesn't make the least bit of sense, they just found some stupid reasons to show off trolls and that's it.
So let's get started... . A group of students wants to do a documentary about some guy named Hans, who is supposed to be a bear poacher (what an excellent excuse for another mockumentary. And, as it seems, students have a very hard time holding the camera straight for more than two seconds, even when doing interviews). So anyway, they find Hans and stalk him for a whole day until, at night, they follow him to the woods where they see some flickering light and then Hans comes running at them screaming "Troll!". Freeze frame here for a second: This was the first time I really had to laugh at how stupid the movie was, because Hans runs until he is about half a feet in front of the children, then stands still, screams "TROLL!" and runs off in some camouflage suit. This could have been a slapstick scene actually. The acting of all main characters was pretty bad until that point, but that scene carried it a little too far and actually made me cry in tears from laughter. Anyway, let's carry on. They flee, one of the students (Thomas) gets bitten (guess that's going to be a problem, huh?) but they get away. Hans admits that he is a troll hunter and agrees for the students to go with him. The next day they go troll hunting, find a troll, make him into stone with a giant ultraviolet lamp and crush him. I have to say, the trolls actually were pretty nice. They were well designed and animated and I liked them a lot. This was destroyed though by Hans telling the kids that the trolls can smell a Christian's blood and that, if any of them believed in Jesus, they couldn't come. Let's remind ourselves that this is a mockumentary that starts with the words "A team of experts examined the tapes for a whole year and came to the conclusion that they must be true". Seriously? And you give me "they smell a Christian's blood"? Wow. So, after they kill the troll, Hans reveals that he is actually working for a super secret government agency that makes sure nobody finds out that there actually are trolls. No one of them ever asks WHY they want to keep that a secret. I mean, there is no agency to keep elephants a secret, is there? So why trolls? Hans then continues to say that he wants the students to film his troll hunting, because he gets payed badly and wants the world to know that trolls exist in order to change something. But... if everyone knew about the trolls, there would be no more need for his super secret government agency which pays him badly and doesn't even give him - and I quote here - extra pay for night work, would it? Well, he probably could still protect humans from trolls, so he might not lose his job. Who knows. Anyway, this one guy decides to blow the entire super secret agency and give it all away. Best part is when another guy from the agency arrives ("the bureaucrat") and lays out some fake bear traces to cover up the troll (genius! too bad he switched the left and right fake bear foot which later confuses some hunting experts who examine the bear tracks). He tells the students that he would not let them film their super secret work and then JUST DRIVES OFF and leaves the student with the camera and the tape. What? Wait a second ... what if they make a copy of the tape? Or simply just go away and publish it? Well, I'm having the feeling I'm starting to rant here, so I'll make the rest of the review quick. I guess you got an impression why I said this film is a giant plot hole. The rest of the film is about them hunting trolls with Hans and finding out something about a troll disease which makes them leave their territories, but this really is of no interest to the viewer because by then you don't believe a single thing happening there and are not sucked into the movie at all, because this all is so badly written and acted. I'm not giving away the ending here, but it's pretty lame (subjective opinion!) and weird and makes no sense (objective opinion!).
In the end, I had a few good laughs and was not completely bored, but the film really suffered from it's badly executed mockumentary style. Doing a mockumentary means doing something half believable. Plot holes and bad acting (this film has both!) are even worse in a mockumentary because it makes the whole thing unbelievable and detaches you from the movie. This might have been more decent if it wasn't done as a mockumentary, I can't say for sure. But the way it is done now is definitely the wrong way.