Troll 2 review
Troll returns with a second troll, less focus, and more adventure.
New movie reviews will not contain spoilers.
Troll 2
Directed by Roar Uthaug
Written by Espen Aukan
Starring Ine Marie Wilmann, Kim Falck, Mads Sjøgård Pettersen, Sara Khorami and Karoline Viktoria Sletteng Garvang
Troll 2 Review
It’s a time honored tradition in Kaiju films successful enough to spawn a franchise. Eventually, they’re going to battle another monster. Godzilla set the standard for this, of course. While it took King Kong longer to get in on the action…even he eventually got into the Kaiju battle action. Mostly against Godzilla…first in the 60s and then again in Legendary’s current Monsterverse. Kong is pitted against several different monsters in his current franchise…making his path the same as pretty much every other monster in film history. You can’t just have giant monsters attacking cities every time. They need something that hits back. Netflix’s unlikely hit Troll franchise has quickly arrived at the same conclusion.
Troll 2 arrives three years after the original. The Norwegian monster movie Troll was a fun, if derivative, watch. The government chooses a military option…scientists work to find a more peaceful solution…a giant monster threatens the world. You’ve seen it before. You’ve seen Troll 2 before too. Like its predecessor, which I described as empty calorie comfort food, that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Watching giant Trolls beat the crap out of each other is fun.
Troll 2 brings back the leads from the original and sets them on another Troll-based adventure. Series lead Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) literally says she’s going on an adventure at the beginning of this sequel. The movie begins more or less the same as the first one. The troll awakens and the military mobilizes. They have new troll fighting technology at their disposal utilizing what they learned will defeat trolls at the end of the first movie. Nora talks her way into the mission to serve as a moral compass/conscience for the party.
The troll their hunting escapes from containment after being experimented on for years…and he is angry. He’s more violent than the troll from the first movie…eating people and destroying whatever is in his path. Nora knows that this troll is different…that all trolls aren’t evil. She leads the team in search of a troll to combat this new, violent one head on. It should be mentioned that both the bad troll awakening and the good troll joining the party happen because of Nora’s ability to communicate with trolls. It’s silly…but it helps make these movies feel less serious.
For most of Troll 2 we’re watching an Indiana Jones movie. Nora and the team are conducting an investigation into a larger story that offers more lore about the universe. They trek through caves and tombs, solve puzzles straight out of a video game, and discover long buried secrets. You know, like Indiana Jones. This series really doesn’t mind borrowing from classic franchises. What’s amazing is how well it works. Troll 2 flies by. It’s a somewhat fairy tale adventure with, honestly, limited troll involvement…but it’s a popcorn flick through and through. We’ve barely seen any troll action by the time the third act rolls around…but it arrives at what feels like a rapid pace. That’s a good trait for a popcorn flick to have.
You’ll have to wait a while for the troll showdown. The two monsters don’t cross paths until over an hour and twenty minutes into Troll 2. Normally, this would be annoying…but the human characters really hold up their end with the story’s commitment to its adventure. There’s a mythical quality to their investigation that is interesting enough to allow Troll 2 to hold off on the action scenes. When they do get down to battle…everything looks great. This is a top-notch production. It’s also an extremely short encounter. Short enough to question why they even brought a second troll along for the ride except to put a battle shot on the poster.
Like everything else in Troll 2…the humans steal the show. There is a genuinely emotional sacrifice made…even if it too can’t help but lift a famous like from another genre film’s noble sacrifice scene. Don’t worry…you will know it when you hear it. It makes some thematic sense for the second troll, don’t get me wrong. It allows Nora to go full action hero regarding the “bad” troll while justifying her belief in the creatures as a whole. It’s just…not much of a monster battle movie. It’s a human adventure with one big mean troll threatening a major metropolis. And it’s a pretty good one.
Scare Value
While not as focused as the original Troll, Troll 2‘s adventure elements offer another fun piece of Norwegian kaiju action. The film looks great. The cast is completely bought in. And, eventually, trolls do fight each other. The world building in Troll 2 is a highlight…which is a marked departure from most human stories in monster films. Look, it’s not trying to reinvent the wheel. In fact, it’s steadfast on co-opting someone else’s wheel at every turn. Layering in some insane troll lore of its own makes if feel fresh enough. Or, at least, a fitting sequel to the original troll.
2.5/5
Troll 2 Link
Streaming on Netflix
