Moments In Netflix's Troll That Upset Fans The Most

Because there will never, ever be enough kaiju movies in the world, Netflix is now streaming "Troll," and it is ready for your viewing pleasure/displeasure/total bewilderment. There is simply no way to overstate the mixed reception that "Troll" has received, pitting critics against fans, itself against other troll movies, and its own ending against basic logic. Everything about "Troll" is as colossal and cryptic as its title creature, from its uneven writing and directing to its cast of characters who never seem to accept the movie they're in. Naturally, this lack of cohesion — albeit a genuinely fun aspect of the movie at times — has caused droves of fans to voice their disbelief online.

On sites like Reddit and Twitter, "Troll" fans and foes alike have given their take on the movie, ranging from singing its praises all the way to dragging "Troll" through the icy Norwegian mud. The movie repeatedly hammers home the idea that believing in something deeply enough makes it real, which seemingly makes the widespread fan belief that "Troll" is absolutely bonkers into a very real fact. Here, we'll plow through this bonkers movie like the King Troll through an old couple's farmhouse, and along the way reveal the moments in Netflix's "Troll" that have upset fans the most.

This is the type of fan critique that could stand alone in one sentence, but absolutely bears digging into further: somehow, in "Troll," almost no one believes in trolls for the majority of the movie. While it's generally accepted that characters in monster movies and horror films, even the best among them, tend to act a bit less intelligent than we would hope, there are moments in "Troll" that stretch that suspended disbelief past its breaking point.

Twitter user @Vicnor_ is one of the many to point out the giant, hulking cluelessness shared by the characters in "Troll," saying, "The most unrealistic thing in the TROLL movie was how most of the norwegian's reaction to seeing an actual live HUGE TROLL was 'Be serious. Trolls don't exist. Get your nose outta the fairytale books.'" Though we can lend the benefit of the doubt to those who don't believe mad, old Tobias Tidemann (Gard B. Eidsvold) at first, it's hard to do the same for those who don't believe Norway's scientists. As Twitter user @sunsetmma wrote, "Watching Troll on Netflix, why tf do we have scientists if every time we need them no one... listens to them?"

Of course, no one expects a movie like "Troll" to be built around a masterpiece of a script, but it's only fair to expect at least a passable one. Sadly, in the eyes of many fans, the "Troll" script just doesn't live up to snuff, as a great many of them have shared online. Though there are a plethora of posts citing specific examples of alleged nonsense in the script, there are also just as many trolling (inevitable pun intended) the entire script itself.

Reddit user u/erbazzone summed up fan opinion nicely, titling their post "Laughable script of the month/year? Troll on netflix," and adding, "It was the most stupid thing I've seen in years. If you are in a 'let's laugh on an unintended comedy' night this is really one piece of art." They weren't alone, as the comments in nearly every major "Troll" opinion post on Reddit prove. User u/macrocosm93 lambasted the "super cringe dialogue," continuing, "Dumb, childish story. And when I say childish I don't mean that it was based on fairy tales, I mean it felt like it was written by a 10-year-old." User u/Objective-Truth-4339 responded, "Only a drunk child would like the movie, I'm surprised that they even released it, I mean can you imagine editing it and still choosing to release it."

There has been no shortage of excellent monster movies over the years, pushing the genre into surprising, new directions and weaving fun elements into the standard formula of terrifying-plus-towering. Unfortunately, a lot of "Troll" fans wouldn't place the movie in that category, as evidenced by the number of posts calling out its predictable story.

Reddit user u/Twokindsofpeople thought that "Troll" seemed "[like] it was made by an AI. Just as bland and predictable as possible." Among the many who chimed in was user u/CJ_2143, who clearly agreed despite their different choice of words, describing it as a "pretty boilerplate disaster/monster movie." Also concurring was user u/d33roq, who called the movie "very formulaic." In fact, scrolling through Twitter and Reddit comments, a pretty clear drinking game emerges that involves counting instances of those exact descriptions: any time you encounter the terms "bland," "predictable," "formulaic," and "boilerplate" in the various threads, take a drink. Alternate rules can incorporate the words "average," as used by u/sipsupboy, "generic," as used by u/TheButschwacker, or even "trope fest," as used by u/umbulya.

No kaiju movie is complete without the token, bland military officer character, who's usually just there to argue with the sympathetic protagonist, and "Troll" is no exception. To fill that interchangeable role, the movie chooses Captain Kris (Mads Sjøgård Pettersen), an officer in the Norwegian military who seems to possess no other quality than being an officer in the Norwegian military. Even worse, as many viewers have pointed out, he's not even good at that one job — when he actually gets to do it, that is.

As Reddit user u/EskilPotet noted (spawning a thread dedicated to the dubious decisions surrounding Captain Kris), "My favorite part was when the special forces captain was tasked with managing traffic lol." They're referring to one of many ways in which the writers of "Troll" turn Kris into an all-purpose general laborer, whose government seems to place him wherever a warm body is needed. As u/Deee72 responded, Kris also stinks it up as a military commander, writing, "You're talking about the same Captain who told them to move closer with the bells and he got them all killed, but not his helicopter." Of course, that comment references Kris's baffling decision to attack the troll by ringing bells suspended from helicopters, placing every helicopter and pilot within one big, rocky arm's reach of the monster.

There are a metric ton of comments online citing the disjointed, even nonsensical dialogue in "Troll," but what is worse for many is that the film's Norwegian-to-English dub makes it somehow even more disjointed. It's so bad that even some fans who love the film recommend skipping the dub altogether, like Twitter user @AVintenAuthor, who wrote, "Just watched #Troll on #netflix — brilliant! Dubbing was awful so I'd suggest watching it in Norwegian with subtitles!"

For others, however, whether or not they loved or hated the movie is irrelevant — all that matters is calling out that wild dub. Reddit user u/nipsen stands out among the crowd for their long, comprehensive rebuke of the English dub and all the grief it brings to those who know and love the Norwegian language. Responding to a question about whether or not "Troll" could be used as a way to learn Norwegian, u/nipsen doesn't hold anything back in their emphatic list of why nots. "If you're trying to learn Norwegian from this – not going to happen," they wrote. "Even worse, the English they have used as a blueprint is equally embarassingly bad ... And then they've mixed it together, hoping that no one would notice."

Easily one of the most common comments online among "Troll" viewers is that the movie is either a ripoff of "Godzilla," "King Kong," "Jurassic Park," or some mutant hybrid of all of them. The movie does indeed share the same premise as those classics, that of the misunderstood monster who just wants to be left alone. It also shares many of the same characters, in the form of the spunky archaeologist/paleontologist who alone understands the creature, the generic soldier who only exists to be handsome in the background, and the government/military officials who ultimately prove that humanity was the real monster all along. Based on their numerous posts, "Troll" fans agree that the movie doesn't much alter the template established by the films that preceded it.

Reddit user u/Substantial_Fix_2604 cut to the chase, writing, "It's basically the Matthew Broderick 'Godzilla,' but with trolls instead of giant lizards." The aforementioned giant lizard pops up repeatedly in the online discussion: u/jeweldnile called the movie "basically a bunch of big blockbuster movies smashed together?? Jurassic park/Godzilla/Independence Day." Continuing along the same lines, u/The_Challenges labeled it "Godzilla but it isn't godzilla and takes place in norway," u/Minervasimp said they "see where the comparisons to Godzilla came from," and on and on, ad infinitum.

In a rare instance of "Troll" going for something deeper and more nuanced than its genre and title suggest, it weaves into the generic narrative a theme of reality versus fantasy, and the way in which perception can hybridize the two. Tobias Tidemann is the main source of the discussion, trying to teach his science-minded daughter Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) that fairy tales are only considered childish because we all collectively believe it so — previously, our ancestors had collectively considered them real, and so they became quite literally real. Unfortunately for many fans, "Troll" doesn't pay off the theme nearly as well as it could have.

The users on the official "Troll" discussion thread at r/movies have a lot to say about the alleged dud of a theme, including u/erbazzone, who noted that Nora wrote "a word on the notebook, hypernatural (or something)... AND the hypernatural thing is not explained at all and absolutely useless to the plot," a sentiment shared by many (including us). When Nora jots notes in her field notebook, it's to try and create a new word for phenomena that seem more real than real — specifically the smell of the troll — and then completely abandons the effort. The explorations into the theme die along with Tobias, and evidently along with the writers' interest.

In a shocking twist, it turns out that the Norwegian government in "Troll" used to run S.H.I.E.L.D. during the 2012 "Avengers" movie, and before that, ran the U.S. government in "Cloverfield." This must be true because once again, their best plan to prevent a major metropolis from being destroyed is to launch a nuclear warhead at the heart of the city. In this case, they plan to save the Royal Palace in Oslo from the titular troll by ... nuking the Royal Palace and all of surrounding Oslo. Naturally, this idea on behalf of the characters (or lack of idea on behalf of the writers) sparked some very understandably upset comments from fans.

In the r/movies thread, user u/The_Safe_For_Work guessed at the Norwegian government's logic, writing, "It's going to do significant damage to Oslo! We can't let that happen! Launch a nuke to stop him!" Likewise, u/erbazzone wrote, "I mean, there is a monster approaching your capital city that has been evacuated, the monster CAN'T stay in an empty capital right? Better nuke and raze the entire city." Perhaps more eloquent than anyone, u/freestyle43 put the matter in stark terms: "Gonna drop a nuke on Oslo from a low flying fighter plane. This movie sucked so hard lol."

In his 1650 work, "A Pisgah-Sight of Palestine and the Confines Thereof," Thomas Fuller wrote what may be the first version of the phrase, "It's always darkest just before the dawn." Evidently, the quote has affected screenwriters and directors more than any other groups, as they all too often seem to take the quote literally. That is certainly true for the folks behind "Troll," as they spend the entirety of their third act in a pitch-black night, only to end the movie with a sunrise that turns midnight into noon in less than a minute. That rushed, overly-convenient ending didn't go unnoticed by "Troll" fans, who have called it out online again and again.

Take u/Neolus for example, who wrote, "The most unrealistic part ... was the sudden sunrise. It was pitch black, then BAM! Sun. Whatever happened to the 2+ hours of twilight before sunrise?" To that, u/Ninjamuh responded, "There were a lot of plot holes, but this is the one that made me feel like the directors just gave up at the end. I thought it was a truck, a plane, or something ... anything other than the sun." Then there is u/Krisoakey, who wrote, "Cmon guys ... didn't you love SPOILER the sun appearing at the end? Honestly thought it was a spotlight and we had more about to happen. Nope."

Particularly among Norwegians, as well as fellow Scandinavian viewers, a major gripe with "Troll" was how it presented — or rather, failed to present — the traditional source mythology. For one, Reddit user u/Hellgander felt that the filmmakers passed up a chance to create a truly extraordinary genre movie based on the ancient legends, explaining, "This could have been a great opportunity to delve into the sinister mythology surrounding the Norwegian trolls, draugr, vettir, huldra and other folkloric creatures. Maybe even combine it with the Sami legends about Stallo (the Sami equivalent to trolls or malevolent spirits) and make it a real horror flick."

The user refers to the rich folklore tradition of Norway, one that extends way beyond the old Norse myths of Thor and Loki that have been repopularized lately, and beyond even the Christianization of Norse myth. The fairy tale traditions include a number of famous monsters and beings that have appeared in other media, many of which have the potential — at least in the eyes of some fans — to take a boilerplate story like "Troll" and turn it into a fresh, relatively unexplored fantasy setting. User u/Massive-Chef-2942 agreed, expounding, "I wish they dwelled more about the Christianization of Norway and what they actually did to the trolls in the past. The mix of folklore and contemporary issues was a great idea but didn't deliver much."

Of all the many comments across social media from upset "Troll" fans, by far the most common express sympathy for that poor, unfortunate troll — and those people have a point. Over the course of the movie, we learn that the troll is the last of its kind, the lone survivor of a massacre by ancient Norwegian royalty. Those early Norsemen killed the troll's family, stole his home, and tricked him into being buried beneath a mountain. What's worse is that they tricked him under the mountain by using his little(ish) troll children as bait. But even worse than that is that the film's protagonist, Nora, tricks the lonely troll by once again using his child as bait, though this time, it's just the long-dead child's skull (seriously).

After hearing that, pretty much anyone would feel bad for the troll, and that's exactly what happened. On Twitter, user @ssirue called it "the saddest movie ever WTF. If there's a sequel, it better come with a full plate of justice." User @Jemj___ posted, "I'm sorry but I'm siding with the troll on this one ... this entire movie I just feel bad for the enemy." User @Kintoki_Douji_ posted, "Imma spoil it for you. They find a troll that just misses his family and they kill the troll by accident. Worst movie ever." Perhaps user @drkcutie736 said it best when they explained, "The #troll did absolutely nothing wrong. Yall woke him up, attacked him, previously murdered his whole family, and then attempted to burn him to death. I was honestly on his side." We'd say it's fair to be upset about that.