VOD: Troll 2 (dir: Roar Uthaug, 2025)

"You don't know what criticism is until you've been roasted by 12-year-olds on TikTok!"

Now-reclusive palaeontologist Nora (Ine Marie Wilmann) and her team from the first film (with a couple of perfunctory new additions) are re-assembled in this 'go bigger, go dafter' sequel to the 2022 Norwegian Netflix surprisingly-fun fantasy/disaster-movie hit, as Nora inadvertently awakens a hibernating 'MegaTroll' discovered in a top-secret research facility, and when the UV safety system fails, the giant goes on the rampage to wreak vengeance for man's treatment of his kind many years ago.  Once again, there is real ambition evident on screen, the location work looks spectacular, sound design is impressive and detailed, and the serious approach taken gives the mythology some real-world weight (although this time the tongue-in-cheek humour is more evident).  The early ski-resort attack is terrific, but the trolls' face-offs feel rather brief.  It may be at its heart a slightly bigger re-tread of the original with a bit of Dan Brown thrown into the mix, but Troll 2 has just enough warmth, charm, whimsy and well-staged action (and a fun running gag from the first movie) to see it through as a rather messy but still entertaining ride.