Wyvern (2009)

The setting is a small Alaska town named Beaver Mills, which is putting on a festival during their midsummer period where there is no night time. However, the title creature is awoken from slumber in Arctic ice, and it finds plenty of good feeding in this little town. Among the imperiled local citizens who must do battle with the beast are trucker Jake (Nick Chinlund, Billy Bedlam in "Con Air"), diner operator Claire (Erin Karpluk, 'Being Erica') and grizzled old coot Hoss (Barry Corbin, "No Country for Old Men")."Wyvern" is actually not that bad as these kinds of made-for-TV monster movies go. It's based on an actual dragon-like creature of legend and folklore, so the material isn't entirely of the writers' own invention. The capable direction is by genre veteran Steven R. Monroe (whose credits include the remake of "I Spit on Your Grave"), and he keeps the thing moving along fairly well, save for one big character moment / monologue for Chinlund late in the story. Filmed in British Columbia, it does have a somewhat 'Northern Exposure'-like feel, especially with Corbin and Elaine Miles (who plays the dopey deputy) in the cast. The gore is minimal, and the killings not that satisfying, but overall the CGI is acceptable, and the monster design is good. The script is pretty cliched overall.Some of the characters are annoying, but the cast is solid and above average for this sort of thing. Don S. Davis ('Stargate SG-1') appears in one of his final roles, as the retired colonel who sights the creature early on, and the movie is dedicated to him. Chinlund is okay as the Everyman-type hero, Corbin as always is just wonderful, and also among the cast are Tinsel Korey (the "Twilight" series), John Shaw ("Watchmen"), and David Lewis ("Lake Placid").Good, if not inspired, entertainment for fans of B level monster movies.Six out of 10.

Returning to his hometown in Alaska, a man comes to believe a series of attacks on the residents are the result of a deadly beast from Nordic mythology known as a Wyvern and races to save everyone from the rampaging creature.This here wasn't that bad of a creature feature. One of the biggest pluses here is the fact that the pace here is truly a lot of fun, as there's some really enjoyable facets here. Thanks to getting the creature out incredibly early, this one is able to unleash a series of fine attacks here that take full advantage of the channel's penchant for including both short and longer attack scenes. The first half here is decidedly on the shorter attacks, as the ambush on the fisherman at the lake, a really fun stalking in the woods going after a lost traveler and the later encounter with the army officer all come off with the usual flair featured here in generating some fine body count kills along the way, while it really kicks up into high gear with the festival attack which brings about a lot of fun in the later half. From encounters out in the woods where they find the nest, a fine battle in the town remains to secure the radio and the finale where they fight it off inside the nest and surrounding forest areas makes for a strong series of action scenes here that are not only really fun but makes this one even more impactful in delivering an entertaining series of side- plots. Through fighting the creature, it comes out that there's more to the creature than expected as the gradual realization of what's being used to build the nest reveals a rather strong sense of characterization here for the creature, and there's some more good revealed through the little scenes of it laying a trap with a wounded victim or cutting off the access roads to trap them there is a highly impressive bit to like here about the creature's behavior. Even moreso is the creatures' appearance, as the dragon-like body and vicious lizard head makes for a really impressive and enjoyable being here as the accurate backstory trying this into the actual Nordic mythology completes the picture here for the film's true positives. There's really only one thing really wrong here as the creature is still patently fake-looking in terms of on-screen execution with the CGI not being in the slightest realistic which runs into obvious false looks here with the lame kills also being quite badly-rendered in this manner. Beyond this, there's not a wholly lot really wrong here.Rated R: Graphic Violence and some Language.

Fair dragon-on-the-loose adventure, set in modern-day Alaska. A mythological Norwegian beast turns out to be very real as it attacks a small wilderness town. The beast itself is nothing special, a typical CGI creation that looks like a cross between a dragon and a winged canine. But the plot moves along briskly enough (with a wink and a nod to JAWS in the form of a town festival taking place while the monster is on the loose), and this low-budget TV movie is graced by the presence of not one but two veteran character actors, Barry Corbin and Don Davis. Corbin has been in many movies and co-starred in the wonderful TV series, NORTHERN EXPOSURE. Davis is perhaps best known for his role in the original STARGATE TV series. They give this slight monster movie some measure of gravitas.

Wyvern is a rather bad movie. The acting is below average. The plot has no real surprises, twists or turns and stays predictable till the end. The dialogues are sometimes stupid. The scenes with the wyvern however where nice. It's well animated. There are a lot of errors and strange things with the special effects. It doesn't make any sense, why the doors of the cars and houses always fly away, like... a wyvern, maybe. And it must be a really lightweight, too. It doesn't leave imprints in the ground, whenever it lands.For fantasy- and dragon-fans, it should be about average. Anyone else probably won't enjoy it.