Sometimes you need to leave all the silliness behind and pick some drama based on true events. Well, but Wywern it certainly isn’t! Seriously, if you connect the dots, namely, the title of the movie (yes, wywern is an ancient non-firebreathing dragon from Viking lore) and the fact it’s a made-for-TV movie aired on SyFy Channel, you should know pretty well by now what to expect.
In case you don’t, let’s see what we have here. Wywern is 2009 Canadian-American co-production about wywern terrorizing a small Alaskan town. Few people are eaten, some damage done, in the end, wywern dies. Did you expect anything else? No? Good, because this is basically what you get.
Residents of Beaver Falls (I hope I remember the name of the town correctly) are terrorized by a wywern released from its ice prison by metling polar ice caps. So far, at least not that bad explanation and whe have a chance to see the titular monster straight in the first few minutes of the movie. CGI, of course, but not at all bad (and we all have seen bad CGI, haven’t we?). Obviously, as usual with this kind of movie, nobody wants to believe there is something evil lurking in the woods and because it’s a solstice festival season, we’re gonna have it no matter what! Bad choice, if you ask me and soon enough the bodycount starts to rise up, although we basically don’t see any killings on screen and the gore is kept on very minimum, but I’m not bothered, if I want to see a gorefest, I would pick a different flick to watch. And of course, dialogues are full of cliché, but in this type of production it’s actually nice, you know, like you already expect it (naturally) and the movie delivers. But the outdoor camera is nice, well, you can’t go wrong with Alaskan green exteriors.
As for cast, you root for the poor creature, lol. Well, there was not a single character I’d want to be saved, and I am not sure – is it a good or a bad thing? You decide. The closer look reveals our main hero Jack Sutter is played by Nick Chinlund, who is mainly know for his roles in TV series (for example, my favourite, but now done with, Grimm, 666 Park Avenue and many others, but also from movies like Lethal Weapon 3, Eraser, Con Air or The Chronicles of Riddick). Well, certainly not an Oscar performance, but we all need to earn a living somehow.
Another TV actress is Erin Karpluk in the role of dinner/restaurant owner Claire and I don’t remember her from Supernatural, but she did have a role there too (among many other TV series and TV movies) and basically, what I’ve written about Nick Chinlund, I can repeat here for Erin.
Reading the credits for Barry Corbin (Hass) reveals a shitload of TV series I have no knowledge of 🙂 but he was recently in Blood & Oil, so that’s basically one of the few series or movies I know, go figure.
I have to mention Tinsel Korey (in the role of Hampton), the local radio DJ), not only because she is on the cover of the DVD (although, to be honest, she doesn’t have the main role), but also for the fact people might recognize her from The Twilight Saga movies (and she was in one episode of Z Nation, which is a plus in my book).
And of course, late Don S. Davis, and you don’t say you have no idea who he was! Twin Peaks, anybody? Cliffhanger? Also in 6th Day, Stargate SG-1 TV series and many more.
And that’s all, folks. I am quite sure I’m not watching this movie again in a looong time if ever (probably never again), but if you are a fan of creature features, SyFy Channel production (guilty here, gotta love ‘em) and movie craziness, you might want to watch that one if it comes up your alley. Believe me, you’ve already seen worse.
