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Miracle

Starring: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Sean McCann, Kenneth Welsh, Eddie Cahill, Patrick O'Brien Demsey, Michael Mantenuto
Director: Gavin O'Connor

Reviewed by Chris Ching

Spoiler: The US wins.

I'm not a fan of professional sports, but I am a fan of sports movies. Not one of the "real' games I've attended has excited me the way the Hoosiers, the Bad News Bears, and even the Mighty Ducks have done on celluloid. The formula gets me everytime; I love how the team of misfits start out at each other's throats and the moment when they coalesce as a team. I cheer when the cantankerous coach gives his inspirational locker room speech. I cheer even louder after the big win over a superior team. Now chalk up Disney's Miracle as another sports movie that had me clenching my fists and ready to incite the wave.

Miracle dramatizes the 1980 US Olympic Hockey team surprise win over the Russians at Lake Placid. Considered the greatest hockey team in the world, the Russians had won Olympic Gold for close to twenty years - no one could beat them.  Especially not a US team comprised of amateur college players instead of NHL superstars. So when our boys pulled off the impossible, it was percieved not only as a David and Goliath triumph, but a victory for an America battered by Watergate, gas shortages, and the Iran Hostage Crisis.

It goes without saying how low our nation's morale was when a mere hockey game became such a huge pick me up for the country (although those of us under thirty might have a hard time figuring what all the fuss was about). The win galvanized America and brought back a national pride long lost in the malaise of the seventies.

Kurt Russell, in one of the best performances of his career, stars as the plaid-loving US coach Herb Brooks. Even though not facially similar, Russell inhabits his character so closely, he becomes Brooks by the sheer force of his acting. Also convincing is his stab at Brooks' heavy Minnesota accent which in the hands of a lesser actor could have gone to Fargo. He also gets Brooks' trademark "hands on waist" stance down cold.

With so much of the film focused on Herb Brooks, there isn't too much room for standout performances from the team itself although Eddie Cahill (as goalie Jim Craig) and Patrick O'Brien Demsey (as the team's captain) make lasting impressions. Patricia Clarkson, currently on a winning streak of her own with an Oscar nomination for Pieces of April and acclaimed performances in The Station Agent and Far From Heaven, is positively radiant as Brooks' supportive wife.

Miracle comes at an appropriate time as our country struggles once again with an identity crisis. The crowd I saw it with were so elated as the lights came up, I expected everyone to run through downtown Stockton chanting "USA! USA!" And when you think about it, is that such a bad thing?

Rating: (3 out of 4 stars)

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