Miracle

Miracle
Starring: Kurt Russel
Directed by: Gavin O'Connor

Without a doubt the best hockey movie ever made with the exception, of course, of "Slapshot". In it's bid to tell the inspirational side of the 1980 US "miracle" Olympic hockey team, the film far and away became the best film ever at depicting hockey in a movie sense. This is no "Youngblood" for sure. The hockey scenes were all painfully re-enacted and choreographed from footage of the actual games the 1980 US Olympic team played in thier quest for gold.

Having been in my teens and seeing the game when it was aired here in the states, it was eerie how the memories came back while watching the movie. The accuracy of the positions goals were scored from and saved were spot on throughout the film. Achieving this was no easy task and watching the DVD extras showing how director Gavin O'Connor put the cameras on the ice amid the action with the skaters was alone worth the price.

The storyline overall is of course an inspirational "little guy beats big bad guy" story that is somewhat corny to deal with (It's a Disney production afterall!), but the action segments and Kurt Russel's performance depicting the no-nonsense coaching style of the late Herb Brooks more than make up for any "weirdness". Russel shines in the "again" sequence as he puts the team through their paces making them skate lines for hours after a poor performance in a preliminary game...a move designed to get the players to understand just who and what it was that they were playing for.

The movie works on the inspirational level as a family movie for youngsters, and also serves well those looking to see a "Real" hockey movie. All in all it's a favorite of mine and will be for a long time.