A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Blistering performances.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

After a tumultuous decade, there is a "crisis of confidence" in America. University of Minnesota head coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is hired to coach the US hockey team for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. They are heavy underdogs. The Soviets even beat the NHL All Stars. The US team consists of amateurs who haven't got a job in the pros. Brooks intends to pick team players rather than individual stars. His assistant coach Craig Patrick (Noah Emmerich) is unconvinced. His marriage to Patti (Patricia Clarkson) suffers. He pushes his boys to the limit in training. With gas shortages and the new Iranian hostage crisis, there are few bright spots for America but this US team of underdogs will perform a miracle.This is a movie of great moments. There is nothing quite as compelling as the forced skate after tying the Norwegians. Kurt Russell is solid anchoring this movie. Maybe there's a limitation with the truth but this movie needs greater conflict. Somebody needs to be the villain who keeps threatening to take the team away from Herb. Also the players don't get enough attention. One player could be highlighted to fill out more drama. The players end up being all jumbo together. It would be nice to highlight one specific relationship of a player with Herb.

Not the kind of hockey movie I was expecting, especially a Disney one. "Miracle" is a laboring trek to the first game, full of self-doubt and brooding (personified by Kurt Russell, who owns this movie, hands down). The geopolitics hang heavy over all of this, but at least it doesn't devolve into jingoism. But once we get into the Olympic games, it's an energized movie indeed. the payoff isn't USA beating the Soviets (we know the history), it's in the team finally coming together. Really electrifies that final game. Even still, you'd have to be dead inside not to smile when Eruzione pulls the team ahead 4-3. And just try not to get misty during Russell's end narration. A sentimental hay-maker, that one.8/10

One of the things that make Miracle such a thrilling sports film is the realistic action scenes depicting the ice hockey competitions of the United States Olympic team. Past sports films relied on the use of stunt doubles or professional athletes to perform athletic scenes in place of the main cast. However in filming Miracle, there was clearly no need for stunt doubles as the actors themselves were able to perform the on-ice actions required. This is due to the fact that the actors cast to play the roles of the hockey players in the film were selected primarily based on their ice skating ability rather than particular acting ability. I believe that this casting decision was a tremendous benefit to the quality of the film.As a very fast paced and high intensity game, a hockey film demands an enormous effort to efficiently capture the nuances of the gameplay during filming. While other sports such as football and baseball can be plausibly acted out by professionals in place of the actors because of the stop and start nature of gameplay, hockey must be filmed in a continuous way. Therefore, it is very difficult for actors and stunt doubles to be switched in and out during action scenes while still having the game appear realistic. To solve this problem, the director was faced with two options. He could either cast professional actors and teach them how to play hockey, or he could cast hockey players and teach them how to act. The director, Gavin O'Connor, chose to cast former college and minor league ice hockey players to play the roles of the American and the foreign hockey players in the film.In this case, I believe that casting former hockey players was the right decision and caused the films realism to be enhanced far and above what it would have been if regular actors were forced to learn a game that takes years to master. The cast as a whole had minimal acting experience, but still performed admirably well. The acting was not perfect, but the benefits of the realistic hockey scenes more than make up for any deficit in the theatrical ability of the cast. I can only imagine how deplorable the hockey action scenes would have been if actors who could barely skate were portraying the elite hockey players.In addition to the on-ice ability of the cast, the hockey players cast in the film are nearly perfect in their portrayal of the hockey sub-culture that exists at all levels of competition. With their long hair, foul language, and stoic determination, each and every member of Team USA is a token collegiate hockey player. Obviously, this stems from the fact that they most of the actors were at some point collegiate hockey players.In particular, Mike Mantenuto, who portrays defenseman Jack O'Callahan puts on an incredible performance. His shoulder length hair is a perfect imitation of what a hockey player hopes to achieve. Also, he puts on a very believable show of the grudge his character holds against another player, and the violent way in which the rivalry culminates. Finally, Mantenutos performance during the scene in which he is injured is a perfect enactment of how a hockey player would react to a potentially career ending injury. His face appeared to be emotionless, but his eyes revealed a deep heartbreak that only comes when a player is faced with the end of his career.In conclusion, the right decision was made when it came to casting the members of the United States Olympic hockey team. The hockey players-turned-actors were phenomenal in their portrayal of their real life counterparts. All culminating in what is clearly one of the greatest sports films of all time.

Perhaps Al Michaels said it best, while opening the broadcast for the Soviet and USA 1980 Olympic hockey game, "For people who don't know the difference between a blue line and a clothesline, its irrelevant." The movie Miracle is about much more than just a hockey team and its journey to the Olympic games. This is a true story of an inspirational team of twenty college kids who competed in the 1980 Olympics. The coach who brought these guys together and made them a family in such a short amount of time was Herb Brooks. He some how got the team to buy in and believe that they could stand a chance with the immortal Soviet Union at the time. This movie portrays much more than just an underdog sports story. It reveals the difficult times Americans were faced to go through and all the horrifying things that were happening with them during the cold war with Russia. Herb Brooks and his team gave Americans an opportunity to take their mind off the distractions and unite as one to watch the greatest sports moment in history. Miracle is a different underdog story in the fact that during the movie they don't focus on the other team much at all. Along with that is you don't know many of the guys on the USA team. The name of the characters and the small talk scene between the guys is just about all you get for depth of the characters. This movie is about the United States proving that Democracy is superior through a hockey game and understanding the man, Herb Brooks, who played a vital part in it. Herb Brooks, played by Kurt Russell, is the main focus in the film from a character standpoint. Kurt Russell does an amazing job portraying the type of man that Herb was. Kurt was able to provide such insight to Herbs life during the movie because Herb was actually on set to help him get into character. Herb was cut from the 1960 Olympic hockey team a week before the team won the gold medal and he was going to do anything in his power to insure they won it in 1980. He showed this through out the movie by not letting his emotions get in the way. The camera work in this movie is unreal. When you watch the movie it feels like you are out their on the ice with the players. The action scenes flow really well together and are easy to follow what is going on even if you have no background in hockey. The amount of work it must of taken to get each scene perfect is insane. An interesting aspect about Miracle is that when people watch the movie it gives them an indescribable feeling. It is a story that most Americans of 35 years or older are able to recall when and where they were during the time the event happened. I was talking with my teacher one day and asked him about the movie. He said he remembers the exact place he was at and what he was doing when the game was played. Watching the movie brought him back to that moment and it gives him chills every time he watches it. It gives me chills and I didn't even live through it, but it feels like you are when watching the movie. Disney pictures went above and beyond to recreate the greatest moment in sports history and it will leave you grinning from ear to ear.