The greatest sports movie EVER!!!!

Rating: 10/10 (1 February 2004)

At a glance this may seem like your typical David vs. Goliath sports story. While that is the theme, the movie is anything but typical. The true story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team, 'Miracle' is for anyone with a sense of national pride. Kurt Russell is legendary coach Herb Brooks, who defied all logic at the time to create the greatest hockey team in history. And I do mean team. Never ONCE does this movie fall upon the cliche of the final heroic moment by one player that secures victory. No, this movie is about team, about family. Early on Brooks asks his players "Who are you? Who do you play for?" Each player answers with his name, and whatever team he had playing for up to that point. Brooks never lets on that this is not the answer he's looking for. Only later, after a humiliating defeat, does Brooks push his team to physical exhaustion in a quest for his answer. Finally, he gets it. "Who do you play for?" "I play for the United States Of America." It's then the player realize that this is not about the individual. It's about one team, one nation. Now I'm probably being biased here, but Kurt Russell is outstanding as Herb Brooks. (Kurt Russell is my favorite actor) Brooks, cut from the 1960 Olympic hockey team one week before the games, was a no-nonsense coach. "I'll be your coach, but I won't be your friend", he tells the team on the first day. His drive brought out the best in his players. Whether through exertion, intimidation, an unshakabe 'anything is possible' attitude, Brooks was a force to be reckoned with. The hockey scenes, strangely enough don't come off as revolutionary. In this day of digital technology you might expect sweeping camera movements or Matrix-like shots to put an additional "Ohhh" factor into it. Instead, the scenes have a 'you are there' kind of feel to it. Why would this be? I think it's because what those men achieved in the Lake Placid games of 1980 was so incredible, that the filmmakers didn't need any fancy tricks to improve on it. Now I saw this film at a sneak preview that was undoubtedly filled with hockey fanatics. But I can't remember a time when I was with an audience that as so into a movie. During the game scenes, the applause was thunderous (and no, it was not applause from the theater sound system). At the end, after the victory, all I could hear was the sniffs of people crying. And when the credits rolled, accompanied by cast pictures saying where each member of the team is today, and Aerosmith's "Dream On" playing, the applause was thunderous again. A great movie to see with a crowd. Hell, a great movie anyway.