Very good and intriguing movie

Rating: 9/10 (1 June 2018)

"Do you believe in miracles? Yes!" The 1980 Winter Olympics can be remembered as one of the most memorable to most Americans. During these Olympics the United States beat the nearly unbeatable Soviet Union ice hockey team.
Gavin O'Connor the director starts the film by taking us through the past of what's been leading up to the Olympics and the Cold War. Some of the events include the gas crisis, Watergate, and the death of Elvis. O'Connor then takes the audience through the process of selecting the United States Olympic ice hockey team. Kurt Russell takes on the role of head coach Herb Brooks. Russell takes the role to heart by adapting to his ruggish and critical style as he was known for. Brooks says "I'm not looking for the best players, I'm looking for the right ones." Herb selected his team after the first day tryouts only asking his assistant coach Craig Patrick (played by Noah Emmerich) what he thought about his list of names. Throughout the film the United States ice hockey coach Herb Brooks pushes his team to the brink of both the physical and mental limit by making them skate "Herbies" and take tests he wants to see how far he can push them. Eventually the team pulls together and plays as a team instead of as individuals. Brooks uses the players emotions to motivate them and ignite their passion to fight through the different pains that they have to be their best. As the Olympics continue the United States is able to defeat various teams until they get the to semifinal game against the Soviet Union. In this game they are able to defeat the Soviet Union which can be seen as one of the biggest upsets in sports history. Two days later the United States play for the gold medal and defeat Finland by a score of 4-2 completing the Miracle.
The audience can most closely connect with head coach Herb Brooks. We not only see Brooks as a coach, but we also see him as a dad and a husband. In the movie we see Brooks's family life. We see his wife Patti (played by Patricia Clarkson) supporting her husband by putting her needs aside in order for Herb to chase his dreams. Even though she sacrificed her needs we still see her get mad at Brooks in different times throughout the movie. An example of this is when Patti asks Herb to pick up one of the kids and Herb responds with "You'll figure it out." Patti tells Herb that "we never had this talk...never. You never even asked." What Patti is referring to is that Herb never asked if it was okay to take the job as the Olympic coach he just did it because he wanted a gold medal. In 1960 Herb was part of the United States Olympic hockey team until a week before the games when he was cut. The United States then went on to win the Gold medal and ever since then his dream has been to win a gold medal.
The use of music throughout the film is very important. In a film music can help set the scene, make you feel as if you're there, and help build anticipation. For example, before the puck is dropped for the the third period of the Russian game, dramatic music is being played. Also Coach Brooks makes the players skate "herbies" after they tie the Norwegian National team. As the players skate you can hear their blades carving through the ice with a deep drum beat in the background. During this drill Brook's exclaims "The name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back." Brooks wants the players to realize that they are not playing for themselves, but for their country. As the movie progresses the team gets better and more cohesive. The music changes and gets faster, lighter, and more upbeat as they increase their skills and to show their comradery with each other.
O'Connor uses different transitions and angles to help convey the different emotions seen throughout the film. He uses the most common transition a straight cut a lot of the time, but he also uses fading in and out to change locations and people. O'Connor uses close up shots of individuals to help us better see their emotions or determination. An example of this is when Brooks makes the players skate "herbies" after their loss to the Norwegian National team, there are tight, close up shots of just Herb's head as he says "Again" to Coach Patrick to blow his whistle and send the boys.
Tom Bronson, the costume designer, did a great job helping recreate the costumes for the film. Everything from the glasses, to the coaches polyester warm up suit, to the players equipment and pads (such as the goalie mask) were all modified to fit the era of the 80's.
A negative aspect of the film would be how Coach Brooks treated his players. At the beginning of the season Brooks treated his players with harsh words and little respect. It seemed as if he didn't care what the players thought of him he just wanted them to know that he was in charge. If a coach were only to yell at you, and always seemed disappointed with you, you wouldn't feel very good about yourself. You would feel defeated, that you weren't any help to the team, and maybe you should just quit. Another negative aspect is that Brooks put all of his attention into coaching and basically forgot about his family. He wouldn't pick his kids up because he thought meetings were more important.
In conclusion, this was a very good movie I would give it a grade of an A-. At times the movie was slow, but overall O'Connor did a great job directing the film. We see the development of the characters and how Herb Brooks was able to lead his team to victory. Even though the audience may think that Brooks' methods may have been inhumane in the way that he coached them, ultimately he helped the players come together as a team and built character in each individual. We were also able to see into Brooks's family life and the toll it took on them. Herb's wife, Patti stood by her man and held the family together so that Herb was able to chase his dream and achieve getting that gold medal. The audience was then able to relate to Herb and the pressures that he was going through. The 1980 Olympics can be seen as a true Miracle on ice.