Inspirational and really good, but not great.

Rating: 6/10 (2 February 2004)

Miracle
The story of the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey Team is one the greatest and most inspirational chapters of American sports history. My feelings were a little mixed when I heard Disney was going to turn the story into one of their now trademark inspirational sports docudramas. However, I came out of the film very impressed with the treatment and as cliché as it sounds, I was proud to be an American. The main anchor of this film is Kurt Russell as stoic U.S coach, Herb Brooks. Russell delivers, arguably one the strongest performances of his career. The other main stronghold of the film is in its montages. The significance of the U.S. win to the country as a whole is made very evident by the use of stock news footage. One of the only problems with Miracle is that you cannot help but feel manipulated while watching it. Music comes in at just the right times and you get the mean eye from a Russian as soon as you need it. It is not one of the all time great sports movies . . . (Rocky, Hoosiers, Raging Bull) but it is really good and I would recommend checking it out this weekend.
Overall Grade B+