Ice Rinks of Dreams.

Rating: Null/10 (2 March 2004)

Pure popcorn film that uses a proven formula to get its cliches and story across. Admittedly though the formula here is good enough to make "Miracle" a minor success. New U.S. Olympic ice hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) takes a band of rag-tag young men from various places and try to mold them together to defeat the dead-eyed Soviet Union national team which had captured gold medals at each winter game competition from 1964 through 1976 (every four years of that period). The U.S. Olympic Committee just wants to be competitive, but Russell goes beyond that philosophy---he wants to win it all. And thus we have a "Hoosiers"/"Remember the Titans" hybrid with a splash of "Rocky" and "Chariots of Fire" mixed in. The result is a good, but far from great little film that could best be described as "The Rookie"'s and "Field of Dreams"' (two films that are very over-rated in my mind) little brother. Russell is the only notable performer here. Patricia Clarkson is the closest thing to being the second fiddle as Russell's wife. The hockey players are all flat characters that end up being Midwestern and Northeastern stereotypes. The Russians are more mysterious than interesting and those in the Olympic Committee are just present in the venture. Russell's domineering command of the screen and a very memorable musical score make up for most of the picture's shortcomings. Runs a bit long, but still a good way to spend some time with friends and family and remember a truly amazing part of American and sports history. Sadly the real Herb Brooks died in an automobile accident during the early stages of this production's filming. 4 stars out of 5.