Gavin O'Connor Skates on Thin Ice with Kurt Russell

Rating: 5/10 (14 June 2009)

"Kurt Russell gives a brilliant performance as the dynamic and determined coach Herb Brooks, who had an impossible dream - beat the seemingly unbeatable Soviets at their own game. Starting with a handpicked group of 26 undisciplined kids, Brooks coached them to play like they never played before, and turned 20 of them into a team that believed they could achieve the unachievable - and in the process, united a nation with a new feeling of hope," according to the official studio synopsis.
Based on a 1980 Olympic hockey play-off between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, this film makes the game in question political - with the opening collage providing a fine setting - but, it never ties its ends together. For Mr. Russell's character, the motivation is different; he is returning to the Olympics to revise a past snub, and vicariously prove his worth. The hockey players, who seem underutilized, simply want to win. The title suggests Divine intervention.
***** Miracle (3/3/04) Gavin O'Connor ~ Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich