Release Date: February 6, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG for language and some rough sports action
Directed by: Gavin O'Connor
Starring: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Nathan West, Eddie Cahill, Noah Emmerich, Kenneth Mitchell

Plot:
This is the true story of coach Herb Brooks (Russell), who in 1980 had the distinction of having been the last player cut from the U.S. hockey team the last time the team won the Gold at the Olympics (in 1960). Brooks got his chance at being part of a medal-winning team, however, when he led the U.S. hockey team to victory over the Soviets (who had won the medal the last four times: 1976, 1972, 1968, and 1964 since that 1960 U.S. win) at the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid despite overwhelming odds. For a country still entangled in a decades-long "Cold War" with the U.S.S.R., the sports victory was seen as patriotic and symbolic of "our side" beating "their side."

Review:
Miracle is quite a strong word in which enriches success to those who thought was impossible to accomplish. In this true story about a man named Herb Brooks which is played by Kurt Russell, he attempts to make history by putting together a team of young Hockey players and plans on coaching them and making them become victorious over all countries.

Kurt Russell plays Herb Brooks and he plays him amazing. Kurt has delivered an amazing performance and its possibly the best he has ever given. He had all the qualities in what a hockey coach is suppose to act like. Intensity, loudness, strength, anger and pressure. He takes those qualities and shoves it straight to the hockey players that claim they are ready to show their talent.

"You don't have enough talent to win on talent alone." That is one of the many memorable quotes in this film and Russell is completely correct on this one. It takes much more than just talent to become victorious in a hockey game. It even takes a lot more than talent when you are going up against some of the best teams the sport has to offer.

The list can go on until this day on which country is truly the best in Hockey and who invented it. From my knowledge of Hockey it just seems to me that Canada is a country who pour their hearts out for this wonderful sport. Others can argue that countries in Europe or Asia are better and it can go either way, there is no one to blame here.

This film clearly shows us the rules and tips of Hockey without actually telling us straightforward. It is twenty players to a team, five on the ice at a time along with a goalie, there are two minute power plays for slashing and other unsportsmanlike conducts etc. Each person that views this film will notice that we figure all of this out by visually watching the games.

Although it does show us all of that, it doesn't show us the complete list of what Hockey is all about. I was surprised that Icing was not called when a player shot the puck all the way from the opposite side. To add to that, offsides is a common mistake in Hockey and it usually happens every so often. So it was quite of a disappointment to see those things be completely avoided in Miracle. With that said, maybe it wasn't their intention to get detailed with that or it just could have been that there was no interest in showing that section of Hockey. Either way the rest of the film made up for a few minor flaws that you can handpick.

The games are one thing that was setup well. The Director, Gavin O' Connor who is fairly new to directing has given us a film that has your adrenaline rushing and heart pounding from the minute a game begins. Not only just that, but there are plenty of shocking and powerful scenes to be witnessed in Miracle. Mostly has to do with Herb Brooks pushing them a bit too far and he definitely goes overboard. Either way, its good to see the coach of Hockey Team pushing his team strongly because that is reality and that is how lessons are learned.

I wouldn't be surprised if a viewer would get so into this film that they would cheer the team on and even clap when something miraculous would happen. Its the style in which the film was edited and filmed that drives you to continue having interest in the sport of Hockey. Even if you are not a fan of Hockey, Gavin O' Connor and Kurt Russell will have you glued to the screen up to the closing credits of this film.

Much like Radio, Miracle is based on a true story and the ending is of course predictable because true stories most of the time end happily. It seems lately though true stories have all involved sports, from Radio to currently Miracle and then the upcoming true story of Jackie Kallen, Against The Ropes. Not that this is a bad route to go for films that are based on true stories, but they are frequently being released and each involving some type of sport.

In the film, Russell also has so much dedication in making the team the best they can be that he even avoids his wife at times to analyze what goes wrong in certain games and he watches clips from the games to see what they can improve on. Once again, just like Radio, Ed Harris avoided his family quite a lot and was never there for them because of his love for football and for the love of Radio.

It's great that they paid homage to the real Herb Brooks at the end of the credits. The film even showed the real man himself when he made history back in the 80's. Of course, that is the least someone can do when they are making a film based on a true story, with just like other true story based films.

Besides having a few similarities to other true story films, Miracle has its own way of making a point and showing the achievements Herb Brooks made and the countries the United States had to endure. Miracle is a film that will have you involved from the beginning. Kurt Russell clearly gives a great performance and Miracle overall is a pretty inspiring film.