Miracle (2004)

Director:

Gavin O'Connor

Writer (WGA):

Eric Guggenheim (written by)

Release Date:

6 February 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Family | History | Sport

Tagline:

What America needed was a miracle. What it got was a hockey game.

Plot:

Miracle tells the true story of Herb Brooks (Russell), the player-turned-coach who led the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team to victory over the seemingly invincible Russian squad.

Plot Keywords:

1980s | Olympics | Coach | Ice Hockey | Russian

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Kurt Russell	...	Herb Brooks
Patricia Clarkson	...	Patty Brooks
Noah Emmerich	...	Craig Patrick
Sean McCann	...	Walter Bush
Kenneth Welsh	...	Doc Nagobads
Eddie Cahill	...	Jim Craig
Patrick O'Brien Demsey	...	Mike Eruzione
Michael Mantenuto	...	Jack O'Callahan
Nathan West	...	Rob McClanahan
Kenneth Mitchell	...	Ralph Cox
Eric Peter-Kaiser	...	Mark Johnson
Bobby Hanson	...	Dave Silk
Joseph Cure	...	Mike Ramsey
Billy Schneider	...	Buzz Schneider
Nate Miller	...	John 'Bah' Harrington

MPAA:

Rated PG for language and some rough sports action.

Runtime:

135 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

UK:PG | Iceland:L | South Korea:All | Argentina:Atp | Australia:PG | Finland:K-7 | Singapore:PG | USA:PG

Filming Locations:

Abbotsford, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Pop Pop Productions

Trivia:

Herb Brooks died in a car accident during principal photography of this film. A dedication is made for him before the ending credits.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Water bottles were not kept on the nets for the goalies until the late-1980s or early-1990s.

Quotes:

Herb Brooks: [knocks on the door of the dorm room, Jimmy opens it] Hey, Jim.
Jim Craig: Hey Coach.
Herb Brooks: Just wondering why you didn't take this test.
[waves the stack of psychology tests that he has in his hands]
Jim Craig: Yeah, umm... it's nothing against you or anything. I just don't see what it has to do with stopping the puck.
Herb Brooks: That's okay, you just took it anyway.

Movie Connections:

Features Pong (1972) (VG)

Soundtrack:

Must Of Got Lost

An Enjoyable Film Even If You Don't Like Hockey

In 1980, Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell), a former Olympics hockey player cut from the winning 1960 U.S. team, put together a ragtag band of college hockey players, taking them to the Winter Olympics at Lake Placid to face the seemingly invincible Russian hockey team, winners of four successive gold medals. Miracle tells the true story of how they worked together to defy the odds working against them. Everyone likes a good upset especially when they can cheer on the winning team. Miracle gives you that story and its a nice film to watch with your family. I don't watch hockey because I don't really like it and its just not very appealing to me. But there's things that non-hockey fans can enjoy from this film. I liked the determination from the team and the inspiration the coach gave to them. Kurt Russell does an awesome job as Herb Brooks, probably his best performance in a long time. Patricia Clarkson does a good job playing his wife and all the players on the team aren't bad either. The one actor that was bad was Noah Emmerich, he just showed little to no emotion and didn't really put in a good effort. This wouldn't had been a problem if he had a small role but he was the assistant coach. Miracle is directed by Gavin O'Connor and he does a good job. The hockey itself wasn't actually that bad as some scenes of the game were pretty cool. The focus is on mainly on Russell and while you learn some stuff about the players it would had been nice if they had shifted some of the attention on them as well. The screenplay may be filled with clichés but the film does it right even if it feels like you have seen it before because you probably have. The film is 135 minutes long and for me it started dragging a little and getting kind of boring. The movie is also predictable so the ending game as well as the entire movie isn't really suspenseful. The focus is more on beating Russia then actually winning the medal. When they do play in the final game and win the medal, they only show them scoring the winning shot. After that Kurt Russell starts talking saying how they won the last game by coming up from behind. While we know the outcome to the whole thing it still would had been nice if they had added a few more scenes. Its also better then The Mighty Ducks but that's not a hard thing to do. Rating 7/10 a treat for hockey fans and a film that a normal movie-goer can enjoy.