The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

A clunky actioner with a handful of cool moments.

It’s fine. It's literally the definition of a fine movie. You’ve seen it before, you know every beat and outcome before the characters even do. Only question is how much escapism you’re looking for.

There really haven't been a lot of hockey movies made over the years. I can think immediately of "Slap Shot" - which was a comedy and not a serious hockey movie. There was "The Mighty Ducks" - but that was more of a kids movie than anything. And I can remember that the story of the US gold medal win in the 1980 Winter Olympics (the same story told in this movie) was told in 1982's TV movie "Miracle On Ice." There may have been others, but I can't think of them. But however many there may have been I find it hard to believe that they would have been better than this version of the story.It's a hockey movie. From beginning to end it's a hockey movie. On and off the ice, in the dressing room and the board room and in Herb Brooks' home - it's a hockey movie. But it does a truly superb job of blending in what was going on in the world at the time - which is really what made the whole story so dramatic in the first place. The 1970's had been a bad decade for the United States. Watergate and Vietnam and the Arab oil embargo and a sputtering economy. As the decade closed the US Embassy in Iran was seized and American diplomats there were taken hostage and the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The Soviet Union seemed to be in the ascendance, and the United States seemed to be in a downward spiral. Who would have thought that hockey - which was really not much more than a niche sport in the US at the time - would be the start of an American resurgence?This movie focuses on Herb Brooks - who was the coach of that US Olympic team. Kurt Russell played the part, and played it well. Brooks had a passion for hockey and for the job of coaching this team. It was a passion that became an obsession, fuelled by the fact that in 1960 (when the US had also won a surprise Olympic hockey gold medal) he had been the last player cut from that team before the Games began. Brooks took on the job and demanded complete control over the program. He drove the players - hard; almost to the breaking point at times. He was their coach and not their friend; he wasn't looking to win popularity contests. It was a fascinating portrayal of the man, who tragically died not long before this film was released. Brooks was the focal point of what was happening. The players, on the other hand, were a team. In the movie, that means that Russell dominates. The actors who played the players kind of fade into the background. Patricia Clarkson does a decent job as Brooks' wife Patti - who sometimes resents her husband's obsession with the job and team and game - and Noah Emmerich is decent enough as assistant coach Craig Patrick - who's often uncomfortable with Brooks' coaching methods - but this is Kurt Russell's movie, and the 1980 US Olympic hockey team was Herb Brooks' team, and Russell pulls it off well.The on-ice action is brilliantly staged and seems absolutely authentic. Even though we know the outcome, the movie did a great job of building up the suspense of that US-Soviet game, as a bunch of American college players take on the mighty and experienced Soviet hockey machine, which was professional in all but name, which had taken 2 of 3 games against a team of NHL All-Stars (blasting the NHL'ers 6-0 in the final game) in a tournament held a few months before the Olympics, and which should have crushed the US team. Like most anything that chronicles the tournament, the movie tends to skip quickly over the fact that the US still had to beat Finland after beating the Soviet Union to win the gold medal. With everything happening in the world at the time, of course, what really mattered was that the United States beat the Soviet Union. There will never be another hockey game like that 1980 game. It's probably matched in drama only by Game 8 of the "Canada-Russia" series of 1972. Hockey is such an international sport now, the best players are all familiar to us because most of them (wherever they're from) play in the NHL, and the top countries are all capable of beating each other on any given night, so this type of upset and drama could probably never be reproduced. I'm not an American, so the patriotic aspect of this film eluded me, but I am (like all good Canadians) a hockey fan - and I have to say that Disney put out one fine hockey movie with "Miracle." (9/10)

Not the kind of hockey movie I was expecting, especially a Disney one. "Miracle" is a laboring trek to the first game, full of self-doubt and brooding (personified by Kurt Russell, who owns this movie, hands down). The geopolitics hang heavy over all of this, but at least it doesn't devolve into jingoism. But once we get into the Olympic games, it's an energized movie indeed. the payoff isn't USA beating the Soviets (we know the history), it's in the team finally coming together. Really electrifies that final game. Even still, you'd have to be dead inside not to smile when Eruzione pulls the team ahead 4-3. And just try not to get misty during Russell's end narration. A sentimental hay-maker, that one.8/10

The greatest moment in recent Olympics history was the so-called "Miracle on Ice," when the amateur Hockey team from the U.S. defeated the long time Soviet champions at Lake Placid. The journey was a long and arduous one, with the players being driven to top condition both mentally and physically by coach Herb Brooks. In 2004, Walt Disney Pictures produced a recreation of the events leading up to and including the legendary event, with disgustingly underrated actor Kurt Russell as Coach Brooks. The result is not only a really inspirational but down-to-earth adaptation, but Russell in his career-defining role.The year is 1980. America is at a low point in terms of spirit and morale. Iran has taken hostages, Gas is running low, and the Soviets seem to be dominating the Middle-East with no one to stop them. To the U.S. Olympic committee, they have no chance to beat the longstanding champions of the USSR, so they decide to give college students the chance to play under Coach Herb Brooks. Brooks is a hard man determined to knock the Soviets off their pedestal, but not for reasons you would think. There is some bad luck to begin with but the team eventually makes it to Lake Placid and begin their legendary game against the Soviets.What makes Miracle so impressive is the fact that it focuses more on Herb Brooks than it does the team members. Brooks has unfinished business with the Soviets, as he was cut from the 1960 team the week before the games, the only team to beat the Soviets up to that point. He is a rather blunt and mean man who pushes the team to their limits. he makes absolutely no bond with anybody, as he sees this as the way to intimidate his team into performing at their highest levels. But with all this, there is a likability to Brooks that make him all the more three-dimensional, not just a cartoon over-the-top coach.The key to what I just said and the pure ingredient to what makes the film work is Kurt Russell. Here, he paints the portrait of a hurt and driven man who not only wishes to fulfill some need for vindication, but to give people the joy that was taken from him at the eleventh hour. He also looks the part, with the hair, jowl, and even those silly outfits that were considered to be cool back in the day. This is a great performance, one that I really believe was robbed of an Oscar. Not just a nomination, but a full Oscar win. Russell is Herb Brooks, hands down.The recreation of the events are also really good. The Soviets aren't portrayed as the bad guys, but the team that they just have to beat for Brooks. They aren't stereotypical Russian bad guys, but people we don't know apart from what we saw on the television screen in 1980. Its strange how one can often forget that this movie was produced by Disney. One would think the movie is schmaltzy and sugar-coated, but this is one of those exceptions. I think the only thing Disney couldn't allow was strong language that may be prevalent in hockey, but we can forgive them for that one.There has been an argument that there are too many sports movie clichés to be found in this movie. Well, I don't see any of them, except for one. Patricia Clarkson plays the stereotypical housewife who does nothing but complain. I don't watch the scenes with her or I try to mute whatever she says when she talks with Kurt Russell. Other than that, there is nothing to gripe about. I think the reason that critics see them as clichés is because the elements that seem familiar, are actually based on real events and dialog. I never saw this as anything more than history being put onto film with a Hollywood crew and actors. It seems to be and actually is very faithful.This is a good film. There are some slow spots, and maybe some flaws, but none that were easy to notice or try to notice. Kurt Russell is exceptional, and makes this a must see sports film.

This was a great movie starring Kurt Russell as the great American ice hockey coach Herb Brooks. During the movie, we see the challenges he has to face in taking college kids from different parts of the United States and forging them into a cohesive unit. We see eventually the barriers between the Massachusetts players and Midwestern players come down.Brooks is not content with a bronze medal in the Olympic tournament. Through strict discipline and no acceptance of quitting, he pushes his team to the limit. His strong-armed coaching even has his assistant Craig Patrick shaking his head as well as the U.S. Olympic hockey federation who clearly believe Brooks is in over his head.The most enjoyable part of the movie besides the hockey action is Kurt Russell giving a speech to his players at the later part of the film. It is clearly one of the best movie speeches you will ever hear. It has special meaning as he tries to rally a group of college kids against the world's best hockey team (who are professionals) to victory at a time when the United States' place in the world was shaky.