Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

Miracle
2004
***½
Director: Gavin O'Connor
Cast: Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson, Noah Emmerich, Sean McCann, Kenneth Welsh, Eddie Cahill, Patrick O'Brien Demsey, Michael Mantenuto

A powerful feelgood film about the U.S. ice hockey team who performed a miracle in the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. They were coached by Herb Brooks, who took seven months to mold a group of young amateurs into a tight unit. En route to the Olympic gold they beat Soviet Union, who had dominated the game for the preceding 20 years. The story follows a very predictable sport movie path (first you lose, then you win, inbetween the wife complains that Herb is always working), but the rush of emotions inevitably swept me along, and the tightly edited scenes in the rink actually feel like real ice hockey. Kurt Russell gives a charismatic lead performance.