February 08, 2004
A Satisfying 'Miracle'
As I sat down in a Georgetown multiplex last night to watch Miracle, it wasn't without a lot of trepidation. After all, how could a movie match the tension and excitement I felt a lifetime ago as I watched an upstart American Olympic Hockey team upend the vaunted Soviets on their way to an Olympic Gold medal?
What I feared the most, was the prospect of sitting through two-plus hours that would make reliving those two weeks in 1980 a less than enjoyable experience.
What I got was something of a mixed bag -- one particularly solid piece of acting supplemented by probably the best on-ice action photography ever in a motion picture. And though the climax of the film was unavoidably undermined by the arc of the story in real life, Miracle is undeniably entertaining, and worth your time.
On the positive side, Kurt Russell's portrayal of the late American head coach Herb Brooks* is superior, and serves as the centerpiece of the film. Brooks was both flinty, as well as a master motivator, something Russell was able to capture and convey quite nicely, especially in the scene where he confronts injured forward Rob McClanahan in between periods during a game in the Olympic preliminary round, as well as in the pre-game speech before the historic Friday night confrontation with the vaunted and feared Soviet squad:
Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world.
You were born to be hockey players. Every one of you. And you were meant to be here tonight. This is your time.
Their time. . . is done. It's over. I'm sick and tired of hearing about what a great hockey team the Soviets have. Screw 'em! This is your time!
Now go out there and take it.
Kudos to screenwriter Eric Guggenheim for laying the groundwork for a great movie moment, as well as creating an apt metaphor for the final days of the Cold War.
The movie's other great strength is on the ice, where the decision was made to primarily cast hockey players who could act, rather than the other way around. The result is some of the best action photography I've ever seen, and the first film that adequately communicates the speed and brutality of the game without turning cartoonish.
On the flip side, most of the actors portraying the players couldn't be more anonymous -- an understandable compromise given the limits of a two hour movie. For the most part, the actors portraying Jim Craig, Mike Eruzione, McClanahan, Jack O'Callahan, and final Olympic team cut, Ralph Cox, do an adequate job.
Miracle's greatest weakness, however, is the way the game with the Soviets was handled. In the film, it's the climax and emotional centerpiece. But in real life, Team USA still had to defeat Finland two days later to clinch the gold.
The problem for the director was this: how can you possibly create any dramatic tension when everybody knows the good guys are going to win? It was one the director really didn't solve, even if the 20 minute segment on ice provides some of the best action shots. Particularly weak are the final 10 seconds of the game -- a stretch filled almost completely with reaction shots from each team's bench intermixed with the crowd and time ticking away on the scoreboard.
Sure, I had some other nits to pick. The actor that played defenseman Ken Morrow was clean shaven and had a left handed shot -- Morrow actually sported a beard, and was right handed (and yes, he noticed). And if you looked closely, sometimes the actors were wearing 1970s vintage Bauer skates, at others, 21st century CCM Tacks with Tuuk blades.
When Eruzione scored what proved to be the game winning goal against the Soviets, all the players poured over the boards to embrace him -- including the backup goalie -- something which never happened and would have resulted in at least a bench minor penalty in an actual game.
Those minor complaints aside, there were more than a few moments when I was reaching for the hankies. So while Miracle might not be on par with great sports films like Rocky and Hoosiers (still my favorite), it was still enjoyable, and managed to evoke all the same emotions from nearly a quarter century ago without cheapening the memory of what was a special time in my life, and that of millions of others. Three stars -- 3.5 for hockey fans and super patriots.
POSTSCRIPT: One other overwhelming emotion I felt was a deep and visceral hatred for Soviet head coach Victor Tikhonov. And it wasn't because of his portrayal in the film, which was rather one-dimensional. Instead, all I could think of was how Tikhonov and Soviet authorities used and abused some of the greatest players of all time -- Valeri Kharlamov, Boris Mikhailov, and Vladislav Tretiak to name just a few. Everyone of them would have enjoyed incredible careers in the NHL, but thanks to Tikhonov, it never happened.
_________________________
*One note from the girlfriend -- with the right wig, Russell could play George W. Bush.
UPDATE: I share a lot of the same feelings that Robert Andrew Powell outlined in his piece in Sunday's New York Times -- especially this part:
I am not Mike Eruzione. I am not the ABC announcer Al Michaels, who rose to fame calling the games. I don't own a Mark Pavelich throwback jersey. Ostensibly I had no role in the Miracle on Ice. Yet I felt its power deeply, was as moved by the achievement as any of the principals. It couldn't have meant more to me if I had been on the team.
As Powell suspects, no, it isn't anything like it was when it actually happened. But it was good to be reminded again, and great to know that you're not the only person for whom the memory means so much.
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