Show Disney's Miracle On Ice Allen Johnson Staff Writer How do you do a story that everyone knows the beginning beginning beginning begin begin- ning middle and end of Easy you do what Titanic did and target gullible 13 year old girls OK how about a hockey hockey hockey hock hock- ey movie everyone knows the beginning middle and end of This task helmed by a struggling straggling Disney was a sizable sizable sizable siz siz- siz- siz able risk- risk one that I think will pay payoff off In all honesty Im I'm a hockey nut so Im I'm a bit biased Miracle for those of you who avoid anything remotely connected to sports is the story of a young amateur USA hockey team at the Lake Placid Olympics in 1980 For the last 15 years the sport has been dominated by bythe bythe bythe the Soviet team- team the Russians were once again heavy favorites for the 80 Games Coached by workhorse Herb Brooks who sadly passed away during the production of this film fihn he restructures the way his team plays and ends up pulling off a miraculous miraculous lous victory over the Soviet Union in the semi If This is widely regarded as one of the most spectacular events in sports history Kurt Russell takes his role as Herb Brooks and runs with it Despite having a striking resemblance to the late Brooks he does a decent job of showing his stuff I was fairly impressed The film opened with witha a montage of major world worldwide worldwide worldwide wide events for the last decade leading up to the 1980 Games Much of the dialogue dialogue dialogue dia dia- dia- dia logue of the movie was spent on showing that this was more more than just a passion for his hoc hockey key job fob along with g z game this his struggles N CI was a political at home with cal statement state state- his wife ment in a played by turbulent Pat Patricia r i cia time as the theCIa theUS CIa Clarkson r k son t d N 4 US and without getting get get- I w r s a USSR were ting too too 8 5 deadlocked cheesy o in the midst An interesting interest interest- if 0 3 of the Cold Colding Colding ing aspect of War this film is that Team USA skates to victory A great almost the s sub subtle u b t tIe l e entire team is a cast of new actors- actors hardly any of them have a single film to their name On the ice they look great- great Im I'm assuming most of them were cast for their ability ability ability abili abili- ty to play the game it looked pretty fluid and unforced Off the ice they seem like a atypical atypical atypical typical group of college guys teasing joking and talking over one another Considering most of the guys are brand new at this acting moment that captures how far we have come since those days is when two of the players play play- ers are talking about a friend that got signed on to the and how luck lucky he was to get this HUGE signing bonus nus Less than 20 years later those same signing bonuses are in the millions Director Gavin OConnor O'Connor whose film The Slaughter Rule premiered at Sundance here in Utah in 2002 smartly took the time to follow the passions and fears of the nation along with the story of this young team Indeed so much of the fervor present at that semi-final semi game against the Soviets was because of the political standoff between the the two countries Regardless anyone who watched the game or has had hada a chance to see the tapes will forever remember the now famous USA USA chant that thundered in that arena The in game sequences are pretty impressive a huge step up from the demeaning Mighty Ducks series Lots of great hits and spectacular saves and the lead changes hands Even though you know the outcome its it's still exciting to watch Anyone who enjoys sports films like Rudy or Hoosiers should have a blast with this one So how do you do a film that everyone knows what's going to happen You use everything that was going on in the world at the time and compile it into one of the greatest sporting events ever- ever Olympic Hockey Sit back and enjoy the trip in this simple simple simple sim sim- but fun and wholesome trip down memory lane 6 10 |