"Four seconds, three seconds... Do you believe in miracles? YES!" This line, uttered by sportscaster Al Michaels during the 1980 Olympic games, is not only one of the most famous in sports but has garnered itself a place in American history. At a time where political turmoil both at home and abroad made Americans weary, a group of 20 college kids, led by an unrelenting coach, made people believe again. Miracle had the task of retelling this story. It was not an easy task as the actual story was so corny, gushy and played-out that even Hollywood couldn't overdramatize it. But Walt Disney Pictures and director Gavin O'Connor (Tumbleweeds) did a wonderful job of giving a fresh new perspective on one of the United States' greatest victories during the cold war.It really doesn't matter if you're a hockey fan, or, as Al Michaels said during the telecast of the game, "don't know the difference between a blue line and clothesline," Miracle is a movie that can attract any audience. It is amazing to think that the targeted audience for this movie is people who are born after 1980. So in some ways, this is a fresh, brand-new story for most people-a real life Mighty Ducks.

Set up beautifully in the opening credits and relayed throughout the movie, the United States was facing great domestic and foreign troubles. A newscaster during the opening montage relayed to the audience that a study shows that people at this time believed the next five years would be worse than the past five years. People needed something to believe in again after events such as Watergate, inflation, the gas shortage the Tehran hostage situation and the Russians invading Afghanistan, greatly clouded people's judgment of American life.

Then Herb Brooks, played brilliantly by Kurt Russell (Backdraft), took a bunch of rag-tag college kids from all across the country and formed them into a team. "When you pull on that jersey," Brooks said during unrelenting training, "the name on the front is a hell of a lot more important than the one on the back." All of these players came from different colleges. Some came from the team Brooks coached at the University of Minnesota, some from Boston University, but after getting rid of their differences as individuals, Brooks trained them to play as a team.

The movie does a great job of not only giving the background to the political climate of the time, but also the climate that surrounded these Olympic Games. The U.S.S.R. team didn't know how to lose. They had never failed to win a gold medal. They were an unbeatable force of all-stars who played as one. The U.S. basketball team had a tremendously embarrassing loss a few years before on a last second shot to the Soviet team. The U.S. hockey team had been crushed 15-1 by Czechoslovakia in the Olympics only four years before. The U.S.S.R. had beaten the NHL All-Stars 6-0 in an exhibition game a couple of months earlier. And even these amateur U.S. players had lost three days before the opening ceremonies to the Russians. Thus, the United States came in as huge underdogs to even make it out of the qualifying rounds, never mind ever beat the Russian team.

But before they could shock the world, the 20 players on the 1980 United States hockey team underwent unrelentless training. Kurt Russell brilliantly takes on Brooks' persona. From wearing Brooks's uniform of sports jacket and checked bell-bottoms to his complete lack of emotion throughout the whole process, to his relationship with his wife, assistant coach and players, Russell takes on not only the character, but the man.
The movie's greatest amount of time is showing the training that these players went through. Russell shows how Brooks broke this team down day after day and then built them up into a tough, conditioned and unified team of champions. From captain Mike "Rizzo" Eruzione, played by Patrick O'Brien Demsey, to goalie Jim Craig, played by Eddie Cahill (of the WB's now-cancelled Glory Days) this team had many individual stories, and the movie does a great job of showing their trials and tribulations.

All of America was glued to the television on Feb. 22, 1980, when the U.S. Olympic Hockey Team attempted one more time to beat the "unbeatable" Russians in Lake Placid, N.Y.

Although the rest of the movie was narrated by Russell, (and a myriad of other newscasters giving the background of the time), the whole game was narrated by the actual tandem of Al Michaels and Ken Dryden.
As a hockey fan, the 20 minutes spent on the penultimate game between the United States and the U.S.S.R. (most people don't know that that game was not the gold medal game, the United States still needed to beat Finland in a very close game-as usual, come-from-behind-to win the gold) was great, but non-hockey fans may not enjoy this as much. But once Eruzione scored the game-winning goal, and Al Michaels counted down the end of the game, non-sports fans and avid sports fanatics alike will get goosebumps. The scene where Eruzione calls all of the players up to the podium to stand as one team is also one that is sure to either recall memories for the older generation or instill new ones for today's youth.

The only large fault in the movie is that it glosses over the gold medal game. Although the game against the U.S.S.R. is the most important and most memorable, the 30 seconds or so spent on the game against Finland was too short in a movie that never really had a problem with taking its time.

Overall, this really is the feel-good movie for both young and old audience. The production team put this movie together in a way that tells the story to a younger audience, reminds the middle-aged audience and does not insult those who really lived through it. It is too bad that the real Herb Brooks never got to see the movie, as he passed away in an automobile accident last August. But as the great tribute right before the ending credits aptly put it, he never saw the movie, but he lived it.
Coming out of the theater, audiences who are asked if they believe in Miracle, will soundly answer, "YES!