More about this DVD  •  DVD Info  •  Movie Main Page  •  Message Board

Brooks, who was thrown off the 1960 Olympic hockey team just one week before they went on to win the Gold is, twenty years later, trying to succeed where he once failed. And when he's handed the reigns of the 1980 squad, his methods are unorthodox. But the film gives Brooks reasons for doing what he does that justify his actions and give his character added dimension. For instance, Brooks could be a mean mother whose tactics were borderline sadistic, but he wanted his team to dislike him because then they could rally around their hatred for him. Later in the film, when the U.S. is playing Sweden, Brooks calls a player a “candy-ass”, which gets the kid extremely pissed off. “That oughta get ‘em going”, Brooks says, leaving the locker room.

Miracle makes little effort to individualize the players. There is one kid who wants to make the team to fulfill a promise to his recently deceased mother. Otherwise, the players, all about 21 years old, are pretty interchangeable. The always-terrific Patricia Clarkson has the thankless role of Brooks' wife, who constantly snipes about him ignoring his family and working too hard.

These supporting character deficiencies would be fatal if the Brooks character were less interesting. But Russell turns in the best performance of his career (with apologies to Snake Plissken). Barely moving his upper jaw when he speaks and wearing an 80's uniform of sportsjacket and plaid bell-bottoms, he's always got that flash of intelligence behind those baby blue eyes. Herb knows what he's doing and you know he knows. There is an early scene where dozens of kids try out for Brooks in the hopes of making the Olympic team. Although cutdowns would normally take a week and be vetted by an advisory committee, Brooks names the 26 finalists after just one day. “I'm not looking for the best players,” he tells assistant coach Craig Patrick (Noah Emmerich) “I'm looking for the right ones.”

With the exception of one speech where Brooks posits that in order to beat the Russians, they need to be as aggressive on the ice as they are, there is very little talk of hockey strategy. And that's good. Because the audience is not going to learn hockey fast enough to appreciate Brooks' mastery of the game. He manipulates his team through emotion, not game strategy. The audience can understand emotion. Hockey strategy they'll never understand. That's the difference that makes Miracle an intelligent, yet still rousing sports picture.

(Note: About ten minutes into the film, there is a locker room scene where Mike Eruzione is clearly wearing a Mickey Mouse t-shirt. I point this out because Miracle is a Walt Disney film, making this particular plug incredibly tacky.)

Video: How Does The Disc Look?

Disney has taken the admirable step of putting all the supplements on a separate disc, leaving the film to stretch out on a disc of its own. And while it's easy to say that the Miracle transfer is truly a miracle, the fact is, the movie looks wonderful. Presented in a 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, what's most notable are the colors. The red, white and blues of the Lake Placid hockey arena are bright and intense. And some of the dingier arenas show clean gray colors, punctuated by bright shafts of light. Even the ice itself is crystal clean, while the earthy 80s clothing show nice detail. There is very little film grain, edge enhancement or pixelization. Detail is great in the early goings, then softens a bit as the film progresses. Blacks are dark and solid. In all, an excellent transfer.

Audio: How Does The Disc Sound?

For a hockey film, the Dolby Digital 5.1 really only has one place to shine: scenes that take place on the rink. Luckily, all the game footage includes plenty of swooshing and slapping. However the level of separation and creativity was a tad disappointing. But it will only be disappointing to those who keep close tabs on such matters. Otherwise, the dialogue is easy to understand and quite clear, if a bit muddy at certain moments. Low end sounds deep, yet consistent with the mix's intentions. The hockey noises themselves are all specific and easy to discern. This is not the most dynamic mix, even in the scenes when a more aggression approach would have been appropriate. Having said that, the Miracle max is very sharp, error free and gets the job done nicely.

English subtitles, English Closed Captions and a French 5.1 track are also included for your hockey-enhancing pleasure.

Supplements: What Goodies Are There?

The only goodie on the first disc is an audio commentary from director Gavin O'Connor, editor John Gilroy and cinematographer Daniel Stoloff. Those interested in how this complicated sports endeavor came together will learn a lot here. All participants are low-key, but genial and informative. They discuss all aspects of production: the casting, the staking, the story's historical importance and the adapting of Herb Brooks' life to the screen. The only regret is that Kurt Russell did not participate. As fans know from his other DVDs (notably Used Cars), Russell can be a gas when he does audio commentaries.

Pop in the second disc and Miracle mavens will learn mounds of useful info on the making of the film. From Hockey to Hollywood is an informative mini-doc that chronicles how the makers of Miracle found a group of actors who could not only act, not only look like the hockey legend they were portraying, but also skate. As we learn, casting agents saw 3000 kids from around the country. They were put through rigorous hockey training and acting auditions. From Hockey to Hollywood includes audition footage, tons of skating action and interviews with the casting agents. Viewers will learn everything these kids had to endure in order to get the part. Then we learn what they had to endure to get in shape for filming. Video, much of it full-frame, looks very good.

Thanks to the miracle of corporate ownership, the Disney DVD of Miracle includes an ESPN Roundtable, hosted by Linda Cohn. Guests include teammates Buzz Schneider, Mike Eruzione and Jim Craig and actor Kurt Russell. It's a 41-minute retrospective and while it's not uninteresting, it's better suited to hardcore hockey fans.

First Impression: Herb Brooks with Kurt Russell and the Filmmakers is 20 minutes of raw footage of Brooks talking to the creators of Miracle in a hotel room weeks before the start of pre- production. Brooks discusses being cut from the 1960 Olympics, the demands he placed on his Olympic squad and the dreaded Soviet team. Footage is understandably quite raw and the audio is hollow and occasionally hard to discern. However, it's a rare and candid look at Brooks' coaching methods and philosophy. Fans of hockey will love it.

The Sound of Miracle is a well-constructed, ten- minute look at the film's sound design. Although the hockey sounds are obviously the work of production experts, you really begin to appreciate what it takes to put something like this together. Skates, pucks, sticks, boards, voices, crowd noise and glass sounds were all recorded at different times and needed to be seamlessly assembled. To demonstrate this, the piece isolates Production Sound, ADR, Stake Effects, Stick/Puck/Goalie Effects and Musical Score. It explains how they were all recorded, then put together to create the final mix. It's pretty informative stuff and worth a look.

Finally, there are about five minutes of outtakes, which consist mostly of actors flubbing a line and giggling. It's set to the type of annoying music that only Disney could provide. Video quality of these outtakes is excellent.

DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc in your PC?

There are no ROM extras on the disc.

Parting Thoughts