| Overall Grade: |
B+ |
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| Story: |
A |
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| Acting: |
B |
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| Direction: |
B+ |
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| Visuals: |
A- |
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What's not to like?!?
by Rob (movies profile)
Oct 23, 2005
26
of
29 people found this review helpful
Probably the most qualified people to judge this film are the actual players who lived it. Everything I've read says the actual men who lived the miracle say the movie got it right. That's the way it happened. That was the way Herb Brooks was. The wind sprints (or 'Herbies' as they're now known in hockey circles) after the lacklustre exhibition game in Norway really happened. It's not a documentary, and the film doesn't take much artistic liscense with the story. And that's a good thing. There's more than enough good story in the actual events. Embellishment is not needed.
The hockey players turned actors did well enough to be believable. Kurt Russell was fantastic. The hockey scenes were the best filmed in my opinion, with great pains taken to try to re-create the actual plays as accurately as possible.
This movie is not perfect. There are things that could've been done better and some minor historical inaccuracies. (Ken Morrow actually had a beard; the 3rd Soviet goal didn't happen the way it did in the film.) It may have left out some of Brooks' more colorful sayings, like the "You're playing worse every day, and now you're playing like it's next month!" line. Maybe it could've touched more on the Finland game for the gold medal. Had the US lost, the Soviets would've won the gold anyway, despite the fact we beat them. The US trailed against Finland 2-1 after two periods, and Brooks told them "If you don't win this game, you'll take it to you're (bleeping) grave!" But all those minor imperfections don't really matter. To anyone who was alive in 1980, it's a great way to relive a great moment in history, and to share the feeling with those who weren't alive back then.
I have read through many of these user reviews trying to figure out why anyone would dislike this film about such a rousing time in American history. It's obvious that almost all of the negative ones were merely people with no life and too much time on their hands, people who don't seem to realize these events REALLY happened and complain about the predictability or patriotism, or Canadians or Russians who feel slighted. To them I say the following...Get a LIFE! This really happened and its the way it happened. If it seemed to good to be true, well that's the way it felt 24 years ago to everyone who watched it actually happen in real life. And to our Canadian and Russian friends...The Summit series of '72 may have been better games, and maybe it too will become a movie one day. And maybe you're still bitter and have won more Olympic gold. But this was OUR TIME...OUR MOMENT! And no amount of bitterness or sour grapes or bah humbug attitude can ever take away how good it felt to be an American that weekend in February of 1980. |
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