Miracle (2004)

Belief can be the most powerful weapon of all, especially when the odds say you have no chance. Gavin O'Connor's "Miracle" gets a remarkable number of details right in telling the story of the U.S. hockey team's historic upset at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Hollywood often fudges period details like hairstyles and fashions to please modern audiences, but this film looks and feels authentic down to the last detail, capturing the gloomy mood of post-Watergate America amid economic worries and Cold War tensions. It shows how the driven University of Minnesota hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) assembled a once-in-a-lifetime team of young college players, pushed them relentlessly and molded them into a unit capable of taking on the mighty Soviet squad, a team of seasoned veterans widely considered the best in the world. With sharp support from Patricia Clarkson as Brooks' wife and Noah Emmerich as his patient assistant coach, Russell anchors the film with a finely balanced mix of aloofness, intimidation and closely guarded strategy. The real Brooks, who died in a car accident shortly after filming wrapped, would surely have approved. The hockey scenes feel genuine, thanks in part to casting actual hockey players as the team. From the producers of the similarly winning sports dramas "Remember the Titans" and "The Rookie," it brings plenty of heart, and historical accuracy, to a familiar formula, right down to the re-creation of broadcaster Al Michaels' famous call as the final seconds tick away.