Miracle (DVD)

Against all odds the 1980 US Olympic hockey team took home the gold medal and now the story is coming home along with a whole boat load of special features to help better tell the making-of Miracle and give interested viewers the back story behind Herb Brooks and the opinions of those who knew him.

I thought Miracle was a successful adaptation of the story of Herb Brooks and his gold-medal hockey team, but I have also come to realize that once you have lived the movie the first time the second time around it is much more anti-climactic. This is not just because I know they are going to win the gold medal, but it is more the fact that although the authenticity is there the overall emotion of the film didn't move me as much as it did the first time.

Don't get me wrong all the action and emotion that was in this film translates well on the small screen just as it did the big, it was just the overall effect the movie had on me in the theater just wasn't there this time around.

Pushing the movie aside for a second, let's discuss the special features included on the disc beginning with the audio commentary by director Gavin O'Connor, editor John Gilroy and director of photography Daniel Stoloff. Normally I would say that this is an excellent commentary, and it is, but with the wealth of special features on this special edition some of the comments can become a bit redundant and I think it is probably best just to skip to them and save this commentary for a rainy day.

Now for those features I was talking about, one of the best is found on disc one, which is a "making-of" featurette titled "The Making of a Miracle". This is a quick look back at a lot of what went into putting this production together and works well as a primer for the second disc, which contains the bulk of the special features.

The second disc has five special features of note, four of which are worth watching and one that really did not interest me at all, so in an effort to keep this interview moving I will get it out of the way now.

The segment titled "Miracle ESPN roundtable with members of the 1980 team, actor Kurt Russell and host Linda Cohn" was just a bore. Linda Cohn is not one of my favorite ESPN anchors, and I think you really have to really want to learn more about Herb Brooks to really get interested in this 40 minute roundtable, but if it bores you I would suggest switching it off as there are much more interesting features available.

Starting with the first featurette titled "From Hockey to Hollywood: The Actors' Journey". This is a great feature that lets you get a good look at who the actors are playing these famous roles and to learn about the strategy that went into selecting the cast members and just what they were thinking and going through during production.

Also to get a good look at Herb Brooks, much better than listening to the ESPN roundtable, is the feature titled "First Impressions: Herb Brooks with Kurt Russell and the filmmakers," which is about 20 minutes of raw footage featuring the creative process that went on while Kurt Russell and the filmmakers pretty much just sat and listened to Brooks and tried to get further insight into who he really was. This is a much better feature than I anticipated and it is edited well to include information that you will want to hear rather than a bunch of boring blubbering.

Next, one of the coolest features is a step-by-step look at the creation of the sound of Miracle as you get tons of different looks and listens to the production with and without specific sound effects all while learning how they did it. This is a great feature and should be included on more action DVDs.

Finally there is an outtake reel, which was nothing more than some flubbed lines and giggles, I have seen better as I am sure you have too.

Overall I can recommend this DVD, but I will let you know that for me the sentimentality and emotion seemed a bit lacking the second time around, but who knows, maybe I am having a bad day.