Miracle (2004) review

Today on Rhode Island Movie Corner, we’re celebrating the 40^th anniversary of one of the most iconic moments in not only the history of sports but also the history of the entire United States. On February 22^nd, 1980, the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team played against the Soviet Union Men’s Hockey Team at the 13^th Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. At the time, the Soviet Union squad was one of the most dominant forces in Olympic history and had taken the Gold Medal in 5 of the last 6 Olympic Games. But against all odds, coach Herb Brooks’ squad of amateur/college players pulled off the impossible and defeated the supposedly unbeatable Russians 4-3 on route to a historic Gold Medal run. This moment in history would forever become known as the ‘Miracle on Ice’ and provided a jolt of national pride that America was arguably quite lacking at the time. But now this brings us to the 2004 film adaptation of this historic event, simply titled Miracle. Released by Disney and directed by Gavin O’Connor, the film was a solid success both critically and commercially upon its release. It grossed over $64 million worldwide and scored good reviews with critics, and even nowadays, I find that many people still regard this as one of the best sports films of all-time. Unlike the actual Miracle on Ice, 2020 doesn’t connect to any specific anniversary for this film, but it did celebrate its 15^th anniversary last year. Thus, I figured that now is the perfect time to celebrate an undisputed classic of the sports film genre; a film that flawlessly works around its genre’s predictability to perfectly capture the spirit and emotion of the legendary game that it’s based around.

In the summer of 1969, University of Minnesota Ice Hockey coach Herb Brooks (Kurt Russell) is hired as the new head coach of the U.S. Men’s Hockey Team. Brooks, who had previously played on the 1960 squad but was cut right before their Gold Medal run at the Olympics that year, proposes that the only way they can defeat the unstoppable force that is the Soviet Union’s hockey team is by changing their strategies and the ways that they practice. However, Brooks’ radical ideas are initially met with skepticism by the members of the United States Olympic Committee, especially after he ends up selecting the initial 26-man roster on the first day of what was meant to be a week-long tryout session. Nevertheless, Brooks sticks to his guns and selects a team made up of amateur and college players, including players from Boston University and several who had previously played for Brooks at the University of Minnesota. The only problem, however, is that Boston and Minnesota are responsible for one of the fiercest rivalries in college hockey, and sure enough, that hostility starts to become an issue once the team gets on the ice. However, Brooks manages to work around this by implementing a strict training regime that pushes the players to their limits so that he can properly instill in them the values of playing hockey for the United States of America. And in the process, the team starts to come together as they head to Lake Placid, where they find themselves becoming the catalysts behind a newfound sense of national pride as they brace themselves for the inevitable battle with the Soviets.    

As I alluded to in the intro, sports films can often get dinged for having predictable plots that usually revolve around a team that’s established as being major underdogs but end up winning the most important game of the season against their biggest rivals. This is especially the case for films that are based on true stories since there’s a very likely chance that audiences are well-aware about the history of events that they’re based on going into them. But while Miracle is quite arguably one of the most blatant examples of the latter since, let’s face it, we all know what happened on that fateful February day 40 years ago, this never hurts the film in any significant manner. A lot of this is thanks to how director Gavin O’Connor perfectly conveys the tumultuous atmosphere of everything that was going on in America at the time without ever shifting focus away from Herb Brooks and his team. Whether it’s the opening credits montage that covers events like the Three Mile Island incident and Watergate or a sequence where Herb’s wife Patti (Patricia Clarkson) diverts his attention to news on the developing hostage crisis in Iran, the film never shies away from how American morale was arguably at an all-time low. But just like in real life, the film does a wonderful job of building up to the climactic game against the Soviets and showing just how big of a deal it ended up being for the U.S. In fact, the attention to detail when it came to recreating this game is so authentic that legendary sportscaster Al Michaels didn’t even bother to re-record his iconic final words from the original broadcast (“DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES? YES!”). Why? Well, it was quite simply because he knew that he couldn’t even remotely come close to replicating the pure, unbridled emotion of that moment.

But, of course, the best aspect of this entire film is Kurt Russell’s phenomenal lead performance in the role of Herb Brooks. Russell fully commands the screen as the legendary hockey coach who pushed his team 24/7 to be the best that they can be. And yet, as much as the film focuses on the instances where he dishes out tough love to them like no one’s business, it also makes an effort to emphasize his humanity amidst all the pressure that he was clearly under to lead his team to victory. Much of this comes through in the scenes that he shares with Patricia Clarkson as Herb’s wife Patti who, despite her admittedly limited role as the generally passive ‘supporting wife’, does get to have a few instances where she keeps her husband in line when he starts to become too focused on his coaching responsibilities. After that, they’re backed by solid supporting players like Gavin O’Connor regular Noah Emmerich as Herb’s assistant coach Craig Patrick and Sean McCann as Walter Bush, the team’s general manager who also serves as Herb’s liaison when it comes to defending his actions to the U.S. Olympic Committee. As for the 20 men who made up the 1980 U.S. Men’s Hockey Team, the filmmakers primarily relied on casting actual hockey players in the roles. And while the film does tend to focus on some players more than others (namely, the quartet of goalie Jim Craig (Eddie Cahill), team captain Mike Eruzione (Patrick O’Brien Dempsey), defenseman Jack O’Callahan (Michael Mantenuto), and forward Rob McClanahan (Nathan West)), their overall camaraderie is outstanding.  

I still remember going to see this film in theaters back in 2004 when my family and I were on vacation in New Hampshire. I also remember a time in 2008 when, due to various reasons that range from having to do a school project on the ‘Miracle on Ice’ to just casually watching it at home on DVD, I ended up re-watching this film at least 3 or 4 times in the span of a month. In other words, just like another classic Disney sports film of the era, 2000’s Remember the Titans, Miracle is a film that I have quite a lot of history with, and upon re-watching it for this review, it’s easy to see why. Sure, it can be just as predictable as other films in the sports genre from a story perspective, but to be fair, this is the ‘Miracle on Ice’ we’re talking about. Thus, in this instance, it’s not a big deal that you already know the outcome of the film going into it because that’s not the point of it all. Instead, Miracle succeeds immensely thanks to excellent direction from Gavin O’Connor that perfectly conveys the historical importance of this legendary game and an unforgettable performance from Kurt Russell in the lead role of head coach Herb Brooks. I may not have been alive to witness the ‘Miracle on Ice’ in person, but this film more than does its job when it comes to authentically recreating such a spectacle on the big screen. And really, it doesn’t matter how many times you re-watch the actual game itself or this film’s interpretation of it as the climactic medal round matchup between the United States and the Soviet Union still stands as one of the most exhilarating finales in the history of sports films.   

Rating: 5/5!

Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018) review

Ever since the Harry Potter film series became the global phenomenon that it technically still is today, many studios tried to capitalize on its success. And thus, several films based on novels from the young adult genre, which are often marketed towards the teen demographic, proceeded to get greenlit. However, several of these attempted franchises were unable to get off the ground due to their first installments often being critical/commercial disappointments, with the only major exceptions being Twilight, Hunger Games, and Divergent. And even then, of those three franchises, only Hunger Games managed to attract the same kind of critical success that Harry Potter had achieved. But in 2014, one attempt at a new ‘young adult’ film franchise surprisingly managed to succeed where several others had previously failed. The Maze Runner, which was based on author James Dashner’s 2009 novel of the same name while also serving as the directorial debut of former VFX artist Wes Ball, managed to fare quite well with both critics and audiences. And on just a modest $34 million budget, it grossed nearly $350 million worldwide. One year later, it was then followed by a sequel in Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials. It too managed to do well at the box-office though its overall critical reception wasn’t as strong compared to its predecessor. Still, here are we now with the finale to this dystopian tale, Maze Runner: The Death Cure. While the film’s release had to be delayed for almost an entire year after series lead Dylan O’Brien suffered some serious injuries during its production, it also didn’t go the same route as franchises like Hunger Games and Twilight by being split into two films. It’s a good thing, too, because after the rather disappointing affair that was The Scorch Trials, The Death Cure allows this franchise to go out on a good note.

Throughout the course of this series, we’ve followed the adventures of main protagonist Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his conflict with the organization known as WKCD. After a devastating solar flare ravaged the planet, which was then followed by an outbreak of a virus known as ‘the Flare’ that turns its victims into zombified creatures known as ‘Cranks’, WCKD subjected those who were immune to the virus through a series of experiments to try and find a cure. When Thomas (a former member of the organization) opposed their methods, he was placed inside the very same experiments that he had a hand in working on. However, with the help of his fellow ‘Immunes’, Thomas managed to break them out from their maze-like prison while still being pursued by WCKD’s leader Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson) and her military leader Janson (Aidan Gillen). Things came to a head at the end of The Scorch Trials when Thomas’ friend and fellow former WCKD employee Teresa (Kaya Scodelario) betrayed their group, leading to WCKD capturing several members of the resistance group known as the Right Arm and fellow Maze survivor Minho (Ki Hong Lee). In response, Thomas, Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and ‘Scorch’ survivors Brenda (Rosa Salazar) and Jorge (Giancarlo Esposito) embark on a perilous mission to both rescue their friends and to take down WCKD before they can harm any other children who are immune to ‘the Flare’. To do so, they must venture into WCKD’s heavily guarded main base of operations, which also happens to be the ‘Last City’ currently left standing on Earth.

Two of the best aspects of this franchise have been its production design and its action sequences, and both have managed to improve with each new film due in part to an increase in budget since the first film, effectively allowing the opportunity for more elaborate visuals and grander-scaled action sequences. But, of course, a lot of this is also thanks to Wes Ball’s continually solid direction, as he once again proves to be quite an effective director when it comes to action sequences. But then there’s also the writing, which is a lot better than what we got in this film’s immediate predecessor. Whereas the first Maze Runner managed to have a surprisingly engaging mystery plot, especially for those going in who weren’t familiar with the source material, it felt that, with The Scorch Trials, the story began to play second fiddle to the franchise’s action set-pieces. And as good as those action sequences were, they ultimately weren’t enough to make up for The Scorch Trials’ numerous narrative shortcomings. Thankfully, that’s not as big of an issue here. While the film is still primarily action-oriented like the second film, there’s also a lot more focus on the plot and its characters. In other words, The Death Cure feels a lot more like the first Maze Runner in terms of its overall execution. And given that this is the final installment of the series, it does manage to end it all on a generally conclusive note even if some plotlines and character arcs don’t exactly get proper conclusions to them. Heck, the film even manages to have a few genuinely solid emotional moments here and there.

With that said, though, it’s understandable if some may find this film to be rather bloated, and this is largely due to it being the longest entry in the series by far at nearly two and a half hours long. But while I do agree that it is perhaps a tad bit overlong, at the very least it never felt as emotionally empty as The Scorch Trials often was; trust me, if it did, then that hefty runtime would’ve been a far bigger problem. And this is mainly thanks to the franchise’s solid ensemble cast, which has been another key element to its success. Since the beginning, this series has relied heavily on its cast of young leads while the bigger names in the cast (e.g. Giancarlo Esposito, Barry Pepper, etc.) were given noteworthy supporting roles. And these young leads are once again excellent in their respective roles, highlighted by the main duo of Dylan O’Brien (who, as a lead actor, has matured just as much as this franchise has) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Thomas and Newt. Newt, especially, gets some big character moments in this entry that are incredibly well-handled. On that note, the film also makes sure to atone for one of the biggest shortcomings of The Scorch Trials by delving further into Teresa’s decision to betray her friends and work with WCKD again (something that was barely touched upon in that film due to the character’s limited screen-time) in the hopes of finding a cure. This, in turn, results in stronger character development for Teresa and arguably Kaya Scodelario’s best performance in the role. Finally, as for the film’s main villains, Patricia Clarkson and Aidan Gillen are also solid once again in their respective roles as Ava Paige and Janson, but without giving anything away, one ends up having a far more substantial role in the plot than the other.  

(P.S. There’s also a surprise cameo that I can’t talk about that much due to it being a big plot spoiler, but I will say that it too helps this film regain a lot of the spirit of the first film that was lost during the second film.)

Looking back, the original Maze Runner was truly quite the success story, and not just because it was part of a genre that usually yielded mixed results. It had a far smaller budget than most franchises of this genre, served as the directorial debut for a then-untested director, and was almost entirely centered on a cast of young leads. And yet, it ultimately turned out to be quite good; at the very least, better than most recent YA film adaptations. With that in mind, The Death Cure mainly serves as one thing; further proof as to why The Scorch Trials turned out to be quite disappointing. Seriously, the best way that I can describe the second film is that it was basically what many people feared the film version of Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers was going to be like, a ‘middle chapter’ without much focus. By comparison, The Death Cure boasts stronger emotional stakes for its main characters that yield some incredibly effective poignant moments. And despite some of the series’ biggest plotlines ultimately going unanswered, the film does serve its purpose of being a proper finale for the story that was initially set up in the first film while still maintaining the franchise’s knack for solid action sequences. With that said, though, I will agree with the consensus on Rotten Tomatoes in that those who weren’t already invested in the Maze Runner franchise, to begin with, aren’t going to get much out of this film. But for those who are fans of this series and were rather disappointed with how The Scorch Trials turned out, like I was, then I bet that you’ll be far more satisfied with The Death Cure as it’s far closer to the quality of the first film than the second… arguably better even…

Rating: 4.5/5

The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials (2015) review

As far as 2014 was concerned, one of the biggest surprises for me when it came to that year’s lineup of films was ‘The Maze Runner’, the film adaptation of the first in a series of novels of the same name written by James Dashner. I hadn’t read any of the books going in and given the usual quality of young adult book-to-film adaptations not named ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Hunger Games’, suffice it to say I didn’t really go into this film with ‘high’ expectations. But at the end of the day, maybe that was the reason why I ended up really liking it. As far as these kind of adaptations were concerned, it was easily one of the better efforts from the genre. Having not known much about the series beforehand, I found the first film to have a very engaging mystery plot as well as a solid cast, genuinely tense action sequences, and an overall excellent production design. Sure it may have ended on a truly obvious ‘sequel-baiting’ quote but the rest of the film was so compelling that I was legitimately eager to see what happened next. And now, one year later, the ‘Maze Runner’ saga continues with ‘The Scorch Trials’, once again directed by newcomer Wes Ball. This time around, our heroes are out of the Maze and now find themselves in the dystopian world known only as ‘the Scorch’. The end result is a film that admittedly lacks the same compelling plot of the first ‘Maze Runner’ but still manages to maintain a lot of its predecessor’s biggest strengths.

At the end of ‘The Maze Runner’, Thomas (Dylan O’Brien) and his fellow Gladers; Newt (Thomas Brodie-Sangster), Teresa (Kaya Scodelario), Minho (Ki Hong Lee), Frypan (Dexter Darden), and Winston (Alexander Flores), managed to escape from the Maze that the organization known as WCKD had trapped them in. But at the same time, they also learned that the Earth had been ravaged by both a solar flare and a deadly virus also referred to as ‘the Flare’. As ‘The Scorch Trials’ begins, Thomas and his friends are brought to a facility full of kids who were also placed in Maze-like situations just like they were, run by a man named Mr. Janson (Aiden Gillen) who tells them that there they’ll be safe from WCKD, the Flare virus, and the zombified creatures known as Cranks that spawned from it. But as Thomas and the others soon find out, Janson is really a member of WCKD who, along with the head of the organization, Ava Paige (Patricia Clarkson), are experimenting on those who are immune to the ‘Flare’ (e.g. Thomas and his friends) in the hopes of finding a cure. This leads to Thomas and the other Gladers escaping from the facility, as they must now traverse the desolate landscape of ‘the Scorch’ in search of a resistance group known as ‘The Right Arm’ who might be able to help them stop WCKD.

Whereas the first ‘Maze Runner’ was confined to the titular Maze and ‘the Glade’ that it surrounds in terms of its locales, ‘The Scorch Trials’ is allowed to expand on its post-apocalyptic universe, as is the usual case with bigger-budgeted sequels. The production design is just as solid as it was in the first film and the greater scale of it all allows us to get a much greater sense of the world that this series creates. Ball’s direction is once again superb and the film’s action sequences are solidly tense in execution. Not only that, but the addition of the zombie ‘Cranks’ definitely gives this film a much creepier atmosphere when compared to the previous film. But if there’s one advantage that ‘The Maze Runner’ has over ‘The Scorch Trials’, it is that it had a much more compelling plot. It may have had something to do with the fact that I hadn’t read the book first but I was legitimately interested to find out who put Thomas and his friends into the maze just as much as Thomas did. ‘The Scorch Trials’, on the other hand, is a generally straight-forward ‘road’ story. As a result, the film actually kind of feels a bit aimless at times.

Not only that, but the film is rather lacking in terms of character development. The main characters at least have the benefit of having been already introduced and established in the first film. But even with that said, some of the main characters sort of get ignored at times during the film in favor of a greater focus on Thomas. Perhaps the biggest case of this is Teresa who, without giving too much away, has a major bit of character development during the final act of the film. Ultimately though, this crucial character moment doesn’t really carry a lot of oomph to it given the fact that she’s been rather absent for a good chunk of the film. But even with the lackluster amount of character development in this film, the cast is just as solid as it was in the first film. The returning cast members still have great camaraderie with each other and Dylan O’Brien is able to take on a much meatier role this time around now that Thomas is done being the audience’s ‘avatar’. The newcomers to the cast are solid as well, including Giancarlo Esposito and Rosa Salazar as a pair of survivors who become key allies of Thomas’ group and Barry Pepper and Lili Taylor as members of ‘The Right Arm’ resistance. As for the villains, Ava Paige and Janson, while they’re not really in the film enough to be truly intimidating antagonists, both Patricia Clarkson and Aiden Gillen do their jobs in making their characters fittingly despicable.  

Despite all that I’ve said in this review, I want to make it clear that I did still like ‘The Scorch Trials’. Ultimately though, while I’ve seen quite a few people say that this is an improvement over the first film, I’m on the opposite side of that argument as I feel that the first ‘Maze Runner’ is the better film. Both films do benefit from confident direction from Wes Ball, a solid amount of action, and a strong cast. But whereas the first film had a much more compelling plot, ‘The Scorch Trials’ suffers from weaker plotting and character development. Seriously this film is at least 10 minutes longer than the first film and yet has a much leaner story. How is that even possible? So I guess you can say that while the first film was a pleasant surprise for me given the fact that I hadn’t read the books going in, this film was a bit more disappointing now that I’m actually invested in this series. But again, I still found this film to be entertaining for what it is. Sure this series still isn’t as good as ‘Harry Potter’ or ‘The Hunger Games’ but it’s definitely one of the better film franchises of its genre. Though with that said, if you’re not a fan of these young adult book-to-film adaptations, you’re not going to get a lot out of this film. But if you did like the first ‘Maze Runner’, then you’ll probably like this film too. And despite the bigger issues that I had with this film, I’m still genuinely interested in seeing how this story is going to end, which we’ll get in 2017 with ‘The Death Cure’. Thankfully, unlike a lot of other franchises of this genre, it won’t be split into two films.

Rating: 3.5/5