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MIRACLE
***1/2

Anyone trying to make a movie based on the unexpected triumphs of the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team has a couple of serious obstacles to overcome-such as the fact that everyone knows how things turn out and the problem that the emotional peak of the story (the victory over the Soviets) comes before the true climax of the story (the team still had to play Finland before winning the gold medal). However, "Miracle", the latest attempt to bring the story to the screen (there was a previous made-for-TV version as well as an HBO documentary) manages to overcome these elements to become a film that is pure corn, to be sure, but undeniably effective corn. It works because director Gavin O’Connor has wisely refrained from inflating the drama with over-the-top speeches or jingoistic ramblings. Instead, correctly realizing that the actual story contains more than enough drama, he keeps everything else relatively low-key (during the climactic match with the Soviets, the soundtrack is mostly derived from the Al Michaels play-by-play from the original ABC telecast-a rare example of corporate synergy being used for the good of a film.) As team coach Herb Brooks, who died after the completion of principal photography and to whom the film is dedicated, Kurt Russell shows once again that he is one of the most consistently dependable actors working today (once you get past his odd attempt at doing a Minnesota accent). Although it runs a little long at 135 minutes (the scenes featuring Brooks’ home life, featuring Patricia Clarkson as his long-suffering wife, could have easily been dropped), "Miracle" is a hugely entertaining film for hockey fanatics and neophytes alike.

Written by Eric Guggenheim. Directed by Gavin O’Connor. Starring Kurt Russell, Patricia Clarkson and Noah Emmerich. 3 1/2 STARS RATED PG.

TOUCHING THE VOID
***

"Touching the Void", coincidentally, is another film that recreates a famous athletic event, mountain-climbing in this case, but while "Miracle" may well encourage many people to take up hockey, the horrifying odyssey chronicled in Kevin MacDonald’s film will doubtlessly have the opposite effect on viewers. Utilizing an intriguing blend of traditional documentary style (plenty of talking-head interviews with the participants) and narrative storytelling (much of the action is recreated by actors in the actual locations where the events took place), the film tells the story of two mountain climbers, Joe Simpson and Simon Yates, and their 1985 attempt to reach the summit of Peru’s Siula Grande-a feat that had never been previously achieved. Getting to the top is no problem; the trip down, however, is marked by a series of disasters (no fair divulging them for those going in unaware) so cruel and painful that they begin to approach the levels of Greek tragedy.

Watching the film, I was always amazed and intrigued, first by the story and then by the sheer effort it must have taken to film the recreations (if ever a movie cried out to be shown in the jumbo-sized IMAX format, it is this one) and for those reasons alone, I can easily recommend it. Later on, however, some flaws began to emerge. The key one is the fact that while MacDonald is clearly trying to position Simpson and Yates as heroic figures who have triumphed over adversity, they always come off as a couple of idiots whose crisis was one entirely of their making and, therefore, somewhat more difficult to sympathize with. A film like this, if it is to be truly successful, should convince viewers that mountain-climbing is a pursuit that is somehow worth all of the insane risks involved. However, even while I was hoping that the two would survive, there was a nagging voice in the back of my head telling me that, frankly, they got what they deserved for doing something so stupid in the first place.

Directed by Kevin MacDonald. Starring Joe Simpson, Simon Yates, Nicolas Aaron and Brendan Mackey.

CATCH THE KID
*

A film, one for children, no less, that combines elements from such diverse movies as "Touching the Void", "Ocean’s 11" and, inexplicably, "Jules and Jim" might sound intriguing but believe me, "Catch That Kid" is anything but. A real mess-one of the stupidest kid-oriented films in real memory-, the film stars Kristen Stewart (you might remember her as the daughter of Jodie Foster in "Panic Room") as a young girl whose father is in desperate need of an operation to cure a life-threatening illness somehow inspired by a fall from Mt. Everest. Even though Mom (Jennifer Beals) works in a bank as a security consultant, the mean old manager (Michael Des Barres, looking in desperate need of a Power Station reunion) won’t front a loan so our heroine, using her own climbing abilities and the help of two smitten pals, plans an elaborate robbery of that very same bank to get the money.

The combination of callow kids and elaborate break-ins might put you in mind of last week’s "The Perfect Score" and it is a measure of the sheer lousiness of "Catch That Kid" that if you asked me which of the two films was worse, I don’t know if I could give you a definitive answer. While director Bart Freundlich doesn’t quite embarrass his lead actress in the way that Brian Robbins did to Scarlett Johansson (although the intriguingly androgynous look that Stewart has had in her other films has been muted and glammed away here), he certainly makes himself look like a idiot with poor performances from actors who should know better (James Le Gros plays a dopey security guard who would be more at home in a "Police Academy" movie), nonsense action sequences (even in laid-back California, I doubt that people could drive go-karts down major thoroughfares without getting either arrested or crushed) and jaw-dropping lapses in logic. (I can accept that the trio would be forced to bring an infant along on the job at the last second-however, how were they able to come up with a perfectly tailored mini-tuxedo for the tyke?) Perhaps as a reminder of what he might have once hoped for in a filmmaking career, Freundlich (who, despite work like this, still gets to go home to Julianne Moore-a bigger crime than anything in the film) features one character with a Robert DeNiro fixation who constantly does the old "You talking to me?" bit-trust me, you’d be better off taking the kids to "Taxi Driver" than to this mess.

Written by Michael Brandt & Derek Haas. Directed by Bart Freundlich. Starring Kristen Stewart, Corbin Bleu, Max Thieriot and Jennifer Beals. Rated PG.

Copyright © 2004 Peter Sobczynski
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While the views expressed by Peter Sobczynski do not necessarily reflect the views of Criticdoctor.com, the Critic Doctor will occasionally examine Mr. Sobczynski's film reviews to bring forth an honest examination of those views expressed.