The Redeem Team
★★★ ½
I've always been a big basketball and NBA fan and a big part of that is how the 1994 US Olympic Men’s Basketball Team captured my fascination as a teenager. Like many, I took for granted what an amazing team that was and how hard it was to keep up that gold medal streak as the international game caught up to our superstars. I remember the narrative surrounding The Redeem Team and how much pressure was put on this team's shoulders and I enjoyed getting more of an inside look into the psyche of the players and coaches.
Now, with this being a project that is produced by many of the players involved, there's a crispness to the storytelling and you can't help but feel like a lot of true feelings are held back. I also longed for a deeper explanation of how this team was formed and why each player was put in their position. For every LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony interview that we get, there are many players on this team that are never spoken about. I'm sure that the fact that Kobe Bryant is now dead plays on a lot of the impact of his trajectory in this story, but when he is brought into the narrative of this documentary, the movie steps up its game. The Redeem Team is a compelling look back on a memorable team, especially if you are a basketball fan. I just wished that it was willing to get into the Xs and Os of it all a bit more.
