Kings Ransom

30 at 30: King's Ransom (2009)

*** (out of 4)

The first film in ESPN's series has director Peter Berg taking a look at the 1988 trade that sent Wayne Gretzky from the Edmonton Oilers to the Los Angeles Kings. This trade is considered to be the biggest in sports history as the Edmonton owner got around $15 million in cash and sent the entire face of hockey packing bags, which causes him countless death threats from the people in Edmonton. The documentary takes a look at both sides of the trade and shows what impact it had on the cities moving forward. Gretzky is in the film and gives his thoughts and feelings on the trade years after it all went down and it's interesting to hear him say he wouldn't change a thing considering he wouldn't win another Stanley Cut but the team he left would win another two years after the trade. No one will ever question the greatness of Gretzky but I do wonder if he's telling the truth here when he said he wouldn't do anything over. The two owners are also interviewed and you can't help but understand why the trade was done even though fans are still going to cry foul. Berg does a very nice job at getting all the details out there and this includes new interviews as well as the original news conference as well as other footage from various stations covering the event.