Duke 91 & 92: Back to Back (2012)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Extremely entertaining look at the Duke Blue Devils attempt to win back-to-back championships for the first time since the 70s when UCLA ran off seven straight. Mike Krzyzewski, Christian Laettner, Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill made up the main core of the program and all of them are on hand to offer interviews as well as some of the people they played including Bob Knight, Shaq, Stacey Augmon, Jamal Mashburn and Jerry Tarkanian. The film picks at up the end of the 1990 season when Duke was killed by UNLV in the championship game and then we head to the next season where they ended up getting revenge and winning the title. This leads to the 1992 season where the team had some big games in front of them including a showdown with the Fab Five in the regular season, Indiana in the Final Four and of course the legendary game against Kentucky, which most consider the greatest game in history. I was 10-years-old at the time of the Kentucky game and it's one that I remember watching. I remembered that game and everything Duke did but this documentary really did do a great job at explaining everything that went on for these two seasons. There's some terrific footage of the actual games (including a shot of the Laettner/UK sequence that I'd never seen) as well as some stuff behind the closed doors when the coach was going after the guys. Some of the best moments happen during a reunion where the guys are simply sitting around, drinking beer and watching some of their old games. I think many, many people hate Duke with a passion and if you're one of them I still think this documentary will be entertaining to you.
