If you are a sports fan, you'll love this episode of ESPN's amazing series "30 for 30". It's very well made, features lots of great interviews and films clips and recounts the glory days of the USC Trojan's football dynasty of the early 2000s. On the other hand, the film is VERY similar to one they also made about the dominating University of Miami football program of the 1990s. And, unlike many of the "30 for 30" shows, the individual story isn't there and it's of limited interest to non-football fans. Some episodes feature folks overcoming adversity, interesting stories or unusual rivalries but this one lacks this hook. It's still very good...just of much more limited overall interest compared to most of their shows. Worth watching it you love college football or USC, otherwise one you could skip.
5 Reviews
Another Very Good Episode
Michael_Elliott17 November 2015
30 for 30: Trojan War (2015)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another highly entertaining documentary from ESPN has director Aaron Rahsaan Thomas taking a look at the Pete Carroll era at USC when they went to three straight National Championship games including what many consider the greatest game ever played. The documentary traces this period but also takes a look at the history of USC and their eventual fall from grace due to some improper benefits that star Reggie Bush received.
The best thing about this documentary is that it gives you interviews with many of the main ingredients to those Championship teams including Carroll, Matt Leinart and Lendale White. Obviously, Bush is absent, which is certainly a negative thing but he was asked to be in the film and declined. We also get interviews with "fans" of the program including Snoop Dogg and John Singleton. The documentary does a very good job at showing what Carroll did during his period and it also highlights that terrific third Championship game where we also get interviews with Mack Brown and Vince Young.
The only thing really missing from this is a more detailed examination of the benefits that Bush took and the overall lasting impact it had on the school. Still, fans of the team or the series will certainly enjoy this.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Another highly entertaining documentary from ESPN has director Aaron Rahsaan Thomas taking a look at the Pete Carroll era at USC when they went to three straight National Championship games including what many consider the greatest game ever played. The documentary traces this period but also takes a look at the history of USC and their eventual fall from grace due to some improper benefits that star Reggie Bush received.
The best thing about this documentary is that it gives you interviews with many of the main ingredients to those Championship teams including Carroll, Matt Leinart and Lendale White. Obviously, Bush is absent, which is certainly a negative thing but he was asked to be in the film and declined. We also get interviews with "fans" of the program including Snoop Dogg and John Singleton. The documentary does a very good job at showing what Carroll did during his period and it also highlights that terrific third Championship game where we also get interviews with Mack Brown and Vince Young.
The only thing really missing from this is a more detailed examination of the benefits that Bush took and the overall lasting impact it had on the school. Still, fans of the team or the series will certainly enjoy this.
Almost the weakest of the 30 for 30 series
Agent1028 April 2021
It's odd when you think about it, but USC's film school is world renowned and then you see this lackluster documentary which talks heavily about how great their film school is. Life has a way of repeating itself, for the perceived greatness of something doesn't always deliver, and that in turn is this documentary.
As a student of a west coast university that watched his alma mater get pummeled against this epic team, I was expecting a lot. Everyone knew how great this team was. I mean, our local news called it a tough showing for losing by only 21 points despite giving up over 700 yards of offense. That was how the bar was set for this team. What I'm also trying to say is I already knew a lot about this team, for even though I attended Arizona the news and stories about this team overshadowed our own (plus we were lousy so the local news had to report something). So the fact this documentary really revealed nothing new other than take the same steps other documentaries had taken, it was a let down. Basically this documentary cut and paste the same structure of other ESPN team documentaries like Pony Excess and The U, only there was nothing really interesting and compelling about it. And it stems for one reason.
Reggie Bush brought down the university. The NCAA went too hard at the school and the punishment was an injustice. Other schools did worse and suffered less. Those should have been the focus, not a basic structure the documentary had. The central issue is that Bush didn't participate in the story. If that was the case from the beginning, why even make the documentary? What made Pony Excess and The U documentaries so good was the candid participation from ALL levels of the scandals. Quotes like "Oh yeah, we're gonna show you how to cheat!" in Pony Excess and "There was no racism involved, we were just bad boys!" from The U were iconic lines from those documentaries. All we got was Matt Leinart softly going through the motions, Pete Carroll never being pushed about leaving the mess behind, pointless interviews from USC alumni, hangers on and academics and of course....no Reggie Bush. And I haven't even gotten to the structure of the documentary.
It tried too damn hard. It wanted to be clever. The film maker really thought he was being cool and such, but it bordered on the same problems that other perspective documentaries from ESPN like Big Shot and Straight Out of LA had....it's not about the subject but about the film maker. If I wanna see something like that I got far superior subject matter from Werner Herzog, Michael Moore and Errol Morris.
Either way, ESPN has made far worse and some day I will critique them, but this was just a sad disappointment.
As a student of a west coast university that watched his alma mater get pummeled against this epic team, I was expecting a lot. Everyone knew how great this team was. I mean, our local news called it a tough showing for losing by only 21 points despite giving up over 700 yards of offense. That was how the bar was set for this team. What I'm also trying to say is I already knew a lot about this team, for even though I attended Arizona the news and stories about this team overshadowed our own (plus we were lousy so the local news had to report something). So the fact this documentary really revealed nothing new other than take the same steps other documentaries had taken, it was a let down. Basically this documentary cut and paste the same structure of other ESPN team documentaries like Pony Excess and The U, only there was nothing really interesting and compelling about it. And it stems for one reason.
Reggie Bush brought down the university. The NCAA went too hard at the school and the punishment was an injustice. Other schools did worse and suffered less. Those should have been the focus, not a basic structure the documentary had. The central issue is that Bush didn't participate in the story. If that was the case from the beginning, why even make the documentary? What made Pony Excess and The U documentaries so good was the candid participation from ALL levels of the scandals. Quotes like "Oh yeah, we're gonna show you how to cheat!" in Pony Excess and "There was no racism involved, we were just bad boys!" from The U were iconic lines from those documentaries. All we got was Matt Leinart softly going through the motions, Pete Carroll never being pushed about leaving the mess behind, pointless interviews from USC alumni, hangers on and academics and of course....no Reggie Bush. And I haven't even gotten to the structure of the documentary.
It tried too damn hard. It wanted to be clever. The film maker really thought he was being cool and such, but it bordered on the same problems that other perspective documentaries from ESPN like Big Shot and Straight Out of LA had....it's not about the subject but about the film maker. If I wanna see something like that I got far superior subject matter from Werner Herzog, Michael Moore and Errol Morris.
Either way, ESPN has made far worse and some day I will critique them, but this was just a sad disappointment.
Not very good
danielkmarko15 May 2016
There have been some excellent 30 for 30 films (i.e. Unbelievable Lies), but unfortunately, this is not one of them. This documentary offers an uncritical look at the events that lead to the downfall of USC after the 2005 season, offering half-hearted excuses and rose colored reflections from those closest to the program. The film painstaking details and highlights the games from that season, but brushes over the complete lack of institutional oversight by anyone in the program. No one on camera acknowledges that this program was out of control, and that what happened at USC was wrong, and should have never happened. Instead, the underlying thesis here is that that the program and players were very young and got "caught up" in the celerity and hype Hollywood, and in the end, it was all perfectly understandable and the loss to Texas was the saddest thing that ever happened in all of college football. These disingenuous explanations, mixed with the "rah rah" enthusiasm of those interviewed, leave one to conclude that the cozy relationships between filmmakers and USC continues unabated to this day.
This is a one sided puff piece, with an interesting subject, but terrible execution. If you are a fan of USC, you will enjoy it, but if you don't care for or about USC, you will be left scratching your head and asking yourself "why is the guy from the Graduate on here?"
This is a one sided puff piece, with an interesting subject, but terrible execution. If you are a fan of USC, you will enjoy it, but if you don't care for or about USC, you will be left scratching your head and asking yourself "why is the guy from the Graduate on here?"
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