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| Back to the Future Part II (1989) |
The easy thing to note about this movie is that, while very similar to the original (in that various sequences and exchanges are almost lifted one-for-one in a case of history repeating itself which I find very on-brand), it is quite different in a number of ways. The most noticeable of which is the variety in each act of the movie. The film jumps around a bit, travelling to three different time zones and timelines, which is the main fact that people choose to cite as to why this movie is/isn't the best of the trilogy. On one hand, there is more variety, and the fact that the movie still flows logically and is easy to follow despite the variety is impressive. On the other hand, it also means there's less time devoted to each idea, and the focus is somewhat lost. I tend to lean more towards the former, but it is a legitimate concern a lot of people have. Anyway, because the film is so segmented, I have to do what I've often done for films like this and analyse this act by act.
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| Elizabeth Shue as Jennifer |
The first act is the section that takes place in 'the future' and, look, regardless of what they did or didn't predict about 2015 doesn't matter; loads of the best sci-fi stories got things wrong about what we now call 'the past'. What matters is the world the film presents is an interesting one, and there are a lot of cool ideas presented here. Of course, we have the iconic hoverboard and quick-heating pizza and self-tying laces, and they do a great job presenting us with a fun depiction of the future. It's also here we get introduced to the concept of Marty's 'No one calls me chicken' Achilles's Heel, and while it's odd he never exhibited this symptom in the past, having just been invented for this story, I do like it. One of the things I mentioned about the first movie is that Marty doesn't grow as a person or learn any lessons, so this gives him a vessel for self-growth. The arc, of course, doesn't get resolved until the next movie, and it's here I'll mention that this movie and its sequel are some of the best examples of films being filmed concurrently ever. There are a lot of easter eggs to events of the 3rd movie, like introducing Mad Dog Tannen before the Wild West story is even close to being established.
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| Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly and Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly Jr. |
This leads me to the second act: the alternate timeline 1985. This act goes a long way towards setting up Biff as a truly despicable person and a definite villain (this version of Biff being based somewhat on Donald Trump, but that's neither here nor there). Thomas F. Wilson in general gets a lot of different things to do here: he's hyperactive Griff, old man Biff, teenage Biff and bigwig tycoon Biff, and he plays them all wonderfully and with their own style but also keeping all the different versions of Biff realistically the same person. The alternate version of Hill Valley is delightfully dark, and it's a great way of raising the stakes from the original, making it a more pressing issue that needs fixing by our heroes. The reveal of George McFly's fate in particular is very well-handled, and Marty's chat with Biff is incredibly tense. The whole thing probably wouldn't work as well if you don't have Doc there explaining how the whole thing works with the chalkboard, which is very welcome.
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| Thomas F. Wilson as Biff Tannen |
Which leads to the best part of the movie: the 1955 revisit. I just love how they manage to weave their quest for the Almanac throughout the events of the original film and have it all, not only make sense, but also not ruin the original. It's also just a lot of fun seeing these events from a different perspective, especially going back and watching the original with these in mind. Knowing that throughout Marty's performance on the stage, there was a second Marty climbing through the rafters isn't something that necessarily changes anything, but it's fun for us nerds to think about. Talking of the Almanac, I love how it's used as the MacGuffin to get this story going; there's a reason it's become synonymous with time travel paradoxes. It's not only something that's easy to comprehend, but is also a legitimate question that comes up with time travel hypotheticals, and with a story that could easily get convoluted when you're travelling to different times, a simple goal is very effective. Throughout this entire affair, the comedy lands and the music is still exquisite and the acting is great. At the end of the day, rather anti-climactically, it really just comes down to personal preference which of the movies you prefer, as, of the first two at least, there's so much good to enjoy.
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| Christopher Lloyd as Doc Browns |
Back to the Future Part II (1989) is an extremely worthy successor to the classic original, and while subjectively I do prefer watching this to the original, I do have to acknowledge the segmented nature of the story can put people off. It's still amazing, thought. I'll get around to the 3rd one soon, I'm sure. 9.5/10.
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