Back To The Future Part II - Review

This review has been long overdue. Now its time for the second entry in this classic trilogy, Back To The Future Part II. Robert Zemeckis stated in the first film's DVD commentary that he had no interest in making a second film, but the cliffhanger ending suggested otherwise. Part II picks up immediately after the first film ended, proceeding to another thrilling and humorous adventure.

Doc returns back to the year 1985, now with his new hover-converted/fusion generating time machine DeLorean. He takes Marty and his girlfriend (future wife) Jennifer to the year 2015 to save their future children from ruining their lives. While in the future, Marty buys a sports statistics almanac after getting the idea of using it to place wages on sports games, knowing the outcome of the game ahead of time. Unfortunately, when Biff overhears Marty's idea, he borrows the time machine, goes into the past, and alters the space-time continuum creating a Hell-ish 1985 Hill Valley. Now Doc and Marty must go back to the past once again and stop Biff from destroying the future.

Since the first Back to the Future was such a great film, following it with a sequel would have definitely been a tough job. I have to say, Part II is a solid second entry to a great series. Most of the original cast returns for the sequel. Michael J. Fox as Marty, Christopher Lloyd as Doc, Thomas F. Wilson as Biff, and Lea Thompson as Loraine all are back. The only major actor to not return unfortunately is Crispin Glover as George. All the characters are still very amusing, Doc and Marty still have their charm, Biff is a complete jerk once again, and Loraine is very likeable despite her multitude of personal problems. One thing I've always commended the BTTF series for doing is expanding its characters personalities. Biff is the best example of this. In the first movie, he was little more than a bully... an over-the-top and disgusting character, but still just a schoolyard bully. Now, he's become a full-fledged villain. Not only is he mean, but he's an evil, powerful, ruthless, almost dictator-like character. Actually, the movie itself is centered around Biff more than the Mcfly family, an interesting change in direction.

The pacing of the sequel is just as good as the first. It has some very exciting action sequences and the comedic timing is still dead on. I always get a chuckle out of Biff's line, "Why don't you make like a tree and get outta here." The scenes in 2015 are pretty cool looking, if not a bit silly. Nonetheless, their fun scenes to watch and in part keep the movie entertaining. Personally I enjoyed how the production designers created the alternate 1985 Hill Valley, after Biff came to power and ruined a once nice town. The special effects still look pretty dang good. I'm sure they were pretty incredible at the time of the movie's release. At times, they do come off as a bit dated, but overall they still get the job done.

As enjoyable as the movie is, there are quite a few noticeable faults. First off, the script has holes so big you could drive trucks through them. The first had quite a few inconsistencies, but the sequel is much worse. Once again, I must reiterate that time travel does not exist and therefore there are no set rules to abide by, but they still need to follow some basic trend of logic. Also like the first, Part II is plagued by an abundance of product placement, only this time they make little to no effort to make any jokes out of it. The future scenes, while having a nice look to them, come off as very silly and outlandish today. 2015 is only five years away, and this movie predicted that we would all be driving flying cars, riding on hover boards, watching holographic movies, eating dehydrated food, and being served by robots. Of course, if technology catches up to this movie in 5 years, the joke will be on me.

Another minor thing to note is concerning Marty's character. In the first act, Marty reveals that he gets upset and confrontational whenever someone calls him chicken. This character flaw becomes a major subplot in both this movie and the third, but little to no explanation is given as to why this suddenly comes up. The only serious problem I have with this movie is that it borrows a little too much from the first. For instance, the hover board chase sequence is ripped straight off from the skate board scene in the first movie. Not to mention, a lot of the first film's gags and jokes are repeated and rehashed. The film, however, does retain enough originality to differentiate it from the first.

Overall, I think Back to the Future Part II is a great sequel. Despite all the flaws I've nitpicked, the movie has enough going for it to keep it entertaining. It still has the charm, wit, and timing of the first, and serves as a great second installment in a great series.

My Score: 3.5 out of 5.