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Back to the Future is one of my favorite movies of all time. Everything works in that film: the likable characters, the fascinating story, the amazing soundtrack, the hilarious and clever jokes, and the level of fun is through the roof. So, I was definitely interesting in checking out how the sequels turned out. A lot of people say that Part II and III turn the original 1985 film into a spectacular trilogy. While I'll need to see the third one to confirm my thoughts on this, I have to say far I'm really enjoying this trilogy. Back to the Future Part II is an impressive sequel to the first film in that does what many good sequels should do and often fail to do and more. They continued the adventure of Marty, Doc Brown, and the time-travelling DeLorean that explores new ideas while still being faithful to what the first film established. I don't think it's as good as the first film which I'll explain later but first let me tell you why I think Back to the Future Part II works.
The movie explores the limitless fun and potential that can come from the concept of time travel for the purpose of jokes, plot, and special effects. It expands on the time travels rules that were established in the first film and really explores the ideas that can only come from a time travel movie. We travel to three places in this film: the shiny chrome future of 2015 (yeah, I can't wait for those self-lacing shoes two years from now), the alternate grimy Biff-controlled present of 1985, and the most creative of all actually travelling back to 1955 to the very events of the first film. I actually really like this part of the film more than the awesome future scenes. This really feels like I re-experienced the original film for the first time and I greatly enjoyed that feeling. And they managed to do that without completely remaking its original film without one significant different (a la The Hangover Part II and Home Alone 2 ). Also, I'm glad to saw the quality of the story, humor, characters, and overall memorable moments (the awesome future, the Old Biff/Young Biff banter, "I think he took his wallet") haven't really declined. They all really worked just as astoundingly as the first film. In fact, I considered this film to be just as good as the first film during certain points. However, there are certain things that don't work as well.
While I think the story with the almanac and the horrid alternate future work well for the plot, it is underwhelming compared to the first film which literally had the main character's existence on the line. That said it still manages to keep good suspense with the constant worry that one tiny screw-up could destroy the entire universe (or merely our own galaxy). "Well, that's a relief". Also, they introduce the "don't call me chicken" running gag that I thought was a bit hit-or-miss compared to the rest of the jokes which were pretty hilarious. Plus, while I think Back to the Future as an amazing stand-alone film, the same can't be said for this film. It seems it can only really be enjoyed after seeing the first film and thus while an amazing sequel, it only works as sequel as less as its own film.
Yeah, this film isn't the first film but to be fair, it would be a pretty damn hard task to accomplish. I think it should be appreciated that Back to the Future Part II worked the way it did. It could've easily have been just another lame cash-grab that either makes us wish we were watching the original or worse outright ruin the original film's greatness. In fact, I think this film really enhances what makes the original so good. I can't wait to see the third to truly see how these three films work as one long adventurous trilogy.
TO BE CONCLUDED...
9/10
