772. Back To The Future Part II (1989)

Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

Director: Robert Zemeckis

Running Time: 108 mins

Back To The Future Part II is an American film and the sequel to Back To The Future. After Doc picks up Marty at the end of the first film, the two visit 2015, however upon their return to 1985, they discover a terrible alternate world, so they must go back to 1955 again to stop the alternate 1985 from happening, without interfering in Marty’s first trip so that he doesn’t not exist to do everything that he has done. (I think that makes sense…)

Well, it was always going to be a pretty tough act to reach to the fantastic heights of the first film, however this still does a decent job in following it up anyway, taking on a sequel’s normal role of being a bit darker, which it succeeds in doing, while it’s also still got a fascinating and hugely entertaining story, however the only thing that it misses out on is that immensely high cool and fun feel of the first film.

I think that the main reason for the loss of the coolness and the extreme fun is that the story is a bit darker, and while that wasn’t a problem to me, it was just such a shame to lose that epic feeling that I had got from the first film, and that was why I just couldn’t really enjoy this as much.

However, don’t get me wrong, because this is still a hugely entertaining film. In fact, the film does start off where the last one left off in being so light-hearted and imaginative, during the trip to the future, which is a fantastic one, not just the generic flying cars gag, but also a whole host of other satirical jokes and just cool stuff that made that part of the film feel so much better.

The point where this does become a bit darker is when they return to find the alternate 1985, which I found a little bit too heavy and dark in comparison to the earlier part of the film, and I definitely didn’t enjoy it that much at all, but it was still another unpredictable and fascinating twist in this brilliant story.

And the screenplay really comes into its own during the return trip to 1955, where Marty not only has to try and accomplish a new mission, but he’s also got the added task of trying to avoid himself in order to prevent reversing everything he did the first time he went there, and that was probably the coolest, most clever, and most entertaining part of the whole film.

Overall, this gets a 7.9, because despite losing its cool factor and becoming a little bit darker, this film is still fascinating, intelligent and hugely entertaining.