Back to the Future Part II (1989)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson
Synopsis:
Doc brings Marty and Jennifer to the future to prevent a disastrous chain of events centered around his son, but this is only the beginning of their troubles.
Impressions:
It's something else viewing this film ten years after the future it portrayed. To be fair, Zemeckis and company weren't trying to make any serious predicitions, but it is funny some of the things they got right and the things they were pretty close on. The 2015 shown in the movie fascinated me as a kid and the pop cultural response was pretty fun. I actually went back and checked out the original theatrical trailer to see how far I could talk about the structure of the film without being too spoilery for readers who haven't seen the movie yet. Unlike the first film, each act takes place in a different time period. The first act in 2015 might be the one that sticks in people's memory the most, but the alternate 1985 of the second act is a nicely stark example of a bad branch of the timeline, which a lot of work goes into the third act weaving in elements of the first film. Because this was filmed back-to-back with the third film, the connections are very tight, with a lot of setup set to be paid off in the next entry. While this is fairly clever, I do feel the writing is not quite as strong as the first movie, though there is more than enough that's interesting going on to make for a satisfying viewing experience. It certainly warrants a place in your collection, so be sure to get it.
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