Back To The Future Part II

Following the massive success of Back To The Future, Universal eagerly greenlit a much-anticipated sequel. Though initially hesitant, director Robert Zemeckis and co-writer Bob Gale decided that if they could get Fox and Lloyd back on board then they had to do the movie in order to “protect their intellectual property”. After their script ballooned they convinced the studio to do two sequels and the filming began on back-to-back instalments.

As anyone who has seen the movie will attest, the most striking thing about it is how tricky the plot is to follow. We find ourselves back in 1985, where Marty (Fox) is taken aback when the Doc (Lloyd) shows up and tells him that despite just getting back from their travels they have to go to 2015 to prevent a tragic event related to his family. Despite their success, the old version of Biff (Thomas F Wilson) secretly borrows the DeLorian time machine in order to travel back and give his younger self a 50-year sports almanac that he can use to bet his way to riches. Unaware of this, Marty and the Doc return to a 1985 Hill Valley to find it a run-down dystopia run by billionaire Biff. In order to put things right, the pair have to go back to 1955 and steal the almanac away whilst making sure that they don’t run into their other selves from the original Back To The Future journey.

While the first instalment required just the right amount of head-scratching, Back To The Future: Part II is at times so complicated that if it weren’t for the Doc intermittently explaining things to Marty then you’d be more lost than the survivors of Oceanic flight 815. Don’t get me wrong, the audacity of the plot deserves to be both admired and applauded but there are so many story developments to comprehend that figuring out what the hell a Gigawatt is doesn’t seem so tricky.

Although this will have a few audience members losing their way, it also leads to a lot of fun. In the future Marty’s Nike trainers are so cool that real shops had customers asking for them (‘Air McFlys’ apparently), in the dystopian 1985 there are some powerfully dark moments and I don’t think there will be anyone who watched this movie who doesn’t want their own hoverboard. As for the overlapping of the first movie (Marty and the Doc go back to 1955 and have to avoid the versions of themselves from last time), this is cleverly done with some neat effects and continuity. Also, how many sequels can you name that take place inside the previous motion picture?

Ultimately though, Back to the Future: Part II inevitably doesn’t live up to the original. Last time Marty had the more involving journey of being lost in time while attempting to connect with his parents when they were young (a wonderful story idea) and any time he made a daring escape to that iconic theme tune it sent a shiver down my spine. Here the adventure is zanier, sometimes feels like a re-hash (although I contend that is probably intentional) and any Silvestre-accompanied McFly escape just doesn’t have the same magic. On the other hand, it does have the same manure.

As for the cast, they all hit their strides again and look just as comfortable in the roles. Interestingly, there was a bit of a duel reshuffle needed, with Elizabeth Shue replacing Claudia Wells as Marty’s girlfriend (meaning the end of the last movie used here as the start needed to be re-shot) and Crispin Glover not returning to the role of George McFly due to a number of reported reasons (meaning all his shots were long-distance or re-used ones from the first). Don’t worry, after shooting four weeks of Back To The Future with Eric Stoltz and then re-filming all his scenes with Michael J Fox, Robert Zemeckis is used to it by now.

While Back To The Future: Part II has always been my least favourite of the trilogy, it only occupies that position as the other two tell simpler stories and the first was so bloody good. However, it’s still a necessary part of the overall and with bags of fun, clever ideas and memorable moments, still deserves a watch every few years or so. Now, I must be able to get a hoverboard somewhere online…