Back to the Future Part II
The Complete TrilogyTrailer How do you top
Back to the Future? Ya can't. It's an impossible. Hell, even equaling the original film was next to impossible as well. But that's not to say that
Back to the Future Part II doesn't have it's own moments. I find it kind of odd that the one thing I looked forward to the most while waiting four long years for the sequel to come out, turned out to be the least interesting part of the entire series for me. Sure, the future
Hill Valley gave us the
Hoverboards, Jaws 19 and a very young, babyfaced
Elijah Wood. But in the scope of it all, the future isn't all that interesting. Yes, they had to go there to pick up the thread from the cliffhanger and set up the final 2/3 of
Part II. There's just no getting around that.
I think the thing that I just never liked about
Hill Valley's future was A) it was too clean. I'm not expecting
Blade Runner bleakness. But admit it, this future is a little kid friendly. Yeah, it's in keeping in line with the tone of the first film in that it is after all a family picture. So, it gets a pass there....barely. B) I can accept that
Michael J. Fox has to play
Marty Jr. because they have to both look exactly the same or there is absolutely no need for
Doc Brown to bring
Marty Sr. into the future to course correct the events that are to unfold. So, that too gets a pass from me. But what doesn't get a pass is
Fox playing the daughter. It's this little moment that just makes me think I am watching
The Nutty Professor.As for the rest of the film, it gets an A-. I just like the story that unfolds with the alternate 1985 and all the stuff that
Marty and
Doc have to fix in order to reset the timeline. It bodes well that we basically get to see parts of the first film from a different perspective, which is really cool. This more than makes up for losing
Crispen Glover and
Claudia Wells. Kinda. Yes, it does suck that all we get of
Crispin is stock footage from the first film for key scenes in the sequel. But in the overall scheme of the movie, he doesn't play a vital role. But
Claudia Wells is a different story all together.
Everyone that knows me, knows I still have mad love for
Elizabeth Shue. But even I can't really connect to her playing
Jennifer Parker. It's not that she is bad in the part, it's just that I always have a negative reaction when another actor steps into the role of what is a very important part of the story. These are minor quibbles and really don't do too much damage to the series. It's just something that stands out for obvious reasons. I still highly recommend this as a
Buy. Also,
Part II did almost surpass
Part I in one aspect. It gave us the 2nd greatest Cliffhanger of all time. I still to this day remember the collective groan from the audience in the theater when the title card comes up on screen....'to be continued...'. Nooooooooooooooooooo!!
The movie had really found its groove the last 30 minutes and was flying by pretty fast and then....BAM! Time for you folks to get out of the theater and come back 1 year from now. Argh!!! One cool thing that
Part II does one up
Part I was right after the title card, it kicks into the
Trailer for
Part III. People were whooping and hollering. We couldn't wait to see how it all ended. To this day, I have yet to see any other film show a trailer like that before the credits roll. Anyway, a pretty solid follow up to one of the greatest films ever.