Wednesday 1st June 2005

Back To The Future Trilogy (1985, 1989, 1990)

Dir. Robert Zemeckis, Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Crispin Glover, Lea Thompson, Elisabeth Shue, Thomas F. Wilson, Mary Steenburgen

Back To The Future (1985)

PLOT OUTLINE
With a time machine made from a Delorean, Marty McFly (Fox) has travelled back to 1955; the only problem is that the car doesn't have enough power to get back! A little local knowledge is on his side as he'll have an opportunity soon enough as long as he doesn't stop his parents meeting and negate his existence…

REVIEW
Anyone who grew up in the eighties did so with the Back To The Future trilogy and twenty years since the first instalment's release, it's still an amazingly entertaining film. The reason for its popularity is probably due to the character development within the film, as unlike most science-fiction films that focus on time travel, Back To The Future is all about Marty and his parents' lives and personalities to the point that the time travel theme takes a back seat.

For what is essentially a family film, some of the themes touched upon are more than a tad taboo, for an adult film let alone something that's kiddy friendly. For a start, the reason that Marty goes back in time is that he's outrunning Libyan terrorists trying to blow him up with a rocket launcher which takes place right after they riddle Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) with bullets! Once he's in 1955, he interferes with his parents first meeting and inadvertently becomes the subject of his mother's affection. For this reason there were some studios that wouldn't touch the film; they must have been kicking themselves.

The cast each do a fantastic job, especially Lea Thompson as Marty's mother, Lorrainne, Crispin Glover as Marty's father, George and Thomas F. Wilson as local bully Biff Tannen. All three have to play both (roughly) their real age in their 1955 incarnations and also their 1985, thirty years older counterparts, needless to say that they all pull off their performances flawlessly.

Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd absolutely shine in their signature roles, playing Marty as cool and popular and Doc as the wacky eccentric scientist, both characters being instantly likeable.

Of course the 1955-1985-culture clash between the streetwise Marty and his oblivious father makes for sidesplitting viewing especially as his cool nature backfires when his dad can't get a look in with his mum.

Couple the superb performances with the potential time paradox storyline, throw in a few 1985 pop culture references, and some hilarious dialogue (“Why don't you make like a tree, and get outta here?”) and you've got a pretty much perfect film that hasn't dulled in the past 20 years, proving itself to be a truly timeless classic for absolutely anyone.

 


Back To The Future Part II (1989)

PLOT OUTLINE
Just when he thought his time travelling days were over, Doc informs Marty that his and Jennifer's (Shue) son is in danger of being imprisoned and they must travel to 2015 in order to stop it happening. All goes well until and old aged Biff steals the Delorean and alters time leaving a very different 1985 for Marty and co. to return to…

REVIEW
After going back in time, there was one natural way to go with the sequel to the world's most popular time travel flick, and that was to skip forward to the future. During this instalment we get to see Hill Valley in four different times, 1985, 2015, 1955 and the alternate 1985, but it's the futuristic segment that'll stick in your mind after watching the film as we get to see the familiar set decked out to look thirty years more advanced. In 2015, Steven Spielberg's son has directed Jaws 19, food comes dehydrated and instead of skateboards, local teens cruise around on hoverboards, the name speaks for itself.

The plot is equally as interesting as the original, featuring the kind of major time paradox Doc continually warned of in the first film. In a get-rich-quick scheme, Marty buys a sports history book that will tell him all the results of major sporting events until 2000, after a stern talking to from Doc, the book is thrown away only for Biff to go back to 1955 so he can make himself rich. The resulting time-shift means that the time travellers return to a time where Biff is a hugely powerful megalomaniac and has murdered Marty's father, George!

Everybody gets another chance to play his or her character at a different age, and in some cases they get to play a different character such as Michael J. Fox playing Marty, Marty Jr. and his daughter Marlene! While Thomas F. Wilson reprises his role as Biff in 1955, 1985, 2015 and Biff's grandson – Griff. Unfortunately Crispin Glover is replaced in the role of George McFly, and as a result the character doesn't appear much due to being killed off in the alternate 1985.

Part II follows right from where Part I left off, featuring some archive footage of the events of the original and some incredibly accurately recreated scenes; the main one being the ending of the first instalment being exactly the same as the opening of this one except that Jennifer is now played by Elizabeth Shue instead of Claudia Wells. The finished scene is so similar that as a kid I didn't even notice the cast change.

The archive footage is mainly from the 1955 segment as the events of the first film are repeating themselves meaning that there are two Martys in '55 and of course as Doc warns, if he interferes with his other self, the repercussions could be disastrous. It's all created with some remarkably accurate editing and scene reconstructing.

The whole trilogy is really one film in 3 parts and most people have a favourite, this one is mine, but only just as all three are fantastic. It's seems odd that we're now closer to 2015 now that we are to 1985 but we all know what that means, only ten years till we get hoverboards and dehydrated pizza…

 

Back To The Future Part III (1990)

PLOT OUTLINE
Doc Brown is trapped in the Wild West in the year 1885 and Marty must use the Delorean to travel back to stop his murder at the hands of “Mad Dog” Buford Tannen and bring him home to 1985. However the appearance of a new schoolteacher named Clara Clayton (Steenburgen) puts a spanner in the works…

REVIEW
Made back to back with Part II, the third and final instalment of the world's most famous time travel trilogy takes place in yet another era: the Wild West in an 1885 incarnation of Hill Valley and while not quite as entertaining as the other two, this one easily earns each of its five stars.

After Doc is accidentally whizzed back in time, Marty finds that roughly a week after Doc arrived, he was murdered by Biff's ancestor, “Mad Dog” Buford Tannen. After Doc leaves the Delorean in a cave, Marty is able to travel back to 1885 to stop the murder, the only problem is that on the journey, the petrol tank is ruptured meaning they can't get the car up to 88 mph in order to get back; not by normal methods anyway.

Of course this gives yet another opportunity for the actors to play multiple characters as Michael J. Fox plays both Marty and his ancestor Seamus McFly while Thomas F. Wilson plays Mad Dog who is actually a bit different to Biff in that he's a little less sleazy, a little more drug and a little bit thicker by having trouble counting past seven.

The sets are fantastic, again and this time around there is an even distinct culture clash as the time difference is 100 years as opposed to the usual 30, meaning that we get to see the construction of Hill Valley's famous clock tower while Marty parades around under the pseudonym of Clint Eastwood and throwing around pie tins made by a company called Frisby. It's all these things that make the film so fun, of course there's the recurring events such as Tannen ending up head first into manure just as Biff did previously, well 70 years later actually, but also seeing a floating skateboard in the Wild West would seem like a bizarre concept in any other film, but fits like a glove here.

The bad thing about the film is the character of Clara Clayton, who really buggers things up by winning the heart of Doc and making him want to stay in 1885. She's needy, annoying and sickly sweet and we share Marty's frustration at her messing up Doc's philosophy at not messing up the fabric of time.

Back To The Future Part III is a new twist on the storyline of the first two films by making it a Western, and it's amazing how the same story has been delivered three times and been pretty much as entertaining in each instalment. It's a shame that a near perfect series of films had to end but then as they say, it's best to quite while you're ahead, and the Back To The Future Trilogy definitely goes out with a bang.

SUMMARY
The Back To The Future trilogy is really one film split into three (hence the review being on one page) and if you watch one, you should watch them all, so as a trilogy, it's arguably one of the best ever and it's easy to see why, it's entertaining from start to finish and for six hours worth of film it's an amazing achievement, they're practically flawless.
 

Reviewed by: Jordan Brown

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