Review of Back to the Future Part II (1989) by Filipeneto — 17 Nov 2019

An honorable and high quality continuation.

This is the second film of what was one of the most remarkable trilogies of the 1980s. In the first movie, Marty McFly and "Doc" Emmett Brown traveled until the 1950s, until Marty's parents' dating years, using a time machine built from a DeLorean. Now, the pair will need to go to the future in 2015 to prevent Marty and Jenniffer's children from becoming delinquents and dragging the entire family to the bottom. But in the midst of it all, they still have to stop the perfidious Biff Tannen from making a fortune at the expense of inside information about future sporting results. To correct the future and save the present, therefore, it will be necessary to intervene in the past, and return to 1955.

The film is clearly the continuation of its predecessor and has direct connection with it. The mix of sci fi and comedy continues to succeed but it does not prevent the feeling that this movie is, in essence, more of the same as we saw before. If we forget that brief foray into the future (which for me is already a distant past, as I write this text a few years after 2015), the film is nothing really new. At any rate, it's funny to see how, in the 1980s, someone imagined our time. Flying cars? If they only knew that we were more concerned with greening cars than flying them ... But of course, nothing should be taken too seriously here. Speaking of ecology, the film suggests in one scene that DeLorean replaced the use of plutonium with organic debris and rubbish, perhaps using an original type of composter. Curious to check this out.

There is little to say about the direction of Robert Zemeckis, or even about the cast, that has not been said or observed in the previous film. Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd continue to dominate the film, which will be a constant throughout the trilogy. In this movie, however, the stakes of Thomas F. Wilson, an excellent villain, and Elisabeth Shue, who gain, despite their preponderance, still fall relatively sidelined for much of the movie, literally falling asleep.

Special effects, visuals and sound are inseparable and important part of any sci-fi movie and here they work quite well. I thought the future was quite interesting, with ultra-modern cars and some crazy ideas, but as I said, it's not something we should take too seriously. It also struck me as interesting to see the same actor playing two versions of himself, although it was clear how this was achieved by splitting the screen.

It's understandable why the movie, like the whole trilogy, became so popular. Despite being weaker than the first film, it retained its features well and honored its predecessor, leaving clear signs of a continuation. The trilogy as a whole has aged very well and still has class, charm and style, which cannot be said of all films made in the 1980s.