Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future Part II may be a great entertainment, but it is hampered by a very simple fact: it's too busy being a retread of the first movie that it never really gets an opportunity to develop its own identity...except for the brief scenes that take place in the future and the dystopic alternate timeline where Biff Tannen becomes a business mogul. It seems like the film bent over backwards to revisit, repeat, or homage all of the most famous moments from the first. Hopefully the threequel which takes place in the Wild West will be allowed to be its own film. Still, there was a lot of creativity and passion onscreen and I'd be amiss if I said I didn't enjoy it.
7/10
Glad you finally got to see the BttF sequels! The original idea for Part 2 was for Marty and Doc to go to 1967 instead of back to 1955 after the 2015 and 1985-A parts. You might think that would be more original than what we got, but I've read the script and it directly rehashes the plot elements of Part 1 more than anything in Part 2 (Marty stuck in the past, Lorraine falling in love with "Calvin Klein," Marty's existence in jeopardy, Marty having to get parents back together, Marty playing guitar at another concert, big event needed to get Marty back to the future.). Plus once they get back to '67 Marty easily gets the book from Biff and the rest is trying to get back to the future. To be fair it was only a first draft so could've been better if they rewrote that script and there are some interesting ideas, fun jokes and I like the late 60s setting. Personally I like the Part 2 we got with going back to the first movie and the madcap time travel shenanigans. Besides the setting of 1955 with the dance I don't see that many more homages than in Part 3 (Mom is that you?, Biff family bully, etc.).
ReplyDeleteTrue. But almost the entire third act is basically Marty running around in the background of the first movie. That felt a little tiring. But, jeez, it sounds like the movie we ended up with was a lot better than the one we could have gotten!
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