About once a decade a film emerges that is so original and new that it immediately raises the bar for the rest of mainstream cinema to aspire to, films that are both critically espoused and well supported at the box office, the 70s brought us Star Wars and The Godfather (1 & 2), the 90s The Matrix, Toy Story and The Sixth Sense gave us the ‘big twist’ ending (for better or worse), the dubbos The Lord of the Rings trilogy (seriously, how many times has it been ripped off already?) and perhaps Avatar, and this decade so far has Inception, which although flawed is an admirable attempt at breaking the mould and creating something distinctly original.
The 80s was all about the adventure (Indiana Jones), Blade Runner must be mentioned and the introduction of the macho action hero (Arnie, Bruce, Sly)… but at equal 4th on the imdb Top Ranked 80s titles is a ‘little’ film called Back to the Future, it didn’t need big explosions, huge car chases and thousands of rounds of ammunition, just a creative plot and some likable characters to inhabit it.
And really that’s the entire Back to the Future (BttF) trilogy in a nutshell. The films don’t have a huge number of jokes, the action is OK but not mind blowing and there is essentially zero sex and violence. What it does exude in abundance is charm, charm which starts with the most likable 5 foot tall guy of the 80s and 90s, Mr Michael J Fox.
Back to the Future
Fox plays Marty McFly, a typical 80s ‘teen’ from Hill Valley obsessed with girls (namely his girlfriend Jennifer), skateboards and music. His family are also typical and loving, his Dad (Crispin Glover) is a nervous and timid wallflower and his Mum is slightly strict but well meaning. The entire family – especially Dad – is pushed around by a local moron named Biff who has tortured him since school age.
To blow off steam McFly has a friendship with a local eccentric scientist named Dr Emmett Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Doc’s dabbles in everything scientific and has hundreds of wonderful inventions, none of which have set the world on fire.
But all of that is about to change.
Doc’s latest creation is a time travelling car (a DeLoreon to be specific) that when gunned to 88mph can FF or rewind to any pre-programmed point in history. McFly is dubious but he agrees at the insistence of Doc Brown to show up at an early morning (actually late evening) trial run in a supermarket carpark.
Marty, Doc & the DeLorean.
Using Doc’s dog Einstein as the test pilot they give the car a try, and lo and behold th thing actually works! But before they even have a chance to high five and discuss how this new invention will benefit the world Libyan terrorists unexpectedly show up and gun down the Doc, with McFly only just managing to escape in the DeLorean.
This one act sets in chain a series of incredible and intricately plotted events that span 3 centuries and several generations of McFly’s (and ‘Biff’s’ for that matter…)
Marty initially is transported back to 1985 where he is hopelessly out of place. While there he manages to meet his two parents before they even have a chance to get together, his actions inadvertently prevent this from happening, meaning that he must somehow play matchmaker to his own folks else he remove himself from existence altogether.
There’s a whole lot more to the original BttF, aside from literally justifying his own existence Marty manages to invent skateboarding and rock ‘n’ roll in his limited stay in 1955, all the while striving to avoid actions that somehow alter the future along the way.
I obviously can’t go into too much detail but the ending was excellent as well.
Now some 25 years later time travel in films is commonplace – even Red Dwarf and Futurama have produced excellent episodes dealing with time travel paradoxes – and yes I know about The Time Machine and the ‘classic’ older films dealing with the topic (that I can’t name). Back to the Future managed to take a science fiction core and make it interesting to the everyday movie watcher who just wants to be entertained for a couple hours (I am trying to say ‘non-geeks’), the original BttF was/and is immensely original and creative, with solid performances plural by Michael J Fox as, well… many McFly’s. It isn’t laugh a minute or gasp inducing but you’ll go a long while before you find a mainstream film this innovative and enjoyable, and the sequel was even better!
Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Somehow I admire the 2nd film more even though I am about to grant it the same rating, but without the elaborate set-ups structured in this film that wouldn’t be near as effective, and this film is effortlessly entertaining in any case.
Back to the Future 2
Taking up immediately after the events of the original – I mean immediately, it even repeats the closing minutes and segues straight into the action – BttF 2 uses the core structure of the first film and brilliantly builds the sequel around, over and quite literally through the first, but somehow manages to stand alone as its own movie. (I would like to hear if someone has seen 2 and not the original, and what they thought.)
Within minutes Doc, Marty and Jennifer are in 2015 in the now flying DeLorean, a future which just 4 years away from now seems to promise far more than I think we’ll see as the 2014 calendar ticks over; flying cars and hovering neon signs to name but two things.
In this sequel which covers three distinct time periods, 1955, 1985 and 2015 Marty, Doc and Jennifer – but mainly Marty and Doc – must save Marty and Jennifer’s as yet unborn kids from less than ideal fates, whilst once again warding off members of the ‘Biff’ family, including the now elderly Biff himself!
Initially it seems and easy mission, but certain events transpire that result in essentially a time travel hijack that alters the course of the past and therefore future.
Still with me, just hold on.
So Marty and Doc must go BACK to 1955 and re-fix things without impacting their own previous backwards time travel nor their dealings with Marty’s future parents or young Biff – or alternate Doc for that matter.
I’m sure that cleared it all up for you!
Two words: Mother-fuckin’ hover-boards!
BttF manages to link all that together yet still somehow both make sense and still be entertaining too. Fox again plays multiple relatives as well as multiple Marty’s, and it is all held together without CGI by efficient use of camera tricks and false perspectives, a couple of the interactions between the Marty of the original film and the Marty in the sequel are just insanely smart.
The film ends on yet another cliffhanger which sets up the threequel in the most blunt fashion that I can recall seeing in cinema, let’s just say the film effectively ends with a teaser trailer for BttF 3 – and as I recall did so when released in the cinema 20 odd years ago.
The one thing that sticks out in this film is the proliferation of product placement which was still in its infancy, hence some very clumsy and obvious ‘ads’ for Pepsi and Pizza Hut. They don’t really detract from the film, they just stick out like the tasty pepperoni chunks on the new Extra-Cheez Family Feaster ™, that can only be washed down with the newest Pepsi experience, The Fizzmaster ™… shit now I’m doing it, I might take a Panadol ™ and lie down on my Sleepmaster 3000 ™.
Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Took a complicated, creative and convoluted premise and was brave enough to make it so much more of all of those three adjectives. Excellent mainstream cinema.
Back to the Future 3
If you’ve managed to keep up until now don’t panic we’re nearly there. We start with Marty still trapped in 1955 and Doc doomed in 1885, Jennifer is asleep on the porch in 1985 and let’s just agree to ignore 2015 for now!
After Marty discovers that Doc is to die in 7 days – but 70 years ago – so it’s off to the past; from the past; to get everyone back to the future, which is the past to 2015… I’m dizzy, wait a sec.
In actuality this one is a little more straightforward than the previous two regardless of how I just made it look. Doc manages a romantic interlude with a local teacher played by Mary Steenburgen and Marty must once again deal with his various ancestors and those of Biff without impacting future events for his family.
Ye olde Time Travellers.
Given that the story is less intricate than the previous films they really do drag out the middle section and build up to the climax in this film, probably 20 minutes longer than they should. But given the achievements of the first couple films in the trilogy I am willing to forgive them.
If viewed in isolation BttF 3 is by far the least of the three films, the plot is actually reasonably straightforward and just a couple of the nods to the previous/Future films a little forced, but when it all finally wraps up and Marty eventually makes it through that one day in 1985 one of the better trilogies of all time ceases. Definitely the best PG 13 trilogy this side of Toy Story, you really need to understand all the various time jumps, changes and consequences to understand just how creative it all is. Like the Millennium Trilogy of the last couple of years while the individual films are all at least quite good and at best excellent the completed trilogy is somehow much greater than the sum of its parts.
Final Rating – 7.5 / 10. While BttF 3 is a little lacking by comparison it is still a pretty good film. Unfortunately you can’t watch this and not compare…
At the risk of killing you with cheese the Back to the Future trilogy is one of the best film series of all time(s) between 1885 and 2015, and various spots in between.
