Back to the Future II (Part 3 of 3)

1955

Well, Marty ends up back in good old 1955 with the Doc. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed seeing this time period again. Marty spent most of the first movie here, so there are some fond memories from that movie.

Part of what’s cool about them returning to the 1955 Hill Valley is that we get to see BTTF1 through a different point of view, through a modified timeline. I thought it was neat to see Marty sneaking around in the background while the Marty from part one was doing his thing.

Somehow, the writers and director were able to keep our interest with the main storyline, while treating us with all those memorable moments from the first film. I’ve never seen anything like this before; they used un-used footage from the first movie mix with re-shot footage. They did a great job too.

Of course, Marty saves the day and burns the book. Everything appears to be okay, until Doc Brown gets zapped by lightening and disappears. I enjoyed how the movie changes tone here from a joyous moment to Marty realizing that his friend is gone. There’s a good music cue here.

However, the best moment in the entire film is when Marty looks at the Western Union guy and says, “There’s only one man that help me now.” We cut to the 1955 version of Doc Brown doing his thing from the first movie. I always laugh out loud when I see Brown cheering and the second Marty comes running around the corner just as the time machine disappears. Doc Brown’s reaction is just priceless.

And we close on a Cliffhanger, which I thought was a daring move on their part. And, I think that pissed off a lot of people, but I loved the “Empire Strikes Back” moment.

In Conclusion

Without having a clear roadmap to begin with, the makers of the film somehow made an interesting story that was not only completely different from the first film, but also respected the first movie. Looking back on the movie now, it certainly holds up better than many movies that came out during that year.

Not nearly as classic as part one, but much better than part III.

Grade: B