backfuture2

Contrary to popular belief, the original closing shot of “Back to the Future” did not have the “To be
continued” label at its end. This only showed up on later home video releases as Universal
prepped for a sequel. Fortunately, fortune favors the foolish, and the writers realized quite smartly
that there was more than enough material established in the original film to create a very
interesting follow-up.

“Back to the Future: Part II,” picks up right where the original ended. Marty McFly and his girlfriend
Jennifer, now mysteriously played by Elizabeth Shue instead of the original actress, are whisked
away by Doc Brown in his now-flying DeLorean time machine to the year 2015 to save Marty’s
future children from being thrown in jail.

Complications arise when they return to the Hill Valley of 1985 only to find it horribly changed into a
crime-ridden hell ruled by that jerk bully, Biff. They realize that while they were in the future, the
elderly Biff stole the DeLorean and went into the past to change his own destiny. Now, Marty and
Doc must travel back to 1955 yet again to find out what happened.

This is a really fun movie in which the writers made a conscious effort to up the time travel ante with
all sorts of temporal complications. Now instead of one time jump and a complication, there are a
series of time jumps as the future and the past keep being affected by time travel. Director
Zemeckis and the writers have crammed this film with all sorts of visual eye candy, especially the
scenes in the Hill Valley of 2015, a future in which cars fly, kids wear their pockets inside out,
skateboards hover, clothes adjust to fit you and tennis shoes lace themselves.

However the story is the real star. “Part II” is much darker than the original film, because the
changes that take place in 1985 with Biff ruling the streets are unnerving. Marty discovers his
father was murdered in the past and his mother is now married to Biff. Doc learns that he was
committed to an asylum. The stakes for correcting time are no longer a matter of existence, but a
matter of moral integrity and a greater obligation to the universe. I commend the writers for having
the bravery to take the story to an even more serious place. But fear not, the comedy of the first
film is still very much alive with the second installment, just a little zanier than before.

The film finishes in a wild cliffhanger I won’t give away, but to this day I can still hear the audience in
the theatre in 1989 groaning and laughing at the same time with the realization that only with “Back
to the Future: Part III” would all their questions be answered.

Of note in this film are the amazing special effects with the flying DeLorean, hoverboards and the most complex multiple moving split screens in history that allow
three Michael J. Foxes on screen at the same time as well as multiple Biffs and Docs for those moments when the past and the future literally collide. It's almost
seamless work by the effects artists. An impressive feat. Even more amazing is the way in which parts of the original "Back to the Future" had to be recreated
from different angles to account for the second Marty and Doc's meddlings in the past at the same time as the events of the original movie. This is great fun to
watch.

I only have one problem with this movie, and that is that it breaks its own rules. If Marty goes to the future from the past, then he is going to be absent from it, so
how could he possibly see his future self? He skipped those thirty years with the time machine. Granted, it’s a major problem, but chalk it up to a contrivance the
writers allowed themselves to enable them to bring you the extremely interesting tale they did.

“Back to the Future: Part II” is certainly the darkest and most complicated entry in the series. The script isn’t as perfect as the original or as heartwarming as the
final chapter, but it is, in many ways, the most daring.