BACK TO THE FUTURE 2 (1989) Dir. Robert Zemekis

Ok folks, now is time for a review of my favourite film of ALL TIME, Back To The Future 2 is to me the greatest cinematic experience. It has everything, Action, Suspense, Science Fiction, Comedy, a Rocking Soundtrack, superb performances and one of the most amazing plots to a time travel film i have ever witnessed, plot that covers three different time periods all in 108 minutes and a film that was way a head of it time. Plus it gave us power laces and Hover Boards.

I might be a bit biased with this review as it's my favourite film of all time, but because it does hold that number one spot for me I thought i'd share with you why I love this film so much. The first memory I have of seeing BTTF2 was probably around 8 or 9 years of age, Christmas Day BBC1 in the afternoon. I must have seen the first film before hand as I knew the characters of Doc Brown and Marty Mcfly, but there I was sat infront of the television after opening all of my presents and after I was made to watch the Queen speak to the nation about summin' or nuffin and the Universal logo appeared on screen, Marty opens the garage door and the black 4x4 is sitting there, Jennifer appears and they make out abit then a come a flash of lightening and out of nowhere the Delorean appears with doc dressed in some weird futuristic clothing that looks very 80s. From this point on I was hooked. Anyway over the years I have had the trilogy on recorded VHS, Sell-through VHS, DVD and now Blu-Ray and even as a man nearing 30 years of age, I still feel like a little kid watching it for the first time whenever the film starts.

Ok the film picks up right at the end of the first film, Marty has is persuaded by doc to accompany him to the future, where he must change the future for one of his kids. Marty brings Jennifer along and they back into the road with marty warning doc that they don't have enough road to get up to 88 to which Doc replies that where they're going they don't need roads. Doc has been to the future and fitted a hover converter to the delorean allowing the car to fly. With Jennifer asking too many questions Doc puts her to sleep and the car lands in Hill Valley 2015. Marty has to take the place of his son when Griff, the grandson of Biff asks if he's in, he has to say no. This causes Griff to call Marty a chicken. This is followed by the incredible Hoverboard chase in which marty is the victor changing the future for his son. During this time Jennifer is identified by police and taken home. Marty finds an antique shop buys an almanac book which contains the winners of several different Sports. Doc doesn't like this and throws it in the bin but old biff is watching and grabs the book. They track Jennifer to their future home but are followed by old biff who steals the delorean while Doc and Marty are trying to save Jennifer. After Biff has returned, They leave the future and return to 1985 although it's different. Biff stole the time machine, went back to 1955 and gave the almanac to young Biff who uses the book to amass huge riches and power, changing the future. Doc and Marty are in an alternative 1985 where George McFly is dead, Lorraine is married to Biff and Marty should be at a school in Switzerland. Marty gets hit over the head and wakes up in the penthouse of Biff towers. His mother has these huge fake breasts and hates being married to biff but puts up with it. After discovering biff has the almanac and a confrontation between Marty and Biff, Marty and Doc realise they need to travel back to 1955 to get the book after from young biff. In 1955 Marty and Doc arrive at the night of the Enchantment Under The Sea dance. Marty witnesses himself (from the first film) as he attempt to get the book. He succeeds but there seems to be a fault with the time circuits of the car and a storm (from the first film) causes lightening to hit the car sending doc back to 1885. Then the third film starts.

I wasn't Planning to write so much for the plot synopsis but as soon as I got into it I just couldn't stop. The film is so clever with it's multiple time lines so I'm going to take a look at each one.

2015: So what would Hill Valley look like in the future? Well seeing as it's 2012 now, it wouldn't look anything like it does in the film. But while flying cars haven't been mass produced as of yet, BTTF2 did predict some achievements that have become a reality. For instance, when Marty believes he's going to get eaten by a 3D jaws is actually closer to reality than we think with the 3D technology we have these days and with the glasses less 3DS console and the idea that we're incredibly close to actual holograms. Other ideas that they had in BTTF2 created that have become a reality are....

Social Networking
Biofuel
Digital Binoculars
Split Screen TV
Remote Credit Payments
Thumb Print door locks
Controller Less computer Games (see XB360 Kinect)

The ambition and creativeness behind the Hill Valley of 2015 is incredible and a credit to Bob's Zemekis and Gale and their writing abilities and also Production designer Rick Carter and DOP Dean Cundy.

1955: Much like the first film, the 1950s period detail is spot on and they had to completely copy the set of the first film for continuity for the second film and you can hardly spot any differences. Hill Valley '55 still looks vibrant but also has that brown look that it did in the first where as 2015 is way more dayglow in it's colour scheme. The Period vehicles again are spot on with the side walks awash with vintage autos.

ALTERNATIVE 1985: More or less like proper 1985 except a more crime ridden world especially as biff is in charge. Burnt out cars line the streets, small fires burn and punks attack former highschool principles.

As we can see from the ideas that they brought us in their version of 2015, the scope and ambition of the film is huge.

Michael J. Fox literally was and still is my hero, not because of the unfortunate Parkinson's disease that has rendered him unable to work but because of when I was kid, my favourite movies all starred him. Not only was he Marty McFly but also played Scott Howard in Teen Wolf, both of these characters and films were a continuous watch for me as a child, as McFly he encouraged me to take up skateboarding, which I did do for a good few years and as Scott Howard he showed me that you just need to be your self to achieve what you want to achieve. For those roles I am greatful to him. I can't really say much more of how I feel about Michael J.Fox but I hope I can encourage people to make a small donation to his Parkinson's Foundation and help him and team to continue to search for a cure for the disease.

I normally say a bit about each member of the cast but I'm sure we've all seen the films several times and we all know how good each performance is for this review I'm going to skip it.

My Final Verdict:

Like I said I'm going to be slightly biased as this is my favourite film of all time, So my verdict is pretty much me stating how amazing this films, how genius it is in it's vision, how ahead of it's time it is technologically speaking, how brilliant all of the cast members are and how brilliant the writing, cinematography, production design and music is. For me this is pretty much the perfect movie.