Back to the Future 2 Film – My Review

Cristina Boros April 26, 2016 8 Comments

Today I want to take you back in time to 1989 when a big success came to our screens: The Back to the Future 2 film.

I am sure I have the attention of all you fans of Michael Fox J and I want to say that the film was a trip into different angles of the past and the future and you might need notes to keep the timelines.When the movie was made, director and writer Robert Zemeckis along with co-writer Bob Gale didn’t have any idea that this film would break box office records, would be a huge success, and they wanted it to be the last one too.

When the movie was made, director and writer Robert Zemeckis along with co-writer Bob Gale didn’t have any idea that this film would break box office records, would be a huge success, and they wanted it to be the last one too.

Traveling through time involves the risk of paradoxes. In Back to the Future 2 are the same heroes as in the first film. Marty McFly and Doc Brown try to travel into the future, without creating a paradox but they actually, in making a mistake, create a totally different future from what is known to them.

Future changing the past, or the past changing the future? The Story

The end of the first film, as we remember, was when Doc Brown takes Marty McFly and his girlfriend Jennifer in his upgraded DeLorean to the future, into 2015 to prevent their children from taking a wrong path in life.

The moment they depart, Biff Tannen comes out of the house and witnesses the DeLorean flying to its next destination.

They arrive in the year 2015, on October 21. Doc decides to tranquilize Jennifer because she was asking too many questions about the future and he said that nobody should know about his/her future.

The writers didn’t make predictions on how things would look in 2015; they just had fun, playing with the fantasy. Usually, this kind of prediction can go wrong.

Hill Valley is transformed and you can see jet-powered vehicles, coffee 80 shops, children have hover boards, paying the taxis and opening the house doors with fingerprints etc. These things made the fun.

Doc lands in a small alley and they leave Jennifer there as she is still sleeping. He tells Marty of some things that will happen to his family and they will bring the family’s downfall, and he has to do everything to stop this chain of events from happening.

He finds out that his son will be involved in a robbery with the gang of Biff’s Grandson, Griff Tannen and he will go to jail. Then his daughter, Marlene McFly, will try to save her brother by breaking him out of jail thus causing other problems.

The Mission in the future

So as we see, Marty has to prevent Marty junior agreeing to Griff’s plan. He goes in the Cafe 80, where his son is supposed to meet Griff, and his plan is to say to Griff that he doesn’t want to join, and pretending he is Marty junior.

Marty junior comes in the cafe and is almost ready to destroy the plan. When hearing the negative answer, Griff gets angry and start to chase Marty.

The story here is similar to the chase of Biff from the first film. The writers take events from the first movie and repeat them in the second film, in the future, in 2015. This could be taken as a lack of fantasy or of ideas, but the strange thing is that in these wonderful films this was the fun and the secret of its success.

Finally, Marty escapes Griff and his gang and he lands with a hover board  (took from some children) in the water in front of the courthouse.

Trying to follow him, Griff and his gang crash into the Courthouse and are taken to jail. So… the future is changed, the Marty Junior is not going to jail and so far everything is ok 🙂

The mistake

But.. a small mistake will change all the timeline. Marty decides to buy an Almanac with the sports scores from 1950 to 2000 documented in it, with the intention of winning some money.

Doc sees the Almanac and throws it to the bin, but is watched by the old Biff from 2015, who will take it.

This makes a totally different time- line in 1985 when the old Biff later on steals for the DeLorean and goes back to the past to give the Almanac to his younger self. The changes are not good at all, as we will see.

When Marty and Doc are ready to go back after completing their mission, Jennifer is found by the police still sleeping. Using her finger- prints they find her identity and take her to the house of Jennifer from 2015.

When the young Jennifer is escorted by the police into the house, they open the door with her fingerprint and leave her inside, Jennifer is scared and hides in a closet.

Doc says that the young Jennifer shouldn’t meet the older Jennifer. If this happens it will cause a paradox and can destroy the entire universe.

Hiding later in the bathroom she can see her family and she understands that it is not the perfect life she thought it would be. Marty from 2015 loses his job because of his co-worker Needles traps him into cooperating in an illegal business. In the beginning, he doesn’t accept but the word ‘chicken’ makes him agree.

Finally, young Jennifer meets the older Jennifer and they both faint. Doc wants to save her and leave.

In these moments, as we said before, old Biff has returned from 1955 in the DeLorean after giving the Sports Almanac to himself as a younger man.

When the trio finally goes back to 1985 everything is a true nightmare. As we know, at the end of the first film, because of the changes made, he wants back to a perfect family, a beautifully thin and none drinking mother, a strong father, rich, having Biff to wash his cars.

Now.. as doc said ‘I can’t imagine hell being much worse’.

 Back in 1985

 Hill Valley turns out to be a real hell, in the new timeline created, ruled by Biff, a rich evil billionaire.

Coming back to 1985, Marty leaves Jennifer sleeping in front of her house, on her porch swing, and he runs without noticing the security bars on the windows.

Doc drives Marty home and leaves. At home, he is unable to get inside because the back gate is locked, so he enters through a window. He finds an Afro-American family in his house and Marty is chased by the father of the girl who was sleeping in his bed.

He runs into the street and he sees the place is destroyed, victims in the street, shootings, abandoned cars, the courthouse turned into a casino. In the beginning, he thinks he is in the wrong year but when he later finds a newspaper he sees it is 1985.

Looking at a video about Biff’s life he finds out how he became a millionaire, winning bets, with the help of the Almanac. He has married his mother, Loraine McFly and he is the richest and luckiest man on earth.

Biff gang hit him and he wakes up near his mother, finding a Loraine with drinking problems again, physically abused by her husband – now Biff.

When he asks his mother where George McFly is, he finds out that his father had passed away. After a confrontation with Biff, Marty leaves for the cemetery to find his father grave. Doc is waiting there for him and they both go to his laboratory which is now destroyed.

Trying to find a solution to things, Marty decides to ask Biff how and when he got the Almanac and he finds out that on November 12, 1955,an old man gave him the book, warning that one day a boy or a crazy scientist will ask this question.

When Biff tries to kill him, Doc saves him with the Delorean and they decide to go back to 1955 to stop the old Biff to give the Almanac to the young Biff.

Many complain that they couldn’t follow the story but I think this is the fun part, the craziness of the film.

Back to 1955

 As we said the two friends are back in 1955 trying to fix the mistake.

Following Biff, Marty sees him going to a mechanic who repaired his car, and he jumps in the back of the car.

Old Biff is watching from another corner waiting the right moment to give him the Almanac.

Marty then watches Old Biff giving the Almanac to himself and follows the young Biff to the school dance, all the time trying to not interfere with the past events.

The writer did a wonderful job mixing the two movies, seeing the events from different angles.

Marty finally takes the Almanac from the Biff and burns it, as Doc is above him with the DeLorean waiting to go back to 1985. Before Marty has the chance to get in the car with Doc, the DeLorean is struck by lightning and Doc disappears, leaving Marty in 1955.

In that moment, a Western Union courier arrives and gives him a letter from Doc, from 1885. It explains that he was transported into the wild west when the DeLorean was struck by lightning. Doc is stuck there but is very happy and tells him to not come to after him.

Marty runs to the 1955 Doc who just helped Marty (from the first movie) to go back to 1985, it is really crazy eh?I hope you can follow it.:-)

Doc faints seeing him again, another Marty who says that is back from the future.

More about

 Back to the Future2 was released on 22 November 1989 earned 332 million worldwide.

The film won Saturn Awards for Best Special Effects, Bafta Awards for Best Special Visual Effects, Golden Screen Award, Blimp Award for Favourite Movie Actor, Young Artist award for Michael J.Fox and Favorite Movie Actress for Lea Thompson. It was also nominated in 1990 for an Academy Award for Visual Effects.

Casting

The casting was almost the same as in the first movie, with just  a few changes

Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, Marty Junior, and Marlene McFly

Christopher Lloyd as Doc Emmet Brown.

Without the two of them, Zemeckis would not have made the sequel, and I think it is obvious why; There can never be another Doc or Marty 🙂

We have also the same old Biff played by Thomas F.Wilson. He portrays Biff Tannen and Griff Tannen brilliantly and Loraine McFly was played by Lea Thomson.

In the role of Mr .Strickland is the same actor, James Tolkan as in the Back to the Future 1, and Flea appears again as Douglas Needles

Changes

As we said there are few changes in the casting of Back to the Future 2.

When Crispin Glover (George McFly) was asked to play in the movie he couldn’t come to an agreement asking for more money.

Zemeckis didn’t take George McFly out of the movie, but what he did was exceptional: he used footage from the firs movie, and also George McFly was played this time by Jeffrey Weissman.

The role of Marty’s girlfriend Jennifer Parker, in the first film, was played by Claudia Wells but this time, she didn’t appear due to some health problems with her mother. So, Jennifer parker was played by Elisabeth Shue in the sequel.

Few legends around

 Making fun in one of his interviews, Zemeckis said that the hover -boards are real. Of course, people believed him and asked for them. Finally, he had to explain that it was a joke and the boards were suspended with wires.

Marty’s shoes🙂 wow a lot of fans have asked for them and there was a huge demand for Nike. Back in that days, they were not real but NOW THEY ARE.

In 2010 Blake Bevin (a movie fan) designed the self-lacing shoes and in 2015 they were released by Nike.

So I hope you enjoyed the story and if you didn’t see this wonderful film I urge you to do so 🙂

Nice to have you here again today, and thanks for reading my review, If you have any questions or any comments just leave them below.

Cristina

Now, Just have a look below, I am sure you will like 🙂

Cristina Boros

I have always been interested in time travel. From a very young age I was forever watching movies that would take me back in time.

I would love to hear from all of you who are also interested in this subject. Movies? Science? Book? Literature?

Whatever your interest is, I would love to meet you.