Produced on a budget of $40, this ambitious sequel was able to earn back nearly $300 million
in profit, following its November 22nd release in 1989.
The core group of principal actors reprise their roles from the iconic original, and
take us along for another amazing, if somewhat convoluted time travel journey.
Even though director Robert Zemeckis and producer Bob Gale practically painted themselves into
the corner with the original picture's awesome final scene (which was never intended to setup
a sequel), the narrative manages to clumsily dig itself out of this hole rather quickly.
Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox reprise their famous characters with even more nuanced
and enjoyable performances than before.
This time around, the time-hopping duo attempt to fix damages to their future, when they
travel 30 years forward to stop a crime before it happens.
Unfortunately, their meddling accidentally results in creating an unthinkable "alternate
timeline" version of their hometown, to which Lloyd declares, "I can't imagine Hell being
much worse!"
They conclude the picture by returning to the exact time and place as the first film,
even interacting with their younger counterparts.
This plot mechanics, of revisiting the original film from an almost behind-the-scenes perspective,
is an absolutely ingenious and original one that pays off dividends - making this sequel
completely unlikely any other.
Tom Wilson and Lea Thompson return as well, and easily get the juiciest roles: able to
play widely different and extreme versions of their original characters: resulting in
some truly memorable and humorous scenes.
Although Crispin Glover and Claudia Wells were both unable to return for the sequels,
their characters' are able to return, albeit with the help of some clunky production re-writes.
With the majority of actors and production crew returning here, the level of consistency
is to be applauded; Alan Silvestri's score is again impressive and suspenseful, Zemeckis'
directing is spot-on, the jokes are still witty and timeless, and the dramatic tension
remains high throughout the well paced story.
The first act shows off the imaginative and seamless visual effects work by ILM, painting
an optimistic and hilarious vision of the future, complete with sports predictions,
hoverboards, flying cars, "Jaws 19", robotic jackets, and automatic weather systems.
Particularly worth mentioning is a sequence where Fox plays three separate characters,
all interacting with each other seamlessly.
Created before the advent of computer imagery, this scene helped score the PG-rated film
its only Oscar, for best visual effects.
Besides functioning as a satirical outlook on the future of society, a number of the
sight-gags in the 2015-portion of the film also function as clever references and recurring
jokes established in the first film - as dozens of situations and motifs are repeated, sometimes
verbatim.
Indeed, much of this picture is littered with dozens of callbacks, as well as plenty of
set-ups for the next picture, making this trilogy as air-tight as any three-picture
story.
And in an extremely rare move, this 108-minute movie actually ends with a trailer for Part
III.
In a tonal shift, this picture departs from themes of relationship and self-discovery,
opting instead for a larger, and more disjointed narrative that is more action-oriented than
its humble predecessor.
Ignoring potential plot-holes, the adventure develops realistically, and provides for great
fun on countless viewings.
Although I still take issue with a 28-year-old Fox attempting to pass as a 17-year-old, there
aren't many flaws here, and the result is a totally enjoyable film with characters and
situations we already know and love.
"Back To The Future Part II", "Familiar yet inventive.
Supremely amusing."
Those are my thoughts on the sequel, now let's see what you had to say in the comments.
Our scores for Part II... a NINE and a TEN.
Your opinions were all positive of this picture, but decidedly more mixed than Part I. You
loved the high-concept plot, but faulted it for not being as funny and effortless as the
original, you thought it was AWESOME.
A great continuation of the story, with even better jokes and set-pieces, it was the emotional
factor that was only slightly lacking for me here, but even still, this picture is AMAZING.