Following the huge success of the original film, Robert Zemeckis and his cast shot two sequels to the film at the same time, releasing them a year apart. The first sequel released in 1989 is the lesser of the two, BACK TO THE FUTURE II.
It seems that the older version of our loud villain Biff (Thomas Wilson) overheard Doc and Marty talking about the time machine when they came back from the past, so he manages to steal the Delorean and go back to the past, to give younger Biff a cheat sheet for the future, allowing he and his descendants in the future to be garishly wealthy.
Confused yet? haha
The biggest problem with Part II is that it hops back and forth in time so much that you end up with multiple versions of Marty and Doc and Biff in the same scene.
Sometimes, especially in the last twenty minutes, that's a lot of fun and perfectly timed for suspense and laughs.
But for most of the muddled middle of the movie, it just becomes a bit repetitious.
We are talking a Robert Zemeckis movie so there IS plenty to enjoy. Their vision of 2015 is pretty hilarious, and Elon Musk and Steve Jobs HAVE managed to make some of what they envisioned come pretty close, but we are still a long way from freeways in the air loaded with speedy flying machines.
Michael J. Fox is great, playing many versions of himself, his dad and hilariously, even his alternative future sister at one point.
Christopher Lloyd keeps his energy at full tilt as every version of Doc, always explaining the timelines just enough to keep things rolling.
The biggest problem of the film for me is Wilson as Biff. He is so LOUD, so over the top, so one-note, that every version of him in the film becomes grating and unpleasant. It drags the whole film down.
That being said, we'll all remember the hoverboard sequence, the holographic ads for JAWS 19 (Directed by Max Spielberg) and the rousing finale chase between the airborne Delorean and Biff's vehicle in 1955.
The best parts of the film are Zemeckis' visual brilliance in giving you different angles to the original from 50 yards away, or through a well placed window, giving us a whole new perspective on the original film.
In those moments, its every bit as exciting as the first film.
The film concludes with scenes from Part III set in the old West, which is far better than Part II.
As for this first sequel, it made only about half as much money as its predecessor. I'll call that Biff Burnout and give this second installment a B-.
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