I also reviewed the former simulation ride at Universal Studios of "Back To The Future"
Now it's time to review the film that started it all...
"Back To The Future" is considered to be the best time travel movie ever made. When I first heard that remark, I was thinking to myself "Oh please, a teenage 80s flick is consider to be the best time travel film ever made?". When I finally saw the film I was blown away by the story, characters, dialogue, music and cinematography. I also discovered that it wasn't just a time travel film, it's also a High School film, an action film, a comedy, a romance, a music film and a bit of a thriller. On top of it, it doesn't run out of plot and has two great sequels and a cool ride. Still why is it so great and is considered to be the best time travel film ever made? ON WITH THE REVIEW!
Before I start, I'm going to break the review into segments of each time period since there's a plot going on in each time period. So let's start by going back to 1985.
1985
Meet our main character Marty Mcfly (Michael J Fox); a teenage boy who skateboards to get to places, has a passion to be a rock star, and has a girlfriend. He also spends a lot of time with a crazy old scientist named Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd). Sadly Marty is never on time; his dad George (Crispin Glover) is a nerd who gets bullied constantly from his supervisor Biff (Thomas F Wilson); his Mom Lorraine (Lea Thompson) is an alcoholic; his cousin's in jail; he gets bullied by the principal Mr.Strickland (James Tolken); and he has doubts of making it to the top. Marty is not only a good character and plays as the average teenage boy, he's also very smart, thinks fast and can be very funny. Michael J Fox not only gives a great performance but he is the character, every time I see him, I think of him as Marty. A little fun fact; Eric Stoltz originally played Marty but played the character a lot different than Michael J Fox did by being more serious than funny. In fact, he treated this movie more like "The Twilight Zone" instead of a comedy.
Then we have Christopher Lloyd as Doc Brown, who I think is the best scientist I ever seen on film. He's over the top, he's extremely smart and extremely funny, and every scene you see him you can't help but laugh. The Make Up they put on him really captures that mad scientist look. The thing I really enjoy about the character is he tries and tries but never gives up nor does he care if people see him as a whack job. He really does serve the moral about never giving up quite effectively. You also gotta love and laugh at the other things he creates such all the different clocks that all have the same time (One of them has a statue of him hanging from the hand of the clock); the breakfast machine; his mind reading helmet that doesn't work; his giant amp; and his lame full scale model of the town. Who can also forget about his dog Einstein.
The whole 1985 sequence plays as not only the opening and introduction to our character but also plays as the films key, leading up to key points in the film. Pay very close attention even to the littlest detail of scenery and dialogue because it will add up very soon as the film goes on. What I also love about the sequence is it brings back that 80s feel to our current audience of people who used to live at the time (I'm not talking about when the film was released, I'm talking about now), as well as the sequence itself playing out as a solid time capsule to the 80s. What really amazes me about the sequence is the Make Up they put on Lea Thompson and Thomas F. Wilson because they were like teenagers while making this film and the make up and acting really captures them as old adults. I'm not going to go to into detail with character because where the characters really shine are when Marty goes back in time.
Now what about the device that takes the character back in time. The device is a Delorean car. A cool idea but there's more to it. Instead of just make the audience assume it's a time traveling car, the writers really go into serious detail on how it can go back in time, which I not only find extremely important but is also one of the reasons why it's the best time travel film ever made, it really shows the writers are not making a simple Sci-Fi comedy flick. We also get a cool test scene with the time machine and after the test we get a bit of action from funny looking terrorists that are after Doc Brown.
1955
Marty escapes the terrorist attack, but accidentally sends himself to 1955. He seems to be trapped in the past, but he was able to find Doc. Doc and Marty have to figure out a way to take Marty "Back To The Future". However there's another problem. Marty accidentally interferes with his parents first meeting and now he has to get them together or Marty will be erased from time. Again clever writing.
The first few minutes when we're in the town of "Hill Valley" in 1955 plays out like an episode from "The Twilight Zone". He sees his neighborhood under construction; the mall is a field; everything in town has changed; and the scariest part is he bumps into his parents when they were teenager. Michael J Fox's acting really captures the moment. Just his look of shock explains the whole situation very well. There is some comedy in the first few minutes of this sequence but at the same time it's played out in a dark way. Things stop being nightmarish once he meets Doc, which brings us to the films main plot.
The supporting characters are written and acted so well that you can't help but see the stars as their characters. We remember seeing Marty's mom as a poor old woman in 1985; well here she acts nothing like that harmless woman. She does stuff she isn't suppose to do, she's very out going and on top of it flirts with Marty. Those scenes are not only funny as heck, but are also weird at the same time. Then we have Marty's Dad, who's as nerdy as he was in 85, but throughout the story we see a huge development in his character and see how much Marty is a resemblance to him, which also brings Marty closer to his father than he ever was. Finally there's Biff who's the best bully I have ever seen I screen. He's tough, he's funny, he's psychotic, he's dumb, he's just a villain you love to hate and laugh out. He's not just causing trouble to Marty, but is also separating the fate between Marty's parents, that's one badass villain.
The comedy is written so clever that it's hard not to laugh. It brings a lot of quotable dialogue, a few slapstick, jokes on the 50's, jokes on time, and even celebrity humor. A few of my favorites are the Ronald Reagan joke, Marty telling people things that has not happened yet, and Marty disguising himself as an Alien named Darth Vader from planet "Vulcan". The Music is incredible. The score sounds epic; the songs being played fit in with the films atmosphere; and the songs performed by Huey Lewis (Who makes a cameo in the film) played throughout the 80's portion of the film is catchy. I think the best scene in the movie is when Marty's playing "Johnny B. Goode" at the dance because we finally see the character shine and playing a cool 80s sounding guitar solo, which makes him realize he's playing for a 50's audience. Then there's the action. The only action scenes (In this time period) is when Marty is trying to skateboard away from Biff and his gang and the thrilling climax at the clock tower. Those scenes are not just well directed, but they too play as the films highlights.
Marty goes "Back To The Future"
Just when you think Marty comes home safe and sound he still has to save Doc. I'm not going to tell you how it all ends, but I will say the film does shows how risky tampering with time travel can be. Let's just say when Marty goes back he finds a few changes in his life.
What can I say, it's a great movie. The writing for time travel is done so good that it upstages all the other time travel films, including my favorite Sci-Fi film series "The Terminator" minus Salvation; the humor is hilarious; the action is awesome; and the characters are so likable that they will be remembered throughout film history. For people who are not Sci-Fi nerds chances are you'll find at least something you'll enjoy while watching this film. The film has been parodied; quoted a lot by people (Including Ronald Reagan); and led to two great sequels and an epic ride at Universal. It's indeed one of the greatest films ever made.
RATING 5/5
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