7.8
Marty and Doc are at it again in this wacky sequel to the 1985 blockbuster as the time-traveling duo head to 2015 to nip some McFly family woes in the bud. But things go awry thanks to bully Biff Tannen and a pesky sports almanac. In a last-ditch attempt to set things straight, Marty finds himself bound for 1955 and face to face with his teenage parents -- again.
Michael J. Fox
Marty McFly / Marty McFly Jr. / Marlene McFly
Christopher Lloyd
Emmett Brown
Lea Thompson
Lorraine McFly
Thomas F. Wilson
Biff Tannen / Griff Tannen
Elisabeth Shue
Jennifer Parker
James Tolkan
Strickland
Jeffrey Weissman
George McFly
Casey Siemaszko
3-D
Billy Zane
Match
J.J. Cohen
Skinhead
Charles Fleischer
Terry
E. Casanova Evans
Video Waiter (Michael Jackson)
Jay Koch
Video Waiter (Ronald Reagan)
Charles Gherardi
Video Waiter (Ayatollah Khomeini)
Ricky Dean Logan
Data
Darlene Vogel
Spike
Jason Scott Lee
Whitey
Elijah Wood
Video Game Boy
John Thornton
Video Game Boy
Theo Schwartz
Hoverboard Girl
Lindsey Whitney Barry
Hoverboard Girl
Judy Ovitz
Antique Store Saleswoman
Stephanie Williams
Officer Foley
Marty Levy
Cab Driver
Flea
Needles
Jim Ishida
Fujitsu
Nikki Birdsong
Loretta
Al White
Dad
Junior Fann
Mom
Shaun Hunter
Harold
George Buck Flower
Bum
Neil Ross
Museum Narrator (voice)
Tamara Carrera
Jacuzzi Girl
Tracy Dali
Jacuzzi Girl
Jennifer Brown
Basketball Kid
Irina Cashen
Basketball Kid
Angela Greenblatt
Basketball Kid
Cameron Moore
Basketball Kid
Justin Mosley Spink
Basketball Kid
Lisa Freeman
Babs
John Erwin
Radio Sportscaster (voice)
Harry Waters, Jr.
Marvin Berry
David Harold Brown
Starlighter
Tommy Thomas
Starlighter
Lloyd L. Tolbert
Starlighter
Granville 'Danny' Young
Starlighter
Wesley Mann
CPR Kid
Joe Flaherty
Western Union Man
Marc McClure
Dave McFly (uncredited)
Mary Ellen Trainor
Officer Reese (uncredited)
Crispin Glover
George McFly (Archive Footage)
Clint Eastwood
Joe (Archive Footage)
Director, Characters, Story
Robert Zemeckis
Characters, Screenplay, Story
Bob Gale
July 8, 2019
8
You gotta go forward to save the past and back to alter the future.
Yikes!
Back to the Future Part II sees Marty & Jennifer coerced by Doc into travelling forward in time to correct the future. But Biff is still around and spies an opportunity for untold riches; which he takes. Meaning our three time travelling wonders have to find a way back to the past to stop Biff from changing the course of history.
The gargantuan, and deserved, success of Back To The Future ensured {demanded} that a sequel would follow. So taking the bull by the horns, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gray crafted not only a sequel, but a trilogy, of which part two is ultimately a sort of interim plot filler for the finale to come a year later. There's no doubt about it, part two is at first a puzzle box of a picture, one that had this particular viewer back in the day venturing in for multiple viewings to unravel the deft, daft, but intricate plot.
I have grown to love part two very much as I have got older, with each viewing tending to reward me just a little bit more. Directed with absolute keenness by Zemeckis, the film moves at such a pace there is barely time to catch breath, something that hardly helps one to follow exactly what is going on. But it does make sense under scrutiny, and as we lurch from one magnificent set piece to another, we find a dark undercurrent of bleakness in amongst the froth.
The makers offer up two visions of the future, one is all colourful and swamped in glorious 80s nostalgia, yet it's knowingly enveloped in consumerism and hi-tech reliability. The other is bitten by greed and almost under despotic control, it's food for thought and rather wry in its telling. Not content with that, the makers whisk us back to 1955 just to remind us that a time of innocence and hope did exist; and simultaneously with skill they repeat the ending of part one with the additional story of part two! Clever eh? The returning cast are again uniformly strong {Michael J. Fox, Thomas F. Wilson & Christopher Lloyd} while Elisabeth Shue confidently steps into Jennifer's shoes after Claudia Wells {Jennifer in part one} fell ill and was unable to continue the role. Alan Silvestri's score still packs a cross dimension's punch and the effects crew again come up trumps {it's ace in HD}. It now can be seen as the bridge between two better movies, that's for sure, but I liken it to Spielberg's Temple Of Doom-more darker than the more favourable films in a series; but one that is crucially still having fun. It may be a high-tempo ball of funny confusion at times, but this one, courtesy of it's ream of homages and sly observations, is one of the best trilogy sandwich fillers going.
Munch it. 8/10
Status:
Released
Original Language:
English
Budget:
$40,000,000.00
Revenue:
$332,000,000.00