25 years on and it could still teach so many films so many lessons.

Rating: 10/10 (1 November 2010)

Back in the decade of 'In space no-one can hear you scream', Lightsaber swashbuckling Jedi and of course Arnold Schwarzenegger cradling that not so delicate pump-action, bad-ass necessity; it seemed only appropriate to throw time travel in the mix of a genre that was starting to expand more and more with some good ol' computer technology, which back then, didn't have to become the primary tool in a directors box of apparatus.
So when Back to the Future spurted the fiery paths of tire grinding, followed by a once handsome DeLorean turned four wheeled ice block, the questioned was: what made it so much different, better, cooler? Simply, whereas other sci-fi's that demonstrated so effortlessly the compulsive need to slap audiences jaw drop levels further down to the ground, explosion by explosion, Back to the Future arguably took a more humour through simplicity approach.
Example, body language. Nothing that will be spoilt of course, but the deliberate motions of characters (especially in the diner) can tell an audience all they'd need to know about a character, before their identity was fully revealed through this interaction. Funny, yes. But not till it scratches the surface more deeply do things start to get more than standard slapstick, especially where family is concerned.
That doesn't mean the film lacked, an albeit Michael Bay need for some wanted explosions and top techno talk to remind us throughout it was a sci-fi ("1.21 gigawatts? 1.21 gigawatts? Great Scott!"), and hadn't took the 'Humour of his mum fancying him' path too far and sloppily. If anything, science is more of a focus than anything else.
Not for the obvious fact it's a science fiction (Bravo) but more that Marty is as confused with 'Docs' long winded trails of scientific calculations with himself as we are. And ironically, he understands the ins and outs so easily his madness seems ordinary. It's all Marty's dumbfound confusion and the audiences comfort of knowing 'We never need to know what on earth a Flux Capacitor is so let's go along with it'. This all makes the baffling intellect more of a reassurance everything will work, rather than a panicky and frantic turn of heads to understand every little detail as to not get lost in its 'family friendly' plot. And that's what it's all about. It never needs to go into drawn out explanations that only scientific universities would host, it's a thrill ride, Marty's ride, our ride; with two more stops yet to go.