Perfect

Rating: 10/10 (25 March 2003)

"Back to the Future" is clearly one of the greatest films of all time. One of those where not only can't you imagine changing a single significant actor, but you can't imagine changing a single scene or (almost) a line of dialogue. It also provides a good lesson about what science fiction should and shouldn't do, a lesson that its painful sequels fail. The original is about the characters and the times. The (absurdist) time-travel mechanism is a memorable device, and its inventiveness certainly contributes to the film's greatness. But the sci-fi takes a back seat to the things we really care about: Marty adjusting to 1955, George's self esteem, Marty's relationship with Doc. In the sequels, we get a whole lot of junk about the metaphysics of time (which as a philosopher I instinctively pick apart), but all of the new characters feel like props, and I don't really care what happens to anyone. This is a classic example of sequels profaning an original. "Part I": 10/10. II and III, 3/10.