Past, alternate present and future  In reverse order!

Rating: 9/10 (8 July 2008)

"Back to the Future 2" is at least as engaging, entertaining and compelling as its predecessor, and that's already a praiseworthy accomplishment when dealing with sequels and/or second installments of a trilogy. Part two is perhaps slightly less regarded as a cinema classic than the 1985 original, but that's merely just because the surprise element has gone and because all the characters already feel familiar, as the screenplay is equally solid and eventful  arguably even more so. The story lines here are admittedly more hectic and convoluted, but returning director Robert Zemeckis and writer Bob Gale never at one point lose their grip on the story that is literally stuffed with paradoxes, time loops, inside-jokes, subtle references to prequel and sequel, clever hidden trivia and accurate time details. The first film merely just featured one major journey through time, but the splendid DeLorean time machine sets off no less than three times now. Barely returned and recovered from his first time-traveling adventure, Marty as well as his girlfriend Jennifer get picked up by Doc Brown to prevent something from happening in the year 2015, before it tragically affects Marty's private family life. Everything goes more or less according to plan, except for the aging Biff Tannen  the McFly family eternal nemesis  borrowing the DeLorean and traveling back to 1955 to hand over an almanac with sports results to his younger self and give instructions on how to make easy millions. With the alternate 1985 being a hellish wasteland to return to, Doc and Marty have to go back to 1955 as well and prevent young Biff discovering the truth about the almanac he received from old Biff. Meanwhile, they have to pay close attention in order not to interfere with their other selves who're there to fulfill the mission narrated in part one. It's honestly far more complex to give a brief description of the synopsis than to actually watch the film, because then the whole story simply seems to unfold automatically. All the different and hugely diverse themes neatly merge together, as if the screenplay wrote itself! There are some mild changes in comparison with the original film  released four years earlier what a long waiting period that must have been for the impatient fans  like the absence of Crispin Glover as Marty's dad and Elizabeth Shue taking over the role of his girlfriend (and apparently future wife), but generally speaking the most vital aspects and cast members remained. The humor is still incredibly effective and the action sequences are impressively staged and performed, notably the final showdown between Biff and Marty in the tunnel. Obviously the story lines are more absurd, the plot twists more grotesque and the use of special effects more plentiful, but basically this still remains a Hollywood sequel and they simply have to be bigger, louder and extra spectacular. At least here it's never at the expense of ingenuity.