Faster paced, louder and zanier than the first...not always a good thing.

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2010)

The first Back to the Future film is very silly and not meant to be taken seriously. It's fast paced and full of goofy and zany acting. The first film leveled itself out with excellent pacing, and heart where it needed it. The movie is fast paced, but it's the right level of it, and gives itself time to cool down with scenes of dialogue. This movie starts, and it keeps going till it's over. This is one of the fastest paced movies ever, with a lot of stuff happening. There is no time to cool down in this movie as it keeps it's pace for almost two hours! With that said, it's still pretty effective as a sequel!
Marty McFly (Michael J Fox) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Elizabeth Shue) travel forward in time to 2015 with Doc Brown (Christopher LLoyd) so Marty can help prevent his future son from becoming a criminal. After several occurrences, some caused by Marty himself, Biff Tannen (Thomas F Wilson) has his hands on both a sports statistics book that gives stats through 2000, and on the Delorean. After going back to 1985 where Biff is the richest man in Hill Valley owning a huge casino, is married to Marty's mother (Lea Thompson), and Marty's father is dead. What ensues is a trip back to the 50s to stop this ever from happening.
This movie has some really impressive sets. 2015 Hill Valley is a great set, and an excellent variation on the 1985 and '55 version. The Biff hotel set is another really cool looking and impressive set, and everything about the settings of this movie are really atmospheric. Normally this is something you don't even notice about movies, but here the aesthetics are a real positive.
The movie starts off really well, and the ridiculously fast pacing isn't a problem. Set piece 2015 is fast paced, fine, then we get back to the fast paced 1985 Biff takeover, which is fine. It's once we get back to the 1950s where this movie becomes somewhat tedious and despite it's quick pace, it grows slightly boring. The zaniness is here more than in the first movie too. The Doc is zany, Marty is zany, Biff is zany...in fact, everything is so slapstick and silly it grows somewhat annoying. Even the scene that the trailer eagerly showed off Michael J Fox playing Marty, future Marty, Marty Jr., and Marlene McFly is sort of annoying because every character in the scene is really loud, like each character is trying to one up the last one. And that's one of the major problems in this movie is how loud every character is. Constant yelling does not mean hilarious performances.
The acting, despite being too over the top at times is as good as the first. Thomas F Wilson plays a pretty convincing bad guy, and definitely knows how to be evil well. Michael J Fox and Christopher LLoyd also give excellent performances, along with the ensemble cast.
Overall, this is a very good sequel. It's not up to par with the first, and grows annoying at times, but it's still an excellent second part to an excellent trilogy.
My rating: *** out of ****. 110 mins, PG for language and violence.