Multiple Possibilities

Rating: 10/10 (26 July 2012)

Like a good cliffhanger serial, the second story follows up smoothly with the first and broadens more of the world in the story.
This film was one (or one of) the first ones that actually played with the concept of alternate possibilities as well as clever storytelling style by having it constantly moving to loop around back to the beginning. It's sort of the dictum sometimes when you go backward you go forward (or something like that. The special effects and sets are all top notch because their all practical, you can see they put a heck of a lot of effort into making it, as well as the painful process of construction and reconstruction, but all that pays off. It's cheerful and comical as usual however there is a dark overtone which makes the film take a bit of an unfun turn, but to me that just what makes the film more interesting and make me want the good guys to win because what happens in the film matters.
The first act is a lot of fun where we see the future which looks straight out of pulp sci-fi, only it's a reality. It's a bright fun colorful cheerful future some aspects of it slightly prolific on what we have today. There are 80's cafes, hover boards, hollow graphic theaters, electric hover cars, attire that looks a little like 80's fashion only even more colorful, and other things. My favorite thing has always been the power laces, those things are awesome because I wouldn't have to stop and tie my shoes all the time, honestly who wants to and think of the amount of time it takes to do it. My favorite sequence of course is the hover board chase. But there is also a flip side of the coin to this, at the same time it's a slightly dark future because it also shows an America that has completely sold out to consumerism, big products, media, and technology. But the real darkness is when we see the grown up version of Marty, we see how one bad choice has not just made him look older than he really is but has taken away his dignity, musical ability, and reduced him to a brown noser.
We then get to the second act when we see the alternate Hill Valley which is a very dark version of their present once Biff manipulates the past with information from the future for his own personal gain, and it's practically looks like Hell on Earth. It's a cesspool of crime and corruption, and there is one moment of dark discovery that made my heart sink. That moment along with seeing the older version of Marty showed how important choices we make in the present really are and they are never without consequences for the future.
And of course the final act where we see them back in the same past as the original film. This was an interesting move which I don't see often let alone done well, what made it interesting was that we were seeing the movie in a different perspective this time which has been hidden away from us, sort of non linear story telling style like in "Pulp Fiction" or the TV show "Lost".
If the film has a message is that the future truly is in our hands, it can be one way or another. But every decision we make must be made wisely because it will affect who we will become in the future as well as what kind we make for ourselves.
Rating: 4 stars