McFly!

Rating: 8/10 (27 October 2010)

Sometimes sequels don't always work out. In the case of Back to the Future 2, it works in some levels, but the recycled ideas of the original is an obvious case of either fan service, or The Bobs didn't know exactly where to go with this one. I can tell you one thing, though, that as a kid I was anxiously awaiting this film, and I remember being so excited at the theater with my dad. I remember rushing home excitedly to tell my mom about how great it was. Oh, the simple minds of youth.
The film takes place exactly where the first one left off, but reenacted so it doesn't quite play exactly like the end of the first film but it worked enough. The destination is immediately in the year 2015, with Marty, Doc and Jennifer flying in the Delorean in a traffic of speeding, flying cars. Jennifer starts to ask questions and Doc immediately knocks her out with some spray. In all actuality, this is a way to get Jennifer out of the film for time being as The Bobs couldn't come up with a good storyline for her. However, I give them credit, because what happens later was a very good scene.
Basically Marty has to take the role of one of kids' in the future to not participate in Griff's gang (Griff is the son of Biff, but who he conceived him with is never explained). I guess Marty Jr. winds up in jail, his sister bails him out and they both spend like twenty years in the slammer. Now how this effects Marty, I don't know. Wouldn't it be easier for Doc to say, I don't know, look Marty up like Marty asked him to and warn him about his son's participation? Wouldn't that be easier than to nab Marty in the present just to wind up being chased by Griff and his gang?
Remember how I said it used recycled ideas from the first one? Yeah, that's the hoverboard sequence. I mean, almost scene by scene is nearly an exact replica of the first film. I like the fact that the hoverboards can't go over water, but wouldn't that make Marty sink into the pool? Anyway, the bullies fly in the air and through the building and somehow this gets them arrested. I don't see how. People get arrested for accidents in 2015? While I'm at it, when did Marty get so upset from being called chicken? I know it's a plot device but that really came out of nowhere. Oh well.
My biggest problem with 2015 is even though I like the ideas that was put into it, I certainly didn't like the how it was written. Besides the obvious strange plot devices, it just seemed to me that the performances felt forced, as if they were trying harder to be funny. I'm not going to lie, though, that one of the better scenes in the film was when Jennifer was sneaking through her future home. My favorite scene here is when Marty's Asian boss yells out, "MCFLY!" Definitely the best scene in the movie, and perhaps my favorite of the whole series. Too funny.
The filmmakers must acknowledged that the whole "something's gotta be done about your kids" plot was a little too out there, so it focused on older Biff giving a sports almanac to younger Biff. This is what altered 1985, because somehow older Biff knew how to operate a time machine and go back to any year he wanted as if everyone knew how to operate a time machine. Anyway, the alternate 1985 was a little too over the top, but I really did enjoy the scenes in Biff's home and how he tries to murder Marty. It separated itself from the rest of the series and really showed the filmmakers were going for something different.
The 1955 stuff, well.... it's basically a total rehash of the first Back to the Future. I did enjoy these scenes, especially watching Marty trying to get back the almanac from Biff which created a pretty tense scene between Biff in his car and Marty on his hoverboard. However, Doc's car being struck by lightning without going 88 miles per hour was something of an orthodox. If that was the case, then in the first film why didn't Marty just wait at the street light where the lightning struck rather then going 88 miles per hour if the lightning could send him home anyway? I know The Bobs explained, but it's still a plot hole.
Back to the Future 2 is still a worthy sequel but it doesn't pack the same punch of the first film. I can watch the first film over and over again, as it has the right pace and the story was told wonderfully. I wish the same could be said about the sequel, but it's better than most sequels out there.