"You've gotta come back with me!"

Rating: 10/10 (24 February 2004)

PLOT SPOILERS:
Picking up directly where Part I finished off, Doc Brown arrives in his DeLorean time machine to take Marty McFly and girlfriend Jennifer Parker to 2015, where their future kids Marty Jr and Marlene are in trouble and only Marty can save them. Marty poses as Marty Jr to get his son out of trouble and achieves this, although not quite as he and Doc had planned! Biff Tannen, now 78, manages to steal the time machine and goes back to November 12th 1955, where he gives his 18 year old self a sports almanac with results from 1950-2000. Marty and Doc return to 1985 to find that Biff is rich and powerful after using the almanac to place bets, and after having murdered Marty's father George is married to Marty's mother Lorraine! The only way to fix things is to once again go back to 1955 and get the almanac off 1955 Biff - but without interfering with any of the events from Part I, and avoiding any lightning bolts when your time circuits say "January 1st 1885"!
Usually with sequels, they pale in comparison to the original. This one is an exception in that as in may cases it is literally the same as the original! Part II is a very thought provoking sequel with lots of plot twists and turns, and the various times visited, and not running into your older self, that it is one of the best and most original sequels out there. Be warned though, you may not understand parts of it unless you've seen Part I.
Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson and Tom Wilson all return from Part I, and each of them is just as good as their roles as they were in Part I. Tom Wilson especially manages to play all the different versions of Biff, as well as Griff Tannen in 2015, very well. Lots of supporting cast members from Part I also return, and it is like hanging out with old friends again.
Many critics think that Crispin Glover's decision not to return (he played George McFly in Part I) spoilt the film, but I think it made it better. Nothing against Glover, he is a very good actor, but since the writers did not have Glover, they wrote him out by creating the alternate 1985 where George is dead. This also leads to the brilliant (and unique) idea of going back to 1955, and watching events from the first film from a different perspective. You also get to relive scenes such as George (played by Jeffrey Weissman) punching Biff, and the Johnny B Good scene, once more.
A bit on the future. The real 2015 will be nothing like the 2015 we see on screen, and that is a bit of a disappointment, as 2015 is very lively and colourful. Hoverboards, flying cars, thumbprint IDs - they're all there, and it is a future you would want to live in. Hill Valley in 2015 certainly IS a nice place to live! The fates of the characters in 2015 - a little different. Jennifer discovers Marty grows up to be stuck in a dead end job, having thrown his life down the toilet after an accident in 1985. This idea of the main character's life not being what he expected it to be in Part I is a good and amusing one. Part II also saw the debut of the VistaGlide system which allowed one actor to play 2 or more characters at once, and it works so well you can hardly tell where the split is.
The music score is based on the Part I score and is still very good. I like the darkness of the 1985-A music, and the optimism of the 2015 music. There are more songs, only fewer in Part II, although what ones they do have are very good.
Overall, a thoughtful and original film that tells a story whilst leaving questions for Part III to answer. This was the first time 2 movies were filmed back to back, and Parts II and III compliment each other. The cliffhanger ending was also a brave move by the filmmakers, making you wonder what will happen next. 10/10.