To the Future, then Back To 1955.

Rating: 7/10 (13 February 2005)

Time travel movies are risky, they usually have logic problems that are noticeable. The thing about Back To The Future II is that it takes head-on potential continuity quirks and makes an entire movie about it. Set minutes after the end of Back To The Future, the smash hit of 1985, Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) takes Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) and his girlfriend Jennifer (Elisabeth Shue) 30 years into the future to help their future children out of a potential mess. While in the future, Marty buys a sports almanac to try to make a dollar when returning to 1985. However, the older Biff gets to the sports book first, takes it to 1955 with the time machine, altering the future. Marty and Doc do not know that, however, until a meeting describes what is going on. The suburban Hill Valley turns into a sleazy Las Vegas-type city, run by Biff, turning the sports book into cash to build an empire. Other terrible things happen to the characters we knew from the first movie. The last half of the movie takes place where the first movie ended, at the "Enchanted Under the Sea" dance, as Marty tries to steal the sports book back from the young Biff. Not as revolutionary as the first movie, this second installment has the most interesting story and the best action sequences as Biff and Marty zig and zag through a conveniently placed tunnel. There is some over-the-top acting, but it's well placed and works well in this fantasy movie. The ending of the movie set's up the third movie as if they were filming them together.... oh, they were. Flimed at the same time as Back To The Future III, it seamlessly flows into the beginning of the final chapter of the Back To the Future trilogy with another fun look at playing with time.