Very clever sequel

Rating: Null/10 (3 December 1999)

"Back to the Future, Part II" manages to outdo it's predecessor in every way. Better acting, better effects, better storyline. It picks up directly where the original leaves off. This time, Marty, Doc Brown and Marty's girlfriend, Jennifer, travel to the year 2015 in order to prevent certain disasters with Marty's kids. While in the future, Marty buys a sports almanac (50 years of sports statistics 1950-2000) which he wants to take back to 1985 with the hopes of winning a lot of money. Unfortunately, old Biff Tannen manages to grab the book after Doc Brown throws it away, and steals the Delorean to take it to the future (or the past?) Marty, Doc and Jennifer arrive in 1985 again only to find it has been tampered with, and their little town of Hill Valley has become a bigtime war zone. Seems Biff was the cause of it, as he won a huge amount of money in his early years which caused him to become a millionaire tycoon. Marty investigates and him and Doc need to go back to 1955 in order to repair the damage done to 1985! (I hope you get it so far) In 1955, Marty tracks down young Biff this time in order to get the almanac and destroy it so the normal timeline can be restored. He also has to be careful not to run into his other "self", because he is in 1955 on the same day that he goes back to the future in the original movie. Well, this movie certainly is clever, no doubt about that, but it isn't at all lighthearted as the original, it is a dark movie, especially when the action shifts to the alternate 1985. For a movie that in reality, takes place 4 years after the first movie, it pulls off the continuity nicely. The acting is great, especially by Christopher Lloyd and Michael J. Fox. Elizabeth Shue replaces Claudia Wells as Jennifer and Crispin Glover is only in scenes from the original movie. This is definitely the best movie of the series, balancing action, humor and darkness equally.