The high point in a brilliant time jumping trilogy.

Rating: 8/10 (27 December 2011)

Taking up immediately after the events of the original – and I mean immediately, it even repeats the closing minutes and segues straight into the action – BttF 2 uses the core structure of the first film and brilliantly builds the sequel around, over and quite literally through the first, but somehow manages to stand alone as its own movie. (I would like to hear if someone has seen 2 and not the original, and what they thought.) Within minutes Doc, Marty and Jennifer are in 2015 in the now flying DeLorean, a future which just 4 years away from now seems to promise far more than I think we'll see as the 2014 calendar ticks over; flying cars and hovering neon signs to name but two things.
In this sequel which covers three distinct time periods, 1955, 1985 and 2015 Marty, Doc and Jennifer – but mainly Marty and Doc – must save Marty and Jennifer's as yet unborn kids from less than ideal fates, whilst once again warding off members of the 'Biff' family, including the now elderly Biff himself! Initially it seems and easy mission, but certain events transpire that result in essentially a time travel hijack that alters the course of the past and therefore future.
Still with me, just hold on.
So Marty and Doc must go BACK to 1955 and re-fix things without impacting their own previous backwards time travel nor their dealings with Marty's future parents or young Biff – or alternate Doc for that matter.
I'm sure that cleared it all up for you! BttF manages to link all that together yet still somehow both make sense and still be entertaining too. Fox again plays multiple relatives as well as multiple Marty's, and it is all held together without CGI by efficient use of camera tricks and false perspectives, a couple of the interactions between the Marty of the original film and the Marty in the sequel are just insanely smart.
The film ends on yet another cliffhanger which sets up the threequel in the most blunt fashion that I can recall seeing in cinema, let's just say the film effectively ends with a teaser trailer for BttF 3 – and as I recall did so when released in the cinema 20 odd years ago.
The one thing that sticks out in this film is the proliferation of product placement which was still in its infancy, hence some very clumsy and obvious 'ads' for Pepsi and Pizza Hut. They don't really detract from the film, they just stick out like the tasty pepperoni chunks on the new Extra-Cheez Family Feaster , that can only be washed down with the newest Pepsi experience, The Fizzmaster  sh*t now I'm doing it, I might take a Panadol  and lie down on my Sleepmaster 3000 .
Final Rating – 8.5 / 10. Took a complicated, creative and convoluted premise and was brave enough to make it so much more of all of those three adjectives. Excellent mainstream cinema.