Time Travel Isn't Fun Anymore

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2003)

Trapped in 1955, Marty discovers the time machine left for him by Doc in 1885. Doc's instructions are clear: return to 1985 immediately, and destroy the time machine. But when Marty discovers that Doc met (will meet?) an untimely end in 1885, he decides instead to travel back in time to save him. Unfortunately, as soon as he arrives in the old west, the DeLorean is taken out of commission, leaving both of them stranded in the past. As they devise a way to get the car up to 88 MPH, Marty end up picking a fight with Biff's ancestor, and Doc falls in love.
The plot works well, and part 3 is every bit as good a movie as the original (I thought the second was wholly lacking in the plot department until the final act), but this installment is decidedly less fun. In fact, it would be difficult to categorize this in the action-comedy style of the first two. Part of the reason is that there are fewer jokes this time around, but even the jokes we do get are overshadowed by the darkness of the plot.
The first movie was a fun romp in the past as Marty discovered that his parents actually were typical teenagers in their day. Yes, we had the death of Doc Brown, but when that happened at the beginning, we didn't have an emotional investment in him, and as the movie went on, we got the feeling that some way, somehow, things would turn out okay in the end.
The second movie had a very dark middle portion, but the movie didn't remain there long enough for it to cast a shadow over the rest of the film. The final act returned us to the giddy frivolity of the original, leaving us smiling through the last forty-five minutes.
Part 3 starts with the impending death of a character we have come to love. Some characters (namely, Marty's ancestors) serve only to remind us that the future is at stake, and Doc's love interest simply makes the emotional investment that much heavier. In fact, at the end of the movie, when Clara unknowingly places herself in grave danger, we find it impossible to cheer her strong devotion because her actions may end up costing Doc his life! And this time around we don't have idiotic Biff (Buford is mean but not stupid) to lighten up the tone.
As I wrote earlier, this is not a bad film, and I don't want to give the impression that I don't like it because I do. But I'm glad they ended the series when they did, because this final installment clearly demonstrates that the fun was gone.
B-